How focusing on your company’s “core” can you help you win leads

A question for the INBOX community — our 3PL friends, consultants, software and technology vendors: Are you getting enough leads?

If I had to guess, most of you would say you could use more. It seems to me that the challenge of finding opportunities for new business is a universal problem. Nearly every person I talk to complains about the tough task of getting new leads. No one has ever said to me, “I have too many leads.” It reminds me of the lyrics from the 1963 song by Sam Cooke (which was later covered by Cat Stevens in the 70s):

“If I could meet ‘em, I could get ‘em

But as yet I haven’t met ‘em,

That’s how I’m in the state I’m in.” 

For me, that sentiment captures the nature of salespeople in general. They are confident that given the chance to meet new leads, they can close a deal. But they have anxiety that stems from whether they can get the quality leads they need. That anxiety increases exponentially when salespeople are expected to find their own leads.

How do you generate leads? At what cost? Many SMBs in the supply chain world cannot blow out a sizable budget to spend on filling the top of the funnel. Strategies to attract new leads must be cost effective.

Personally, I think companies do not spend enough time strategizing about where they fit in the marketplace. It is important for companies to self-reflect on what they offer to a specific market segment, and to identify the qualities that differentiate them and increase their potential to sell. It seems to me that too many people chase whatever leads they can find, without consideration for their probability of winning. That can be a huge expense when you don’t win. An old friend of mine used to say, “the worst outcome of an RFP process is to come in second, because you spent just as much time and money as the winner, but you get absolutely nothing out of it.”

Every company selling something in our world has a layered ability to attract new customers. At its core, every company has a sweet spot that makes them most competitive. It may be the product offering, or the experience of the team, or their pricing scheme, or most probably a combination of these. Then there are layers beyond that core, where you lose a degree of competitive advantage with each layer. Strategies for each layer are different.

How do you find your core? It seems to me most companies don’t know how to do that. It takes an exercise in honest self-evaluation to determine your strengths and weaknesses. It’s a healthy exercise to do every few years. Markets change, and so do you.

RCK Consulting can now help you with this exact exercise. Kelly Mello-Woodsum is a new partner and our SVP of Marketing Consulting, with 25 plus years’ experience working with supply chain technology companies in leading the exercises I discussed above. This process is designed to help your company figure out its core and plan a strategy for how to exploit it effectively in the marketplace.

You can get the same help from large marketing specialty groups that will get you to the same place but will cost you a lot more. And let’s face it, how many of these firms actually understand supply chain businesses? Call us. Let’s talk about it. 

Contact RCK Consulting to learn more about our marketing ramp up strategy for SMBs.