The Perfect Antidote to the Economic Gloom - GROWTH.
Blog | 3 minute read.
Writing this reminded me of a great story a friend recounted about a CEO addressing his investment team. I love this story…
The market was down, it was splashed all over the media, clients were calling asking questions. Understandably the investment team was under the pump and feeling it. The CEO addressed his troops. His message was clear, inspirational, challenging…
“Anyone can make money in a rising market, but any fund manager worth his or her weight in gold could (and should) make money in a downturn.”
He went on to highlight some past examples that helped land the message. Finally, he left the team with the challenge to go and find those opportunities.
Whether you like it or not the commentary about the NZ and global economy is full of doom, and business confidence has taken a hit. The same market conditions the investment team were facing. So when I reviewed a couple of client accounts in detail earlier in the month, I remembered the CEO story and was inspired to type.
This post then is all about GROWTH. Inspiration and focus, to go for growth, even (or especially) when everyone else is gloomy. It’s too easy to blame the economy, to hunker down and let the sales graph level off and slip quietly into decline.
(Hint: this isn’t about spending BIG on short term fixes, silver bullets or miracle new social media channels).
57% of the B2B purchase decision is completed before a customer even contacts a supplier - CEB + Google
Rather than investing time and money implementing dubious tactics, it may be time to tune up your primary salesperson - your website. It represents your brand globally 24/7, helps attract potential customers, provides all the preliminary information they need so they do get in contact.
If your website is optimised within an inch of its life, then pat yourself on your back. Your work here is done. You've got other more sophisticated tasks to focus on.
But if you're like 95% of NZ business websites then these levers could help you deliver the growth your stakeholders need.
You can drive all the traffic you like to your website but if your primary salesperson (aka your website) is underperforming in today’s sales funnel, you’re not going to get the engagement. Potential buyers will go elsewhere.
3X Growth in 3 years.
Lever #1: Just leverage what you’ve already got!
This client grew their audience X3
vs the market trending slightly down over the same period.
3X Growth? How??
Let’s call this one ‘steady growth’, taking advantage of the rich data they already had but hadn’t turned into useful insights. Leveraging their existing website, and using the power of Google to connect with their audience. Playing well with Google was key.
We grew their highly engaged audience by 3X over 3 years. Record sales months. Changing traditional retail sales patterns of feast and famine.
Here’s what we did:
Set clear website goals - being 100% clear about its role in the customer journey - see our fundamental principals here of what your website (your primary salesperson) needs to deliver.
Audited the performance of their website - technical, content and Google My Business
Lifted the lid on their Google Analytics account
Rolled our sleeves up and got under the bonnet of their Google AdWords account
And once we had all the insight we needed, we started work on improving their existing website, persuasive and focused content, with highly targeted AdWords.
Read our previous blog post here for more.
And the best news… we’ve only done the 101 stuff! There’s a roadmap prioritising more opportunities we identified to continue the growth!
3X Growth in 3 months.
Lever #2: Maximise performance
This client grew its audience 3X in just 3 months.
3X Growth in 3 months. How???
Let’s call this one maximising performance, taking advantage of the rich data and useful insights as we outlined previously. But rather than leveraging their existing website, this client invested in a new website platform. A new platform optimized for Google and focused messages for their audiences across Australia and New Zealand.
September 2019 has been a record sales month, and we’re only on the 17th!
Here’s what we did:
Everything from the previous ‘steady growth’ example - website goals, website audit, Google Analytics, Google AdWords formed our foundational insights.
With this one though, once we had all the insight we needed, we started working from the ground up. Improving the user journey - navigation, page structures, unlocking content - championing the customer - a new website.
And with the amazing client and development partners, we were able to turn the new site around in 3 months.
Key Takeaways
Just as the CEO challenged his team, there are ALWAYS opportunities for growth, even in a downturn.
Those growth opportunities can be right under your nose - your website is a great place to start - it’s your primary salesperson. It presents your biggest opportunity to educate buyers and help guide commercial decisions.
Hunt out opportunities for improvement with great research to give you genuine insights. And then based on those insights you can either:
Leverage what you’ve already got for steady growth improvements, improve the customer journey, play well with Google and focus your message on your audiences.
Or accelerate growth, take those same rich insights and aggressively maximise performance by redeveloping your website.
Anyone can make money when the market is rising but how about when the market is trending down?