C2572 02 Apr-May 06 AW - LP Gas Magazine

FEATURE
KEEPING A GRIP ON YOUR LEAD
British businesses spend millions of pounds every year on various marketing tools, including
advertising, direct mail, exhibitions and PR. However, according to Derek Vaughan, managing
director of Quotatis, a recently launched pay-as-you-go system providing business leads to
reputable tradesmen and suppliers, it’s just as important to follow up the enquiries and know
where they came from, as it is to obtain them in the first place.
Last year, in the UK, businesses
spent over £19 million on advertising
alone, which is a 5.4% increase on
2004. The area of biggest growth
was Internet advertising, with the
first six months of 2005 seeing
expenditure hit £490.8 million, up
62% compared to the same time the
previous year. Spending in all other
marketing areas has increased,
meaning that British companies are
spending more than ever before on
trying to increase revenue.
However, with a lot of budget
being allocated to generating
interest and enquiries, is the majority
of it wasted if the firm receiving the
enquiry then does nothing about it
and has no idea where it was
generated from?
There is little point in generating
more leads and enquiries from
advertising, etc, if the company’s
existing conversion process results in
most of the hard-won enquiries falling
through the cracks. According to David
Oliver from the consultancy company,
Insight Marketing, sales enquiries are
like warm milk – they go off.
“Speed of response is everything
when it comes to enquiries,” he said.
“The Marketing Guild conducted a
survey of 192 advertisers in eight trade
journals and found that only 55% of
enquiries were followed up, with the
remaining 45% being ignored. There is
an inverse relationship between
enquiries and sales, meaning the
longer the time between initial enquiry
and follow up, the less likely the
enquiry will lead to a sale.”
Too many tradespeople are
already generating a lot of leads and
prospects but are unwittingly losing
up to 95% of their sales
opportunities and pouring money
down the drain. In these
circumstances, they need to
conduct a complete audit of their
promotional activities to find more
cost effective ways to increase
revenue that will bring them the most
return on their often very limited
available investment.
However, ‘most return’ may not
necessarily mean the most number
of enquiries, as their aim should be
to receive the level of enquiries that
they are able to quickly respond to.
Too many enquiries could actually be
damaging to the tradesperson’s
business if they take too long to
respond, especially as the potential
customer will have contacted
competing businesses in the area.
If these competitors are quicker to
provide a satisfactory quote, they will
not only get the job, but also be
recommended to others. The ‘most
return’ is therefore the most amount
of revenue generation, not the
number of enquiries.
For example, a sole trader
electrician might allocate £500 to the
promotion of his business and needs
to decide how best to spend this
money. A direct mail drop in the
surrounding neighbourhoods has the
potential to help build up a good local
reputation and generate qualified
leads, which is important, as wasting
time on unqualified leads is a primary
factor that can affect sales success,
as not everyone is a prime prospect
for the electrician’s services.
The electrician could be ‘busy’ all
day talking to people and
communicating in all the suitable
places, but he will not convert sales
unless he concentrates on qualified
prospects, rather than offering his
service to people who are
unreceptive, not ready for, cannot pay
for or are disinterested in what he is
offering. However, the disadvantages
are the time taken out of the working
day to design and deliver the mailer
when he could be working on
revenue generating jobs, and also the
limited number of people who will
actually see and pick up the mailer or
keep it for future reference if they
need some work completing.
Another option might be to
advertise in regional press and
magazines. The advantage of this is
the high circulation, meaning the ad
will be seen by many so, even if the
return rate is low, some sales should
be generated. However, what if
many leads are generated?
Can the electrician cope with
trying to respond and then actually
carry out the work within a
reasonable time frame if the quote is
successful? Will he remember to ask
Derek Vaughan.
each caller where they heard about
the business and it’s offering so an
idea of advertising costs per sale
can be calculated?
The cost of the ad also means that
the electrician would only be able to
afford to advertise once, meaning little
opportunity to stand out from
competitors and little chance to create
a lasting impression with readers.
The £500 budget could also be
spent increasing the professionalism
of the business through creating a
website, business stationery and
joining a trade association that
properly vets its members and helps
them generate new business.
Through belonging to a trade
association, the business will be
vetted and then eligible to appear in
various business directories,
including www.quotatis.co.uk, a
new system which texts, emails or
faxes the requested amount of
qualified leads to the registered
tradesperson in the preferred
regional area. This method means
the electrician has a stored record of
all leads and can deal with them in a
systematic and timely way. He also
knows that the lead has come from
the website, so can calculate how
cost effective this method is.
Whichever methods tradespeople
use to promote themselves, there are
some important elements worth
remembering to ensure they are
making the most of their marketing
mediums. Firstly, testing of a chosen
method is very important before fully
committing, especially as budgets will
be tight or practically non-existent.
Researching new and innovative
ways to generate sales leads is
important, rather than just using tried
and tested methods that invariably
competitors will also be
implementing. Most important is the
need to track where leads come
from, so return on investment can be
calculated for future allocation of
promotion budget.
Lastly, marketing and promotion
does not end with receiving the
enquiry - these should be dealt with
properly and efficiently to ensure the
reputation of the business is upheld
and scarce resources are not wasted.
Contact Quotatis at
www.quotatis.co.uk
14
LP GAS MAGAZINE APRIL/MAY 2006