web 2.0 websites outsell salespeople

web 2.0 websites outsell salespeople (0)

James Cox | 9/05/2007

Should a business hire a new salesperson or develop a new web 2.0 website ?

Having encountered this scenario time and time again in my sales role at Wiliam web design and web development, the answer is highly dependant on a range of factors;

• the nature of the business's products and services
  
  
• the sales process (lead times, current conversion rate, current sales material)
  
  
• the demand for the business's products and services through current channels (referalls and cold calling)
  
  
• The demand for the business's products and services online (to be examained in detail below)
  
  
• An overall assessment of the long-term and short-term benefits of a web 2.0 website to the business' growth
  
  
• The business'committment to utilise a web 2.0 website to attract leads and compliment the current sales process
  
  

Transactional or service based ?

The above factors are of particular importance to businesses that deal with the sale of products and services that require alot of assistance, time and effort during the sales process. Unlike a business that is highly transactional such an Amazon or eBAY, salespeople are always going to be required to facilitate requirements like proposal preparation, real-life presentations, and client contact regardless in many more established industries.

Traditionally, this positions transactional businesses that deal with larger quantities of products with smaller individual costs more likely to see the benefits of a shift online than service based businesses with larger lead times and average sale sizes who would generally prefer to just hire another salesperson.

Most service based businesses would have suggested that a salesperson had a greater ability to attract and convert leads through being more capable of adapting the services offered to each client's needs than a website would have been able to.

Only 5 years ago, this line of reasoning would have been true in almost all cases from a return on investment perspective.

However, with the advent of web 2.0 websites which are able to attract potenital clients in a systematic and predictable manner and to then siphen leads directly to an existing sales team, there is now large potential that a $60,000 website will have a higher ROI than a an extra salesperson's salary for many service based businesses.

A web 2.0 website is a talented salesperson on a larger scale

Increased user interaction, greater ability to syndicate content to a larger audience, scientific methods to measure how many users are searching key terms and phrases in Google and then to optimise your website for the same specific keywords and phrases - web 2.0 provides a quantifiable mechanism to reach your target market and to capture their contact information for your sales team.

The most talented of salespeople are capable of creating methods that identify target markets, gather contact information and provide a mechanism of marketing their particular service to that market.

It appears that a web 2.0 website is not just capable of doing this but of doing it a much broader scale, a significantly reduced on-going cost and in a manner than truly grows the business and increases the business' intrinsic value and reputation in the market.

Why a web 2.0 website will work ?

1. Many marketing managers, key corporate executives and businesses have moved online to research products and services required for their company through search engines such as Google,
   
   
2. It is now possibly to quantify exactly how many people are searching specific keywords and phrases relevant to your business' products and services and to get an idea of exactly who the competition is,
   
   
3. Through strategic development, search engine optimisation and targeted content syndication through corporate blogging, it is possible to educate these people who are searching for information relating to the services of your business or the services themselves,
   
   
4. By creating a relationship with your potential clients by educating them in this manner, it is possible to gather their contact information through strategic calls to action and simultaneously generate a very 'hot' lead that can be instantly emailed to your sales team.
   

Web 2.0 online marketing and corporate blogging are no longer hit and miss methods;  they form a systematic, scientific and sustainable method of growing your business whilst at the same time educating your target market.

So, why is a $60,000 web 2.0 website better than a 60,000 salesperson's salary ?

Lets assume that a business can spend $60,000 on an additional salesperson's salary for one year or $60,000 on the design and development of a cutting-edge and strategic web 2.0 website.

Lets also assume that the business already has at least 2 salespeople and that the current methods of attracting clients mainly consist of a combination of referrals and targeted cold calling.

1. An extra salesperson could not possibly add the same amount of value in terms of relevant sales lead generation that a properly designed and target web 2.0 website could,
   
   
2. The generated leads form a web 2.0 website will be in the market for your services; rather than having to use salespeople to sift through 100’s of companies trying to find the right client for your product, a successful web 2.0 website will find those companies who have just searched for information relevant to your company,
   
   
3. A innovative and cutting-edge web 2.0 website will increase the business' reputation and aid the existing sales team in the offline sales process by specifically designing case studies areas, common presentations and email marketing campaigns on the website in a manner that an extra salesperson could never succeed in.
   
   
4. Writing specific blogs on a client by client basis provides the existing sales team with a reason to contact existing leads in an informative and benefiical manner.
   
   
5. A web 2.0 website is a long-term investment and provides significant on-going value following the first year whereas a salesperson's salary is likely to increase in costs the next year.
   
   
6. A web 2.0 website that is actually representative of your companies strategy, products and direction will drive business growth through increased leads, reputation and intrinsic value.
   
   
7. A web 2.0 website is capable of meeting many other business requirements such as on-going support, product and services updates, business information and client login areas.
   

Wiliam specialises in web 2.0 web design, web development, search engine optimisation and results focused web management strategies; to learn more enquire below.

tags: SEO ,  Web 2.0 ,  Email Marketing ,  Online Trends ,  Business