Inbound marketing is a complicated animal.
When companies look to implement inbound as a marketing solution, the fear of the unknown begins to creep in.
When push comes to shove, what really matters is that the investment can be measured and goals can be achieved.
How do you prove the ROI of inbound marketing to your prospects and clients? This is what we will be tackling in this episode of Inbound Sales Journey.
How to Gauge Success
How do you gauge success?
Every client you work with is going to have different circumstances, needs and expectations. Everyone measures success differently.
The key to measuring success is having a solid understanding of current metrics and company goals. If you don’t know where you are starting from you cannot gauge how achievable your goals are.
Some prospects will come in with clear future goals based off of current data. That makes the process of gauge success much easier.
Many prospects will have loose goals with little to no understanding of current metrics. So what do you do in that situation?
We use the Inbound Revenue Calculator. This helps to break down at a high level where the prospect is now and what type of impact inbound can have on their business. This sets the stage for a conversation around goals and how to achieve them.
Setting Success Expectations
There needs to be clear set expectations from the beginning surrounding how to define success. How are we going to measure it and how are we going to report that to our clients?
Lay out a plan with the client to help them understand proper expectations.
- What will we be reporting on (define the KPI’s tied to revenue and profit)? Consider things such as:
- Traffic
- Leads
- MQL’s and SQL’s
- Net new customer revenue
- What is the frequency in which we will report?
- Explain upfront what type of results the average client will see. Be conservative and aim to exceed expectations.
Have a system of closed loop reporting set in place. This will help you retain clients. Make sure you are reporting on which contacts you have brought them have closed and what the customer lifetime value is on those accounts.
When contract renewal time comes around now you have solid numbers to prove value that you have provided.
How to Leverage Goals During the Sales and On-Boarding Process
The question now becomes how do we gather the right information and present the right solution to the prospect?
New customers and prospects want education. They want to understand more than just what the goals are, they want to know the plan to achieve those goals.
We use the GamePlan during the sales process to help bring them up to speed. The first section of the GamePlan is understanding current marketing metrics and setting achievable goals.
To learn more about to use the GamePlan during the sales process read this article.
How to Connect with Ryan and Gray
Twitter:
