It’s the Budget, Smarty.
I had to steal this campaign slogan coined by James Carville for the first Clinton term (”It’s the economy, stupid”). It’s succinct, memorable and [was at the time] true. It’s one of those “doh” moments where you realize you’ve been chasing so many good excuses why you are not getting very good lead capturing traction on your website that you are missing the underlying problem. A recent plug for an upcoming seminar track really drives the point home:
“Most B2B marketers feel that they don’t yet have the right formula to ultimately convert visitors to qualified leads and customers, and to grow the revenue stream. They also have to contend with relatively low (and sometimes stagnant) visitor-to-lead conversion rates, as well as forms abandoned midstream or just being ignored. Attend this session if you are looking for the testing and optimization methodologies and tools, and the surveys and usability approaches, to improve online offerings to engage and convert visitors in higher numbers. ”
It sounds like there is not much new in the new approach. Is a new testing or optimization methodology really going to make that big of a difference? If that is not the answer, what is? Is a new whitepaper or webinar going to do it? Now I am seeing discussions of “social networking” and video clips as the next big thing.
For B2B sales people I believe these techniques are further diluting our effectiveness at reaching prospects. We are beginning to tout entertainment as a way to reach prospects; talk about reverting back to traditional media (TV anyone?).
I propose looking forward and figuring out what a prospect needs NEXT in the logical timeline of researching, developing and executing a project. As business issues arise, prospects quickly develop ideas on how to solve them. Armed with the Google search box the prospect can clarify and create a short list of possible solutions in half a morning. The research is so concentrated that the prospect has trouble discerning the nature of the possible solutions; especially from a budget perspective.
Per Dr. Jakob Nielson, Web Usability Expert:
“Price is the most specific piece of information customers use to understand the nature of an offering, and not providing it makes people feel lost and reduces their understanding of a product line. We have miles of videotape of users asking ‘Where’s the price?’ while tearing their hair out.”
So even though a B2B prospect is not an immediate buyer of the solution, she still could use price to understand the nature of the solution. “Can we even afford that Storage Appliance Widget on our $60K budget?” Prospects need to know before they are willing to engage in meaningful conversations with sales people.
The only way to solve this problem is to provide a mechanism that gives prospects the ability to access budgetary pricing while remaining at arms length from a formal sales engagement.
Prospects need Budgetary Pricing, smarty!
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