A question for sem resellers: Do you still think it’s a “land grab”?
At a search engine marketing (SEM) conference not too long ago, someone said, “It’s a land grab out there. The company that gets to the small business owner first and signs them up with any type of search engine marketing program…wins!”
Since that time many other companies that sell SEM packages to small business owners have used the same strategy. The main emphasis for many of these companies has been speed. Call on as many businesses as you can, sign up as many as possible, and the more productive the sales force is the more successful the SEM reseller company will be.
Unfortunately, for many of the SEM reseller companies out there who have taken this approach, it hasn’t worked. What many sales executives have left out of their formula for success…is customizing the conversation so that it addresses the small business owner’s needs.
Developing and maintaining a successful SEM campaign can be a complicated and time-consuming process; something that many small business owners just don’t have the time to do themselves. Many business owners know that their potential customers are increasingly going online to look for their products and services, and they know that they should be there when that happens, but they need someone who is willing to take the time needed to help them do it the right way. Not just sell them a quick pre-packaged SEM program that may or may not have the right outcome for their business.
By taking a “land grab” approach, many SEM reseller companies have quickly signed up thousands of small business owners…only to have them cancel their programs immediately after their contract ended, sometimes even sooner. The churn rates for some SEM reseller companies are approaching and even exceeding 60%!
It’s one thing to convince a business owner to try SEM and buy a pre-packaged one-size-fits-all program. It’s another thing to take the time to truly understand what the business owner is trying to accomplish, to sell them a program that helps the business owner get the types of clicks and calls they want (not just any clicks). There is also an issue when it comes to the number of clicks and calls they can handle and want, to help them reach the types of customers they want from the geographic areas they service. By taking a more consultative approach, you will have a much greater chance of satisfying the customer…and keeping them!
So, do you still think it’s a land grab?
Mike Centorani
Vice President of Training and Development
MatchCraft, Inc.
www.matchcraft.com
So many business owners I know claim to have been “scammed” by SEM resellers years ago, and won’t even consider looking at it again because the taste in their mouths is so bad. I’ve personally witnessed an SEM salesperson for a directory company try to convince a business I worked at that “analytics isn’t important, you just need to get a lot of clicks” when asked why their interface couldn’t integrate into Google Analytics to better track ROI.
Perhaps what is needed is a more holistic approach to the “SEM reseller” business. Instead of just getting the customers to buy clicks, they need to really understand the clients business and help them take a comprehensive approach to online marketing, before the PPC accounts are funded.
IMHO, you can’t sell a client paid clicks without helping them create a decent landing page first. You can’t help them create a decent landing page without helping them create an “offer” for the call to action. You can’t help a business create an offer without a thorough understanding of the business and their customers. I don’t see how a 5,000 client strong reseller could transition to that.
My hunch is that you will see small digital agencies & consultants – down to one man shops – who can retain the clients over the long run – because they don’t have a gazillion others. That is, if they can overcome the damage that has been wrought by all the “glen gary glen ross” style selling practices by SEM resellers.