Why Aren’t Your Marketing Materials Working?

Many moons ago, I used to work for a company where the sales culture was pretty intense. At any given time, there was 10-15 sales people who would try and sell the product – if they didn’t meet their quota, BAM they were out the door. In this company, this culture cultivated an environment where their sales department was a constant revolving door. The whole department was always filled with new faces I’ve never seen before. No one ever took the time to get to know them, because…well, why? They wouldn’t be there for long anyway.

I started to wonder how so many sales guys could be bad at sales. How’s this possible? Everyone was hired because they had some sort of successful sales experience. Then it hit me, I had an epiphany - sunlight started to break through the parting clouds and angels started signing (ok, I’m being dramatic, I’m sure someone just opened the blinds while a Britney Spears song started playing on the radio).

The problem wasn’t the sales department – it was their marketing/sales materials!

Learn from this company’s past (and I’m sure, current) flaws:

• They aren’t customizable. You should be customizing the materials to each prospective client. This company wasn’t doing that; they’d just use the same old info they use for everyone else.
• They’re boring. Numbers, facts and figures are important – but incredibly boring! Marketing 101, you don’t sell a product – you sell an emotion. This company’s materials were boring and had no zip to it. No excitement. In fact, they looked like a 6th grader learned to use PowerPoint for the first time.  
• They tout your company too much. Prospective clients don’t want to hear about how great your company is, they want to know you understand their problems and you want to provide a solution. This company’s materials would spend too much time talking about how great they are – ain’t nobody got time for that.    
• They don’t highlight success stories or recommendations. Prospective clients want to see that you have a history of making other people happy. Studies show, by just adding this extra info – conversions from prospective clients to paying clients goes up 47%.  

If you have a question or comment, please doesn’t hesitate to reach out. You can contact me at (315) 258-8780 or at Josh@asterfg.com