Most businesses spend a lot of time and money marketing, whether it’s something they pay an agency to do or do themselves.
Whether it is their website and SEO, flyers and brochures, networking meetings, Google Ads, social media marketing, cold calling, promotional mugs, vehicle wraps, all of these have one single point of failure, and unfortunately, a lot of businesses have this, especially during the pandemic. This can pretty much stop the vast majority of this marketing from working, costing businesses customers, and wasting their money.
Let’s explain this by way of a story…
We were approached by a company a few years back and requested for an estimate to fix their SEO and website because they weren't receiving any leads.
After some investigation, we discovered that their SEO was adequate, and that their website, while far from ideal, was usable. So, with the approval of a partner, we set off on a nefarious expedition.
We created fictitious accounts to make 10 phone, email, and internet contact forms inquiries. All of these were addressed to various departments. Only two of the ten inquiries had received a response after a week.
The trouble is, when you're looking for a supplier, you'll set aside some time, conduct some research, contact a few businesses, and then wait for a response. Those who do not respond are not taken into consideration. People usually only keep trying to contact you if they are serious about doing business with you.
In other words, this company was squandering about 80% of its business and wasting 80% of its marketing spend.
Our recommendation to them was to forget about websites and SEO and hire a new receptionist!
Regardless, we got the job!
Because more individuals are working from home during the pandemic, many businesses are missing out on revenue.
As a result, the single point of failure is failure to respond to inquiries in a timely manner. This is enough to make your marketing ineffective.
This can be as simple as picking up the phone and, if you miss a call, dialing the number again, even if no voicemail is left. But also responding to emails, even if it's just a basic "All received, we'll contact you within 24 hours" message.
There's no use in investing thousands on a website or digital marketing if you're not going to use it.
So, a good tip is to consider how persistent you would be in selecting a supplier; would you keep trying one that doesn't respond, or would you go on to the next? If you want to move on, consider whether you could accomplish this in your own firm, or even better, have someone test you when you're not expecting it!
