Blog Archives

Sales vs. Marketing

2/4/2018

Lets face it, salespeople and marketing people don't always speak the same language and sometimes their different perspectives can become challenges for the business they are both trying to grow. From a marketing point of view I understand the importance of having a post laced with search terms and I can see how it will help visibility however the salesperson in me always wonders how effective it will be when a customer does find it and the post sounds robotic and vague. If the customer clicks out the company might lose the opportunity but the marketing company can show the company how many clicks they are getting! The one and only goal is to sell a product and traffic that isn't being served relevant information is just that, traffic. I have always thought it would be a great idea for the marketing team to work more closely with the staff actually selling the product they are trying to bring visibility to, and really take suggestions to heart and write their post in a more conversational and engaging way. Often times ego gets in the way as the marketing team will vigorously defend the need for search terms and key words spread through the post and salespeople will more often than not say that the post sounds ridiculous and simple. There has to be a middle ground somewhere that will allow business posts to be found in search and also sound warm, inviting and intelligent to the readers once found. That's my opinion at least :)

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Stark raving fans, do you have them?

2/2/2018

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I first came up with the idea of presenting a new car owner with a framed picture of the car they had purchased after becoming a huge fan of Automotive Artist Danny Whitfield over six years ago now. I'd seen an oil painting of a famous horse that its owner had commissioned to commemorate his race victories and thought that Mustang owners would also love to hang a picture of their own Pony above the mantle or in their office. The first time I presented one of Danny's customer prints to a new Mustang owner the smile I got was proof that it was an awesome way to create 'stark raving fans'! Of course Mustang owners aren't the only ones that love to see their pride and joy in a custom print, I continued to work with Danny as I went to work for a Chevrolet dealership and my Corvette customers were thrilled beyond words to see their dream cars immortalized in a frame! I tried to take as many pictures of the new owners with their print and their car as I could, almost always they asked me to send it to them and they would post it everywhere, tagging the artist, the dealership and their salesperson. I lost count of how many prints I have bought from Danny now but the smiles are all bright in my memory, far and away exceeding the cost! As the sales manager at the dealership I would include the cost of the print in the car deal and the referrals, great surveys and simply awesome social media attention made each one pay for itself many times over! There are so many fun and unique ways to earn your customers fanatical following, if you aren't doing something different you should consider contacting Danny, now that I have left the dealership world there probably isn't another dealer having him create prints for the customers... just a thought! What kinds of things are YOU doing to create your own 'Stark Raving Fans'? Post some ideas in the comments, I look forward to hearing about what you are doing :)
See Danny's work HERE
See posts about this customer winning partnership HERE and HERE

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