Advertising, publicity and sales promotion

Prospecting: A Digital Approach

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Tusculum College

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Organizations around the globe are striving to find better ways to generate business.

Whether it be a small-town business or a multinational firm, every organization relies on sales to

keep the business afloat. It is important to identify the right target market in which a business

should market to. Perreault, Cannon, and McCarthy define prospecting as following leads in the

target market to identify potential customers (2014). It is extremely crucial that organizations are

up to date on the current prospecting techniques to generate the most potential customers

possible. Villar notes the days of mailing and telemarketing are in the past (2014). Most people

are turning to the internet as a main source to locate virtually anything. Organizations must have

a strong digital presence to generate good prospects.

The digital age has undoubtedly redefined the way prospects are found. Prospects can

now find a business faster than a business can find them (Villar, 2014). Per a February 2012

survey, 91 percent of adults utilize search engines to gather information—up 84 percent since

2004 (Villar, 2014). Among popular search engines are Google, Bing, and Yahoo. To maximize

the amount of website views a company has, the company must participate in search engine

marketing (SEM). SEM and/or “Paid Search” refer to paid listings located on a search engine

(What is SEM, 2017). The point of a paid “advertisement” URL is to attract a certain target

market. Advertisements populate on the search engine when a user enters a key word to Google,

Bing, or Yahoo. Platforms like Google and Yahoo ads allow advertisers to bid on keywords

relevant to their business (Winsauer, 2016). The highest bid will appear at the top of the search

results (Winsauer, 2016). Advertisers do this by pay per click (PPC) and cost per click (CPC).

PPC is sometimes a fixed amount of money per click, but is often in the form of a fixed budget

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(Winsauer, 2016). The value of each click may fluctuate based on competition and search

volume for the keyword (Winsauer, 2016). CPC refers to than agreed upon fee for each time a

viewer clicks an ad (Winsauer, 2016).

Many organizations spend a great percentage of marketing budgets on paid search. Levi

Mueller, Paid Search Strategist at Clayton Homes, notes the paid search process is always

changing (2017). Clayton Homes’ spends 6 million dollars a year on paid search advertisements

(2017). This is not a large number compared to the 35 million dollars State Farm spends on paid

search efforts (Mueller, 2017). Per Mueller, key search words often change and a great deal of

research is involved in attracting prospects to the advertisement (2017). One of the most popular

keywords to attract prospects to Clayton is the phrase “mobile home”. When an individual enters

mobile home into a search engine, a list of results populates and Clayton Homes is at the top. Per

Mueller, once the prospect clicks on the advertisement they reach a landing page (2017). The

information form on the landing page costs Clayton Homes six dollars per form. Six dollars is

not expensive compared to some insurance advertisements. Insurance companies have the most

expensive cost per click with the highest being $54.91 per click (Mueller, 2017). Advertising

businesses are not the only ones benefiting from the trend of digital prospecting. In fact, 96.4

percent of Google’s total revenue comes from digital paid advertisements (Power Traffic, 2016).

If a company can afford paid search advertisements, the investment will be worth the returns. For

every $1.60 a company spends on AdWords on Google, the company makes $3 in return (Power

Traffic, 2016). Considering the top three paid advertisements receive 46 percent of clicks, it is

necessary to be in the top three results (Power Traffic, 2016).

Many organizations implement a customer relationship management (CRM) system to

build relationships with potential and existing customers. Wang, Dugan, and Sojka define a

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CRM system as the uniting potential of relationship marketing strategies and IT to create

profitable, long-term relationships with customers and other key stakeholders (2013).

Furthermore, CRM systems synchronize interaction among users. CRM systems provide

communication from the prospecting stage to the closing of the deal (Wang et al., 2013). A good

CRM allows users to store and manage prospect information such as contact information,

accounts, leads, and sales opportunities in one accessible location (Salesforce, 2017). Once users

have prospect information, they can contact and nurture the prospect. Salesforce.com is the

world’s leader in CRM solutions (Salesforce, 2017). Businesses who use Salesforce have 44

percent more leads, 37 percent increase in sales revenue, and 45 percent increase in customer

retention (Salesforce, 2017). Salesforce’s CRM system is revolutionary in success and service.

The system offers sales cloud, service cloud, marketing cloud, analytics cloud, community cloud,

app cloud, and IoT cloud (Salesforce, 2017). Each “cloud” service provides businesses with the

ease of having one central location to access information and minimalizes the need for IT experts

to manage operating techniques (Salesforce, 2017). The Salesforce CRM offers a seamless

connection among users. Users can locate various data and prospect information from a

computer, tablet, or even smart phone (Salesforce, 2017). The easy-access a CRM has enables

sales people to close on deals in virtually any location (Salesforce, 2017). In addition to storing

valuable information, Snyder suggests that CRM systems offer real-time monitoring and

delivering capabilities through social media and email campaigns (2013). The goal of

implementing a CRM system is to navigate prospects to the appropriate sales team for a quick

follow-up and potential sale.

Businesses use CRM systems to collect data in many forms. Viswanathan notes examples

of data collection are sign up forms, social media links, and surveys (2012). Many times, a

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customer will click on an advertisement from a social media site or search engine. Once the link

is clicked, the customer should reach a landing page where a form will appear to gather customer

information (Mueller, 2017). The field should ask for basic customer information such as name

and contact information (Viswanathan, 2012). After the information is transferred to the CRM

system, the prospect will have a campaign source attached to it. The campaign source is the

identification of how the prospect became a prospect (Mueller, 2017). In other words—what did

the customer click on and where did they click it. Campaign sources identify the needs of the

customer and better sort the customer within the companies CRM system (Mueller, 2017).

Campaign sources create a more personalized experience for the customer. HubSpot is a popular

internal marketing CRM system used for the sourcing processes. Barnett notes the integration of

HubSpot with Salesforce will bring a company’s marketing strategy to the next level (2016). A

marketing database, like HubSpot, gathers customer data from the landing page, further

segments the data, and adds it to the proper list in Salesforce (Barnett, 2016).

After prospecting data is gathered, the next step in turning a prospect into a customer is

contact. As discussed earlier, CRM systems hold valuable information about a prospect. The

campaign source attached to a prospect will help a salesperson understand how to better assist a

prospect (Mueller, 2017). The first attempt in contacting a prospect is through a discovery phone

call (McConnachie, 2016). Furthermore, McConnachie argues the goal of a discovery call is to

convert them from a prospect to a client (2016). A salesperson must be mindful of the prospects

needs and attempt to personalize the conversation or voicemail.

A prospect is more likely to answer a number with their local area code. Local Presence

software empowers callers to dial any number, anywhere (RingDNA, 2017). The innovative

technology in a local presence software allows prospects to always see a local area code on their

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caller ID (RingDNA, 2017). Local presence dialers can contact four times the number of

prospects than other methods such as 1-800 numbers (RingDNA, 2017). After a phone call,

Brudner recommends sending a follow-up email (2016). Research shows that the number of

people who look at their emails at least once a day is 91%, per McConnachie (2016). As soon as

a prospect responds, it is important to find out when the best time to reach them is. Many firms

encourage representatives to estimate how likely a prospect is going to become a customer on a

scale from A-D (Perreault et al., 2014). Attractive accounts will be labeled A and the least

attractive accounts will be labeled D and transferred to a different group or database within the

CRM (Perreault et al., 2014).

AWL is an example of large-scale insurance lead provider that implements digital

prospecting strategies (Premium Leads, 2017). The organization works for insurance companies

who wish to outsource the contacting of insurance prospects. At AWL, conversion rate is high

(Premium Leads, 2014). Since insurance companies spend the most on paid search

advertisements, a high conversion rate is vital. AWL callers can locate prospects as they are

online searching for insurance products (Premium Leads, 2017). After location, AWL

representatives specify phone calls to customer quote requests. Next, the CRM distributes

prospects among target markets. Finally, AWL agents make high-quality calls and convert high-

intent leads (Premium Leads, 2017). High intent leads are more likely to becoming paying

customers. The call center has around the clock access to leads and sends out email/text

notifications to increase sales potential (Premium Leads, 2017). Many businesses implement

their own call center, but there are other third party call centers such as AWL.

In conclusion, prospecting techniques are constantly changing in the digital world.

Prospects are searching for businesses before businesses have a chance to search for them. Gone

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are the days of mailing advertisements and telemarketing. For corporations to keep up with the

overwhelming online presence, it is necessary to go digital when prospecting. The resources that

are readily available online have improved and completely changed the prospecting process.

Businesses are investing a large amount of money in paid search efforts. Firms who are easily

accessed on search engines have a greater chance of being contacted by a prospect due to

smartphone convenience. With the help of CRM implementation, organizations can track and

segment customers by campaigns and specific customer needs. The execution of CRM systems

accompanied with proper follow-up will increase the likelihood of a prospect becoming a paying

customer. The future of prospecting will continue to grow online as consumers turn to the

internet for guidance.

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References

Barnett, D. (2016). 3 Easy Steps to Integrate HubSpot and Salesforce. Retrieved from

http://barnettgroup.com/3-easy-steps-to-integrate-hubspot-and-salesforce/

Brudner, E. (2016). Sales Follow-Up Emails the Pros Use. Retrieved from

https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/sales-follow-up-email-free-email-

templates#sm.00001ukhuhejnrcoiwowk76kcxbjr

McConnachie, C. (2016). Effective Prospecting Techniques to Acquire More Customers.

Retrieved from http://www.salesforcesearch.com/blog/effective-prospecting-techniques-

to-acquire-more-customers

Mueller, L. Personal Communication, April 25, 2017.

Perreault, W.D., Cannon, J.P., and McCarthy, E.J. (2014). Basic Marketing: A Marketing

Stratefy Planning Approach. New York, NY: McGraw Hill

Power Traffic. (2016). PPC Trends and Statistics. Retrieved from

http://www.powertraffick.com/ppc-trends-and-statistics

Premium Leads. (2017). Premium Leads and Calls. Retrieved from http://www.allwebleads.com/

RingDNA. (2017). ringDNA. Retrieved from http://www.ringdna.com/local-presence-dialer-

inside-sales

Salesforce. (2017). Salesforce.com, Inc. Retrieved from

https://www.salesforce.com/products/what-is-salesforce/

Snyder, M. (2013). Maximizing Revenue Opportunities with CRM Systems. CPA Journal,

83(1), 15.

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Viswanathan, B. (2012). Populating your CRM—What data to collect and how to collect the

data. Retrieved from https://project-management.com/populating-your-crm-what-data-to-

collect-and-how-to-collect-the-data/

Villar, J. (2014). Merging Digital and Traditional Lead Generation Strategies. Journal Of

Financial Planning, 27(11), 22-23.

Wang, X., Dugan, R., & Sojka, J. (2013). CRM Systems with Social Networking Capabilities:

The Value of Incorporating a CRM 2.0 System in Sales/Marketing Education. Marketing

Education Review, 23(3), 241-250. doi:10.2753/MER1052-8008230303

What is SEM (2017). What is SEM & Paid Search Marketing? Retrieved from

http://searchengineland.com/guide/what-is-paid-search

Winsauer, E. (2016). What’s the Difference Between PPC and CPC? VIEO. Retrieved from

https://www.vieodesign.com/blog/whats-the-difference-between-ppc-and-cpc