eMarket2 Blogs

Hard versus soft – the lead generating pull of low commitment – high value ‘soft offers’

“After the game, the king and the pawn go into the same box.”

Italian Proverb.

Once upon a time, back in the dim and distant early days of telemarketing, lead generation involved nothing more scientific than picking up the phone and attempting to persuade as many cold prospects as possible to agree to a face-to-face meeting. And, despite its relative crudity, to a degree, it worked.

But gone are the days when you can reliably expect a return on investment by twisting a prospect’s arm into agreeing to an instantaneous meeting, even if you dress it up as a ‘free consultation’ or a ‘free seminar’.

And even if a prospect does agree to a meeting ‘on spec’, there’s a very strong likelihood that it will come to nothing, because in most cases this type of lead is poorly qualified. At best, the prospect is merely curious; they’ve time to kill.  And in my experience a prospect with time on their hands seldom has the will or authority to make a buying decision.     

In reality it’s those managers who are most concerned about their productivity that are the true hard hitters and decision makers. Quite rightly, they view their time as a precious commodity that salespeople are likely to waste.  This isn’t to say they won’t agree to speak to a sales representative, but they’ll do so only when they’re ready. In the meantime it’s unlikely they’ll be talked into buying something they don’t believe they need.

The prospects most likely to buy are those who prefer to be educated and informed over a period of time.  Get enough of these people on your side and your sales funnel will soon be filled with ‘hot’ prospects.   

That’s why these days the most successful lead-generation campaigns are inevitably linked with an educational offer.  The extent to which an offer drives the prospect towards a buying decision is determined by how “hard” it is. For example, “Respond today for your free consultation” is a hard offer. “Buy today for just £xxx” is equally a hard offer, as is “Attend a free seminar” or indeed any offer that is designed to manoeuvre the prospect into agreeing to take an immediate “next step” before they are ready to do so. 

“Soft” offers, on the other hand, are low in sales commitment. They do, however, provide a high level of perceived value: guides, reports, e-books, white papers, videos, webinars USB flash drives and podcasts are all examples of soft offers. Providing they’re of high quality, offer the recipient genuine educational value or insight and do not take the form of a thinly disguised sales pitch (critical!), people love soft offers.

And why shouldn’t they? After all, businesspeople want assistance in doing their jobs better, making money, becoming more productive, keeping up with the latest trends and learning what works for others. So an offer of unique research, statistics or success strategies is an appeal to the buyer’s core desire to succeed.

One soft offer that I find particularly impressive is Cisco Systems’ “engagement through proof of performance” video case studies which include interactive participation with their customers. Cisco is currently posting hundreds of these video case studies monthly.

This isn’t to say that you take your foot off the “hard” pedal altogether. In today’s market, with its glacial sales cycles, it’s wise to deploy a mix of soft and hard offers that errs on the soft side, thereby filling your sales funnel with the buyers of the future without losing out on short-term revenue.

Whatever form it takes, a great offer is the inducement that overcomes the reluctance of your target to speak to a salesperson. A great offer persuades prospects to tentatively stick their heads above the parapet to suggest they might have an interest in knowing more—without the awful necessity of committing to a meeting with a salesperson. This is the best chance you’ll have of presenting your product to your target market. Use it wisely.

And finally, Bette Davis, a postponement…

Bette Davis was once informed by her attorney that rumours of her death were spreading through New York. “Die? During a newspaper strike?” she replied. “I wouldn’t even consider it!”

Thanks for reading. As ever, your comments and ideas are very welcome. 

And always to a higher response!

Norman

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