by Larry Stein
Challenge: Companies promote their products and services to generate leads via direct marketing, advertising, events and more – but still can’t achieve the impact they need. How about a 10x boost?
We’re bombarded with messages all day everyday – online, offline and even on the sidelines. Buyers have been desensitized to vendor claims like “faster, better, cheaper, more attractive, slimmer!” We’ve been conditioned to ignore ads thrust at us: we skip ads with our DVR, we ignore banner ads on websites and we flip pages quickly past print ads. When we want ‘real’ or ‘untainted’ advice, we look for online reviews by other users. Amazon’s use of product reviews has completely transformed the buying process. We reach out to our social networks to find feedback from customers just like us. What is the value of a positive review? Huge. Think it’s not? Just check out the controversy over Yelp recommendations. And think again – because reviews matter.
Depending on which study you read, analysts report that 70% or more of the purchase process is made before the buyer visits a vendor’s website. The dramatic rise of social media use by companies further explains this trend as they try to reach higher into the buying cycle. There is an increasing number of social groups for B2B as well—LinkedIn increasingly has various professional groups, while PracticeFusion and Spiceworks are focused social communities serving medical IT professionals. Industry professionals look where they can get answers to their specific questions and read reviews of products that matter to them.
In the end, any vendor claim is just that – a claim – not proven by any unbiased entity. However a claim made by an end user is trusted and highly valued. Hence, if you attribute a scoring mechanism, vendor claims are worth one point and user claims are worth ten points. While not scientific, I think we would all agree that actual user feedback is the real deal. So how do you facilitate and support these reviews, comments and posts? You need customer advocates – customers who love your company and product so much they are willing to spend time telling others. The experience of using your product must be so compelling that they want to raise their own reputation by talking about it. The customer service and other support you provide around your product must surprise and exceed your customer expectations. Your customers need to think – ‘Wow, that was great!’ They become actual community influencers for your company and products.
So how do you give your customers this goose-bump moment? You need to open your company and product up to your buyers by doing some or any of the following:
- Offer free products or other recognition in return for feedback
- Be honest and humble when they give you candid feedback
- Listen and respond to their input; more importantly update your product with their feedback
- Show them you care by giving them early or first access to your next product
- When you stumble, acknowledge their insight and correct your mistakes
- Make your product dramatically better than anything they have seen before
In sum, give them reasons to be so excited about your product or company that they want to share their experience. Help them reinforce their status as mavens in the community by giving them something new to share with the community. Show your lead customers the respect they deserve.
Lesson: You post about your product – 1 point. Your customer posts about your product – 10 points. Find ways to create groups of advocates, community influencers, who will support and amplify your message and your efforts.
Larry Stein is a B2B marketing expert with over 15 years experience helping startups build and nurture their sales pipelines to achieve revenue goals.