The New Sales Funnel

December 9th and 10th I attended the Dallas Digital Marketing Summit and there were MANY important takeaways about how to market today and what the wave of the future is that we as content creators and social media directors need to know.  Don’t checkout now just because I said content creator or social media director because the truth is that WE ALL have a hand in the SEO and social media of our company.  It’s part of everyone’s job and if it isn’t it probably should be in this new digital age.

The late date of the conference makes it one of the final marketing shows of the year it really helps you get focused on your new initiatives in the new year.  I will post in the coming weeks on some of the various sessions I attended, but I’ll start with discussing the death of the traditional sales funnel.  This talk by PGi rep Jeff Perkins changed how I am going to create and distribute a variety of content on both our website and social media in 2015.

Let’s start with the new sales funnel.  We are longer in control of where buyers are in the sales cycle based on the amount of information at a prospects fingertips.  Jeff shared that prospects are already 70% through the sales process when they contact you.  70%!! It used to be (2 long years ago) they would contact you via the website and you would start them down a path by providing content and emails at a scheduled time to story tell and educate.

Now buyers are researching both you and the services available before they even make contact.  You can access Jeff Perkins presentation on slideshare by clicking here, but here were nuggets I took away from his presentation.

If prospects are already 70% through the sales process what were they doing during that time?  Google says they are on google searching the various brands, checking reviews, watching videos and reading other news sites.

This makes the website your front line sales rep.  Or as a broker it makes your Linkedin or other social networks a great way to introduce yourself and what gives you a competitive advantage over others.  Jeff made a great analogy that the new customer journey is like the old Choose Your Own Adventure books where you could create your own twists and turns and arrive at various endings.

This means you have to make information easy and accessible.  This is a hard pill to swallow when we as marketers have been “raised” with a totally different mindset.  It has to be even harder for Commercial Real Estate who has considered this information their best sales and marketing asset.

Other tips shared included:

If hosting a webinar or meeting 62% say video is the most important part of the webcast.  Google Hangouts now makes this simple for the smaller meetings.

Use the power of video to engage!  Half of all customers shopping engage in video.

64% are more likely to buy after watching a video and/or drives sales/engagement.  Set up the problem you are solving for at the beginning to make sure they watch the entire video.

Brokers could create simple videos on their cell phone and share via social media, web or email. Prospects watching a video that gives your background, accomplishments and some advantages of working with you could be just what they need to contact you sooner in the process!

I suggest following Jeff Perkins on Twitter at @jeffperkins8 to learn more or get insights on the next big changes in marketing.  Or visit Dallas Digital Summit and follow as people share and continue to discuss the mass amounts of information that was shared.

Contact Ascendix today to learn more about xRE Composer, a new CRE Marketing solution that assists in content creation to market properties, listings and availabilities.