Transcript Slide 1

Marketing Expensive Service
Contracts to SMBs
Doug Ziewacz
Director of Marketing
Monday, October 23, 2006
More data on this topic
available from::
© 2006 MarketingSherpa, Inc. This presentation is not for distribution. Thank you.
1
Who Am I?
Doug Z (Marketing Guy) Everon Technology Services
Former professional cyclist with 7UP with an advanced degree in
Physiology
Naturally, marketing IT services to SMBs makes sense, considering
my background
You’re probably wondering what you can learn from a professional
cyclist about B to B marketing and why you should listen to me
I’ve got a really great story
www.everonit.com
2
Our Vision
Founded May 2003, Everon aims to be the nation’s leading provider of IT
support to small and medium size businesses
www.everonit.com
3
Our Industry & Its Challenges
SMB IT services industry is a $50B - $100B + fragmented industry
33% of businesses in our industry never make it past $1M in revenue
90% of businesses in our industry never make it past $2.5M in revenue
Very little value captured by owners
 Unpredictable revenues
 Model that is tough to scale
Managed Services changes everything
 Predictable revenues
 Scalable service model
www.everonit.com
4
Who We Sell To
Small and medium size businesses with 10-200 employees
Professional services industries
 Accounting firms, Law firms, Consuting firms, Non-Profits, Architectural
firms
IT decision makers
 C-Level, President, Vice-President, and IT Director
www.everonit.com
5
Marketing to SMBs
Traditionally very difficult
Decreased individual buying power
Unique needs across industries
Diverse market
Difficult to aggregate
Very few large businesses have been successful marketing exclusively
to SMBs
www.everonit.com
6
They Say It Can’t be Done
We sell recurring monthly service contracts
Our average deal generates ~ $40k-75k/year
Some deals exceed $100k+/year
Proven ability to close deals remotely without sending a salesperson
Majority of new business generated through marketing programs vs.
referrals and word of mouth
www.everonit.com
7
Our Position Challenge
IT support viewed as an expense not an investment
 A reactive vs. proactive mentality
Technology is an ugly word
 Most decision makers don’t understand technology and don’t want to
Differentiating from our competitors
Building long-term relationships
Arguably, IT is NOT cool or sexy, but necessary
www.everonit.com
8
Where We Began
Ask and watch the experts (marketing consultants & market leaders)
Get a blueprint, follow and execute
80% is always better than 0%
“Don’t pull up the tree to see if the roots are growing”
www.everonit.com
9
You Need a Blueprint
JANUARY
Newsletter
FEBRUARY
MARCH
Newsletter
Breakfast Seminar
Invite Process
-Direct Mail (4 wks)
-Phone Call (2
wks)
-Email (1 wk)
-Email (1 day)
Breakfast
Seminar
Breakfast
Seminar
Follow Up
Process
Webinar
Webinar
Follow Up
Process
Webinar Email Invite
Webinar Direct Mail
Invite
Newsletter
Touch Plan
APRIL
Newsletter
MAY
JUNE
Newsletter
Breakfast Seminar
Invite Process
-Direct Mail (4 wks)
-Phone Call (2
wks)
-Email (1 wk)
-Email (1 day)
Newsletter
Breakfast
Seminar
Webinar Email Invite
Webinar
Webinar Direct Mail
Invite
Touch Plan
Breakfast
Seminar
Follow Up
Process
Webinar
Follow Up
Process
JULY
Newsletter
AUGUST
SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER
Newsletter
Newsletter
Newsletter
Newsletter
Newsletter
Breakfast Seminar
Invite Process
-Direct Mail (4 wks)
-Phone Call (2
wks)
-Email (1 wk)
-Email (1 day)
Breakfast
Seminar
Webinar Email Invite
Webinar
Webinar Direct Mail
Invite
Touch Plan
Breakfast
Seminar
Follow Up
Process
Webinar
Follow Up
Process
Breakfast Seminar
Invite Process
-Direct Mail (4 wks)
-Phone Call (2
wks)
-Email (1 wk)
-Email (1 day)
Breakfast
Seminar
Webinar Email Invite
Webinar Direct Mail
Invite
Webinar
Breakfast
Seminar
Follow Up
Process
Webinar
Follow Up
Process
Touch Plan
SEO & Paid Search
www.everonit.com
10
Our Lead Generation Strategy
www.everonit.com
11
Key Lead Generation Points
 Utilize multiple channels: balance and consistency counts
 Classic direct marketing and online marketing mix
 Local vs. national penetration
 Length of sales cycle
 At Everon, everything has to support the proper relationship
 The three R’s – critical to the success of building long-term relationships
 Right customer, Right experience, Right solution
 The right tone inspires trust and confidence
 Simple and easy to understand language
 It must be worth the spend
www.everonit.com
12
Our Sales Cycle
New
Lead
CustomerCustomer
$$
$$
Customer
$$
2-3 weeks
Day
0
1 month
3 months – 1 year
Duration
90 days (3 months)
7-10 business days
6 – 9 months
www.everonit.com
13
Sales & Marketing are One
Yes, I’m serious we never fight
Marketing supports sales
Truly integrated approach
Very unique in our space
Marketing has provided sales with a simple sales presentation process
 Templated sales emails
 Templated and customizable sales proposal <20 minutes
 Key information available on website
Standardized and easily scaled
www.everonit.com
14
Sales Readiness
Sales readiness is a function of marketing preparedness
They’re ready when they’re ready, make sure you’re in front when they
are
There are no tricks, Dave has tried them all
They call when there’s a need, which generally means things aren’t
good
Coming in hot, hurry up and wait
 Increased sales cycle = increased cost per acquisition
www.everonit.com
15
Online Marketing
When they are ready, they look online
SMB decision makers doing their own research before meeting with a
sales person
Websites are becoming sales agents, make a good first impression
 Decreased sales cycle & decreased cost per acquisition
Many channels exist, start with the ones you can measure performance
on a regular basis and get the most for your marketing spend
Stay dedicated to the effort
www.everonit.com
16
Paid Search
 Fish where the fish are biting
 Your competitors are
 Anybody can do it
 Follow Best Practices
 Be descriptive
 Choose who finds you
 Tell them what to do and where to go
 Determine the cost for obtaining a customer and target budget
 Manageable and predictable budgeting and immediate impact
www.everonit.com
17
Make It a Smooth Landing
~2% of the traffic
coming to this
page contacts us
Our sales
team converts
15% -20% of
this traffic to
customers
$$$
www.everonit.com
18
Building Trust Remotely
 Simplicity
 Make it easy to understand, people are already insecure about their understanding of IT
 Transparency
 We don’t lead with pricing, but we are very up front and simple
 Credibility – Customer Quotes
 That’s great, but let’s see what he/she has to say
 Deliver Value
 Content is everything
 Educational and resource selling
 Position as a trusted industry resource
 Benefits
 How will this make my life better and business more successful
www.everonit.com
19
Building Trust Remotely
Demystify the pricing
 Big customer pain point
 Still controversial
Show credibility
 Customer quotes
 Avoid hollow promises
www.everonit.com
20
Building Trust Remotely
Market the difference & the value
Technically we’re an IT company, but…..
 The value of a premium service
Make the shift from focusing on technology
management to focusing on strategic business
issues
It all begins with a solid foundation
www.everonit.com
21
What We’ve Learned So Far…
Value will build long-term relationships
You can build trust, security and credibility online
Marketing is a part of the greater service delivery cycle
The tone of the relationship is established in the original marketing &
sales process
Sell & market the value, do not diminish it from the beginning
www.everonit.com
22
What We’ve Achieved
 Breakthrough in selling reoccurring 6 figure service contracts remotely
 Predictability in the sales & marketing of SMB IT services
 Average cost per acquisition that is less than 10% of the annual contract
 Platform for continued national expansion
 460% increase newsletter subscribers since 2005
 1000% increase unique website visits since 2005
 400% increase inbound leads since 2005
 500% increase pay per click derived sales 2005-2006
 Pay per click average sales cycle of 2 months
www.everonit.com
23
Take Aways
Make sure your results are measurable and marketing is consistent
It’s not one thing it’s all a mix
Build value & trust early on “You never get a second chance at a first
impression”
Patience…. The hard work starts when the lead comes in the door
Online marketing changing the way service companies are reaching
broader audiences
www.everonit.com
24
Acknowledgements
Michael Cooch, CEO [email protected]
David Liniado, President [email protected]
Josh Clifford, CTO
Chris Mackin, Sales Manager
Chris Burns, Web Development www.fortpointdesign.com
www.everonit.com
25
Thank You
Doug Ziewacz
Director of Marketing
Everon Technology Services
[email protected]
www.everonit.com
888-244-1748
More data on this topic
available from::
© 2006 MarketingSherpa, Inc. This
presentation is not for distribution. Thank you.26