Bridging The Generation Gap

Working with a local manufacturing business this week suddenly brought about what some may call “an epiphanous moment”. Maybe we were just getting so close to the trees that we could not see the wood any more. But what emerged from our session was to us a message from which we believe many businesses can learn.

We had been exploring the whole area of client communication in its broadest sense – from packaging through advertising through service delivery through to what the sales people actually say about the company when they are ”at the sharp end” in the customers offices.

And what became abundantly clear was that the rules of the game had changed. To a limited extent this applied to the product range although that was not where we felt the greatest change had taken place. What had changed dramatically was the nature of many of the buyers.

Let us go back a bit – research confirms regularly that buyers do not just purchase a product. They buy the package of benefits that surrounds that product and that they enjoy from the purchase. And this is where we discovered the huge mindshift that had been eluding us – our buyers are increasingly from the “Now” generation. This has little or nothing to do with the transformational change happening in the country but it has everything to do with the way that younger buyers interact – they are looking for instant gratification. They want it but they want it now!!! It is much more a psychographic issue than a demographic one.

They live in an environment which places huge pressure on their time and with media like cell phones, SMS, Mixit, Face Book and the Internet devices  things happen and happen quickly if not instantly. So this naturally affects their mindset in any and every buying situation – they want their needs met NOW!

And we would be missing a trick if we thought that it applied only to younger buyers – almost everybody is faced with the same increasing demands on our time and the need to “make things happen at pace”.

So what does that mean for us in small businesses? It means that we have to find new ways to make the links to customers – we need to make sure that our brand becomes a brand with which this new breed of buyer can easily associate.

We need to know exactly what our “new age” buyers are looking for and we have to find ways to deliver that. We have to re-examine the way we do business – starting from the bottom up and find ways to ensure that our “brand offering” in the broadest sense is relevant to buyers in the current generation.

We have to ‘connect’ in the way that our buyers understand and enjoy – we have to figure out what it is in our businesses that can truly resonate with our customers and will “connect” us to them in a way that will maximise their experience dealing with us. And if we don’t have it, we need to find it quickly if we are going to survive.

Business to Business Marketing

For many people marketing is only relevant in the B2C (business to consumer) sector. This is where companies sell their services and/or products to the man in the street. But is that true? Where does this leave those of you that sell to other businesses?

B2B (business to business) marketing plays a very different role and is, in many ways, much simpler. While B2C marketing is trying to reach “everyone” this is not the case in the B2B marketing. Here you have a finite target segments, which are usually easier to identify, although not as easy to convert!

Sales and marketing efforts to another business has advantages but does not come without its fair share of challenges too. For example in the B2C sector you don’t have to work out how to get around gatekeepers, receptionists, secretaries or other staff who have been instructed to block your access to decision makers. This hurdle is an important one to be navigated in the B2B sector.

Before you starting thinking about actual marketing activities you need to do three things:

First: Give careful consideration to clarifying your target market clearly. It is important that everyone in your organization is clear on who they are talking to and, of course, why. Remember you want to group people together that have similar problems so that you can provide solutions to their particular needs.

Second: Ensure you know who, in the target organisation, is actually the decision-maker, who rubber stamps decisions and who the potential gatekeepers are. Without prior understanding of these roles, and who plays them, you will waste time and money on woo’ing the wrong person, only to find yourself and your efforts undermined.

Third: Spend a bit of time looking critically at your database. Usually B2B companies deal with a small number of potential clients so you should have an existing database of information available to you eg potential client names, contact people and contact information (email, contact numbers etc). Once you’ve compiled and sorted the information prioritise the list so that you and/or your sales team have a clear call cycle strategy to work from.

There are two key marketing tools that you will find the most effective in business to business marketing. These are Direct Marketing and Personal Selling. Don’t underestimate the value of these, they will reward you handsomely if you implement them effectively.

Focus on your Target Market!

It is fascinating to work with different businesses and to see how they approach their customers. There are those who are on the treadmill, working harder and faster taking in anything they can lay their hands on just to get turnover (the die hards). Then there are those who sit and focus on who makes a good customer and then commit unstintingly to seeking, attracting and converting those that they know are going to take them where they want to go – from financial, production capacity and market share perspectives (the seekers).

What are you? Of course it’s open to debate where the focus should be; externally or internally? I believe it is a balance between the two (and no I’m not sitting on the fence!). Having seen both sides of the coin many times, too much focus in one area leaves your business weak and susceptible in the other and, quite honesty, a ladder with one weak leg is still dangerous – it doesn’t really matter which leg it is!

However, everything in business starts with who is going to buy your product or service. What do they want, what are their expectations, what is their level of understanding of what you have to offer and are you able (or willing) to satisfy – and exceed – their needs in order to build sustainability in the market place?

When last did you take a look at your customer base and determine how many good customers you have? A good exercise is to do is a quick Customer Grading Matrix. Here are two ways of doing this:
1. This first method is good if you have an established client base with regular repeat purchases and want to assess their worth to you as a company. Take a piece of paper and divide it into 4 quadrants making a square. Determine what the X and Y axis are going to be (turnover monthly/annually, payment method, level of useage (units/time/range), loyalty level, location etc. The selected X/Y axis definitions should be the two most critical characteristics you require in your clients. Then, plot your clients accordingly to see which quadrant each one of them sits. Analyse the picture created and then plan your course of action going forward.
2. This second option is good if you need to increase your customer base and need to ensure you pull on-board more good customers. First, determine the characteristics that you believe make a good client. The same criteria as mentioned above can be used, however, this time create a quick bar chart eg one characteristic per bar (you can have as many as you need). Allocate a set number of “points” per category eg 10, and then rate each client, out of 10, for each of the characteristics you have settled on. When you start making contact with a potential client, quickly run them through your characteristic scoring mechanism (the bar chart) and see how they rate. If they score 80% or above you know they’re good for you, 60-80% look at what characteristics are pulling them down and determine whether or not these are critical, 50% or less you really need to take a close look to ensure you are not going to be running hard but getting nowhere!

How often do we find we are putting a lot of time, effort and resources into pulling on board customers who are not good for us in the long term? Our short-term turnover focus blinds us to the long-term value and ROI (or ROE –Return on Effort).

There is nothing more rewarding than having a sustainable business built on a win/win of you taking your clients where they want to go while they are taking you where you want to go. After all isn’t that what we are really all striving for?

Yours in marketing

Dianne