5 Ways Marketing Automation Shortens the Sales Cycle

Love it or hate it, marketing automation is here to stay and your sales team should be leading the cheering section in this regard (cue the Wave, sales team!). Why, you ask? Marketing automation shortens the sales cycle and has the ability to position your sales team as consultants, rather than pesky sales reps. Here are 5 ways marketing automation gets this done:

Educates Your Prospects

When the proper content is applied, marketing automation can act as the conduit for a stream of educational information about your company, your services and solutions to common challenges. This content can be produced by your team and automatically delivered in the form of a blog, eBook, downloadable guide or even a video. The more information you can provide to educate your prospect and subsequently build trust, the faster your prospect will move through the sales process. By the time your sales consultant reaches the prospect, they are moving them to a buying decision, not handing out brochures.

Increases Awareness

When marketing automation is executed across multiple forms of digital media (blog, social, paid, etc.) you can increase the chances of reaching your target customer by positioning your messages to the right person at the right time and in the right location. This increases the visibility of your brand and creates more opportunities for your prospects to get to know your business.

Makes You Smarter

The beauty of marketing automation shows in the data that is collected along the way. If you have a blog, you can track how many people are viewing the post. You can then track to see how many people are clicking on your website offers, how many emails are being opened and read and ultimately, how many sales are made. Use this information to identify those who are truly engaged with your products and services and put the others on the back burner until they’re ready to dive deeper into your marketing funnel.

Generates Qualified Leads

Salespeople hate bad leads, they’re a waste of time and they can make a person look foolish. A strong marketing automation platform will help you sift through the leads and pursue only the best leads. While HubSpot is a versatile tool used across various industries, when tailored as HubSpot for private clubs, it can specifically address the unique needs of club marketing.  You have the ability to score or rate your leads based on how they behave with your website. Is that person a frequent visitor? Have they downloaded multiple pieces of content in a certain vertical of your business? Do they always come to your website at a specific time? Track this information and your sales people will not waste time following up on bad leads - and they’ll love the marketing team like never before!

Effective Drip Campaigns

Honestly, how many drip campaigns have you started that you’ve just kinda sorta lost track of? It happens, so don’t feel ashamed. However, with emails that you produce and schedule in marketing automation, you don't need to worry about whether or not you sent that one email about that thing that’s really important for your prospects to know about. At the same time, the consistency of a well-timed email campaign can also build relationships with prospects when you provide them with the information they’re excited to hear about. Through automated email campaigns, you are providing information that will help someone move through the buying cycle quickly and build trust along the way.

_______________________________

Marketing automation is the sales person's solution to "not enough time," and "poor lead quality." Contact us today to find out more about how marketing automation can work for your organization.