Small business sales and marketing software company Infusionsoft has a new free tool called the Small Business Sales and Marketing Scorecard. It’s designed to show you what you could be doing better in your sales and marketing process.
Input your website URL and email address to examine your existing marketing strategy and sales performance. The scorecard grades you on specific areas where you can improve. Specifically, you’ll get feedback on how you are doing overall. But there will also be an evaluation of how you are doing with social media and lead capture. You then answer a series of questions to get deeper into the specifics of your sales and marketing process.
Specifically, the Scorecard grades on three stages of your company’s marketing and sales effort. The stages are part of what Infusionsoft calls the “Lifecycle Marketing Model.” The model is used to evaluate how you attract, sell and then “wow” customers. Here’s a look at what the scorecard evaluates in each stage.
Attract
The tool looks at who your ideal customers are so you can target them. This is best done by researching all useful information about them. It could include their demographics and where to find them online and in person. It could also include how you approach them and follow up with them later.
Sell
In this section, the scorecard looks at how you pursue closing that sale. As all good salespeople know, the best sales pitch is when you are solving a problem for the customer. A lot has to do with how and when you communicate with customers.
Wow
Here the scorecard evaluates how you deliver on your business’s promises. That way, they will refer you to their friends, and also keep coming back for more, too. This results in less marketing and promotion efforts, which will be cheaper for you in the long run.
Referrals are the key to keeping the business going. If people start referring you, then you know you’ve done something right. Word of mouth is invaluable.
Just to test the scorecard, we put in three well-known companies to see how they did. The results were surprising to say the least.
Apple, Microsoft, and Google all get an overall C!
Why the hiccup?
Seems they are all neglecting social media, and are lacking a subscriber email list. Oops, that’s rather embarrassing.
That’s true. While they are big brands, they somehow lack the ‘personal’ factor that most small businesses have. They tend to be more serious, corporate and hard-to-reach. Although it is not that hard for them to create those changes in their company, they must still have the initiative to change.
The bigger the company, the more employees they will have. The more employees they have, the harder it is to be “personal” to customers. Everything becomes anonymous as they have to work to strict company policies. No-one is encouraged to take initiative.
I got a B for Attract. I have to include some kind of lead form. I have an newsletter sign-up box, but it hasn’t started yet. I scored B on sell. I don’t have a content management system. (Is the solution a service by InfusionSoft?! 😉 )
I got a B on the WOW factor. I don’t have a customer referral / loyalty program in place.
I did get an overall B grade.
Now it is time for a consulation… 😉
Sounds like the scorecard gave you a lot to think about! Keep us in the loop about your progress, and if you finally managed to get a higher score in the end.
My guess is Apple, Microsoft and Google aren’t exploring the social media side of things that much because perhaps they feel they don’t need to. Their popularity and success doesn’t depend on it.
That’s true. Their brand names and products speak for themselves. On the other hand, what’s the harm in engaging in a bit of social media, and showing customers that they are accessible?
More engagement equals (more) money spent. That’s the harm, I should imagine. Though it’s a guess on my part at best, of course.
Unless your question is rhetorical?! 😉