Reactive versus Proactive in small business marketing sales
I was having a conversation with a new client about how customers find their type of services. I told him that first we need to determine if their sales are mainly reactive or proactive. You might be asking the same question that he did – what’s the difference. First, there is understanding how the two relate to small business marketing sales. Let me explain.
Reactive sales in small business marketing
A reactive sale happens when a customer contacts you with an emergency or costly problem your services or product could help. In this case sales in small business marketing, the customer finds you. Types of businesses that often get customers through a reactive sale are more service-oriented, such as I.T. when tech fails or data is hacked or restoration companies when a home owner has a fire or flood.
Proactive sales in small business marketing
Proactive sales in small business marketing result from your lead generation activities. You reach out to prospects that you can help with a need, challenge or opportunity. All businesses can benefit from proactive leads – that is if they are engaging an ongoing lead generation and sales program.
Growing from both reactive and proactive sales
To grow your business, you need to implement lead gen tactics to capture both reactive and proactive sales in small business marketing. Lead generation channels that work for reactive prospects are SEO, Google and Facebook ads, content marketing, and social media. These are platforms that prospects use to find a provider to help with a problem. Proactive lead generation prospecting, ebulletins, direct mail, online and print ads, networking, and trade shows. These tactics create brand awareness, so a potential customer thinks of your company when a need arises. A truly effective small business marketing sales plan will include both of these lead generation strategies. However, as a small business, you will want to use only those proven to work for your type of business.
About the Author
Paul Kowalski (or Pappy as he is called around the office) spent over two decades working at other agencies before opening Conach Marketing Group in 2008. The early part of his career was working with Fortune 500 clients at different agencies. However, working with smaller clients was his preference. This choice was because of the impact on a client’s business growth and forming closer, personal relationships.
About Conach
When he was creating Conach, his goal was to bring those Fortune 500 strategies along with years of B2B marketing experience to small business marketing clients. As a result of focusing on business to business marketing, Conach specializes in construction marketing, financial marketing, and industrial marketing. Even though we are in Mid-Michigan, Conach provides marketing services to clients across the country.
For more information, visit conachmarketing.com or contact us or call 989.401.3202.