Don’t Trust the Sales Guy

My Experience

If you own a small business and have been getting hammered on by sales guys who want to sell you every marketing program under the sun then I sincerely feel for you. You are probably getting thoroughly confused and it’s just not fair. The reason it’s not fair is because the sales guy pushing these products does not care about you – at all and simply wants to make a commission.  What’s worse is that they probably don’t have any idea as to what it even is they are selling. In the past I worked for a major media company that primarily sold advertising to small business owners. A good portion of the companies revenue (which topped out at around $950 million) was attributed to print advertising solutions; stuff like YellowPages ads and such. This company was the largest reseller of YellowPages advertising in the USA and had over 350,000 customers. Needless to say we had plenty of clients to visit with and learn from. I was brought in to train the sales people on digital products. Stuff like websites, search engine optimization and social media etc. I traveled to 16 states training and presenting and coaching these old school YellowPages sales guys on how to “pitch” (and I HATE that word) digital products.  It was a miserable failure.

Why It Was a Failure

It was a failure because these sales meetings or conferences or whatever you want to call them were not enough. They were like 10-day diet programs where you get all excited in the first three days, go out and execute and then fall back on your old ways. It was a failure because suddenly we had 350 sales guys who thought they were experts in Internet marketing now. It was a failure because they recommended stuff to small businesses that they did not need.  It was a failure because they sold something that they themselves not only had no clue about but in fact had never even had hands-on experience with. How the hell can a company sell a product through a sales channel when they do not even know what the product is? Anyway, I am starting to digress a little and need to get back on track.

What I Learned

My point is that a lot of small business owners have had Internet stuff pushed on them because a company hired a guy like me to train their enormous sales force and then unleashed that sales force upon a territory with a quota that needed to be met at the end of the month. I must have gone on 200 sales calls in that 9 month period and witnessed some of the worst recommendations ever. I had to smooth over all of these imperfections with couth and courtesy to the sales person but I really just wanted to kick them in the tail and say thanks for the time to business owner and get the heck out of there; my stomach used to hurt so bad when I’d get an order in from one of the guys I trained that was for a $30,000 a year website and SEO program that I knew for a fact we could not deliver upon. What I learned was that most of these “small business advertising companies” was focused on was a revenue goal or IPO or merger to pay back shareholders. They did not care about the quality of service, the relationships they had with their customers or even their own reputation.

My Advice for Small Business

I have some real advice for a small business – take it easy…seriously. You don’t really need all of this crap that everyone is trying to sell you. Sure, you will need it eventually but just like when you bought your first house or car and passed on all of the fancy options so you could stay within budget so should be your approach to Internet marketing. Twitter, Facebook, SEO, website design are a growing part of the marketing mix, no question. However, approaching these marketing channels in sequence is of greater importance than simply participating. You’ll simply get burned out if you try to do it all.  As a small business owner myself my approach has always been slow and steady. Start with a small budget and then ratchet up as needed. Apply the revenue earned from one marketing initiative towards the next and so on. Basically, your marketing program should be funding itself.  Don’t get hoodwinked by anyone trying to sell the local lead holy grail. Everyone thinks they have it figured out, I know but the reality is that once you sign that SLA you become just another number and sales figure.  I’ve seen it first hand and have helped dozens of ticked-off business owners rebound with something more realistic.

Here Are a Few Tips

1. If you don’t have a website yet, start there. Don’t do it yourself either – those days are long gone and you will make costly errors that will hurt your credibility with Google and other search engines who will be the largest referral source for your business.  Avoid paying a bloated agency too. Unless you are a really successful business and can afford $15-30,000 for a website then any agency you ask to help you will probably way too expensive.  We always recommend using WordPress for a website development tool. WordPress is free and there are a plethora or WordPress freelancers out there that can help you get started. Check out websites like www.Odesk.com, www.Elance.com and www.Guru.com to connect with freelancers. We can also help you if you need us to, just contact us to start the conversation.
2. Avoid throwing money on PPC or Pay-Per-Click campaigns. Most pay-per-click campaigns are not only a waste of money but are also a huge waste of time. Any “advertising company” you might be considering buying through is probably marking up the PPC campaigns cost by at least 25% and passing the expense off to you. So take my advice and invest that money in a better website. Or take your significant on a vacation…
3. Do create a blog or content marketing strategy. Content marketing is pretty much just the act of creating content, regularly. Search engines love fresh content and the more niche your small business is the more likely your content will get ranked. At a local level, the more specific and focused your content can be on your region and specific products and services the better. Write press releases, articles and blogs whenever you can. There are tons of free press release services that you can use to issue a press release too. Just do a Google search for “free press release” and follow the trail. We can help with this too f you need us.

In closing, try to resist the urge to take the bait and buy every marketing product you come across. Rather, pick one or two that will work well for you and stick with them for a few months. When you start to get comfortable and feel good about the performance of that approach move onto something else.

Just don’t trust that sales guy!