You are making sales calls and some customers are unresponsive even after initial conversations. It is quite possible that these people do not have the problem that your business solves. They haven’t yet Googled about the problem you solve!
For people are looking for solutions to their problems and all businesses exist to solve customer problems. The famous marketing quote from Theodore Levitt in Clayton Christensen illustrates the idea:
People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill, they want a quarter-inch hole
So if they have no need to drill a hole, it’s unlikely that they’ll Google “best drill bits.” And drill bits need the customer to own a drilling machine. If you are a new and improved drill-bit maker you could think of three segments of potential customers:
- Those who need to drill a hole, have a drilling machine but no appropriate drill bit: For this segment, its useful to have digital content and advertising messages that solve this type of customer’s problem. This customer segment is already familiar with drill bits and might search for a specific application ” drill antique wood door hinge”. If you have a solution, you probably got that business.
- Those who do need to drill a hole but have no drilling machine: This segment already has the need and your bundled offers that include drilling machines could resonate. Most drilling machine makers would be willing to work on a special deal with drill bit makers if they were selling online. This type of customer might search “replace hinge antique door and drill holes.”
- Those who do not need to drill a hole and have not used a drilling machine: For this group good content marketing could help if eventually they had a problem (eg. changing hinges on antique doors, now need to drill a hole in wood). Content could include tips on how to drill wood, drywall and metal. This is the segment that needs education (how easy it is to use a drilling machine) and a step by step guide to the use of particular drill bits.
Businesses do understand that they have different segments of customers who are facing different types of problems as illustrated above. While the solution offered by a business (eg. drill bits above) may work immediately for some people (A,B above) some others would need education as in C above.
Search advertising, like Google AdWords works best for A) and B) above but is not applicable for C) because the customer is not searching!