Developing inbound strategies to help before, after the sale

Although many new technologies start out as little more than curiosities, some go on to have profound influences on society. Radio and television changed entertainment and advertising forever. The telephone introduced immediate two-way communication, a vast improvement over its one-way predecessors: snail mail (too slow) and the telegraph (too impersonal). Cellular technology made the telephone even more convenient than ever, while the Internet did the same for information searches and retrieval.

For companies in the metal fabrication network—original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) that need fabricated parts, metal fabricators that supply those parts, and the machine builders that make fabricating possible—did any of these have a profound impact on business-to-business communication? Certainly the telephone is indispensable, and the Internet is good for email, and that’s about it, right?

It could be argued the Internet does a little more than that, but not much. Web sites provide information about products and the companies that make them, but let’s face it: When it comes to making buying decisions or a purchase, the Internet is great for everyday transactions and little else. Consumers can reserve hotel rooms, shop around for airline tickets, look around for a plumber to replace that old water heater (and read some reviews), pay bills, or buy nearly anything—you need a windshield wiper for a 1951 Bugatti model 101?—from Amazon. It’s great for consumers, but nobody in his right mind would use the Internet to research a capital investment or accept a quote to make or finish a part, would he? No, he wouldn’t, and we all know why:

1. These sorts of business-to-business arrangements require face-to-face meetings and depend on deep relationships that are built over time. It can’t be done by exchanging of a few emails and a phone call or two.
2. Modern technologies used in manufacturing, whether machines or services, are too sophisticated to learn about on the Internet.
3. Capital equipment buyers don’t make decisions until they see the machinery.
4. The information that companies put online is self-serving marketing fluff. Few read it, and even fewer trust it.
5. Most machines have too many features and options. Nobody can spec out a machine on the Internet. Customers need to talk to a sales engineer.
6. Social media? It’s inconsequential. Restaurants get reviewed all the time, but nobody rates OEMs, fabricators, or machine builders on Yelp.

It’s not a matter of picking just one answer. All of them apply, don’t they? Indeed they do. These guidelines have stood the test of time and will never change.

Unless buyer behavior and expectations have changed. Unless buyers no longer return phone calls. Unless buyers have soured on salespeople, the sales cycle, and the entire sales experience. Unless websites are becoming extremely thorough in the information they provide. Unless many companies now provide video demonstrations of their equipment in action, discussing the function of each feature and option. Unless buyers are acquiring an increasing amount of savvy about technology, including capital equipment and manufacturing services.

That is, unless everything has changed.

Search, Research, and Specify Via the Internet

A traditional sales force is just that: traditional. They spend large amounts of time and effort courting new customers—setting up meetings, discussing the applications, and probing to learn about the features and options the customers need. Their employer fortifies these efforts with advertising, exhibiting at tradeshows, and making presentations at technical conferences. Although nobody calls it outbound, this moniker would be appropriate; it describes the traditional sales strategy well. The information originates at the supplier, who sends it out into the marketplace. The supplier crafts the message carefully and controls it deliberately.

Since its inception, the Internet has abetted a new advertising, sales, and technical support mode. Curious customers can initiate their own equipment searches, learning about capabilities, features, and options on their own. In effect, they substitute their own time and effort for the traditional salesperson’s time and effort. Certainly it started in the consumer sector, but it wasn’t long before it crossed over to the business sector. This phenomenon is called inbound, and publishing company John Wiley & Sons has produced four books that cover various aspects of it. The first three covered selling, public relations, and content. More recently, a fourth book, Inbound Organization, discusses the aspects of company structure and culture that lend themselves to finding success in the inbound era.

“Inbound is a reaction,” said Todd Hockenberry, one of the authors of Inbound Organization. “Working in sales keeps getting harder. People are much less likely to answer the phone than they did in the past—they’re less interested in interfacing with a salesperson. Today’s engineers grew up with the Internet, and they don’t need a product pitch. They do the research ahead of time and just need the details when they meet a vendor in person.”

In the traditional sales mode, the supplier controls the information—how much is available, how it is organized, and how and when it is disseminated. An advertisement has a little information; a brochure has a little more; a sales engineer has more still. Inbound isn’t like that. Inbound isn’t like that at all.

“Inbound is based on how the customer wants the information delivered,” Hockenberry said. “A solid inbound strategy isn’t a sales strategy,” he continued. “It provides information in the form of education, and inbound makes it easy to share.” If a shop supervisor, engineer, purchasing agent—anyone with influence in the purchasing decision—can find the information, grasp it readily, and share it, that information is part of an inbound strategy.

This hinges on our collective curiosity. Although curiosity isn’t easy to measure, one look at reading habits, measured by consumer magazine circulation statistics and annual book sales, tells quite a bit. According to the Association for Magazine Media, in 2017 more than 225 million adults had subscriptions to publications; the industry published 1.81 billion magazines that year, from the vast circulation of Better Homes & Gardens (7.7 million) to the fairly obscure Fly Fishing in Salt Waters (21,571). Furthermore, U.S. consumers purchased 687 million books in 2017, according to data compiler Statista.

This desire to learn shows up in the workplace, too. Hockenberry saw it in person when visiting a former client, equipment manufacturer Tube Form Solutions, Elkhart, Ind., during an open house. A company executive, an existing TFS customer, approached the company owner and mentioned that he was interested in purchasing a laser cutting machine. He had investigated five equipment manufacturers, narrowed his list down to two, made a list of specific equipment features, and wanted a quote. The kicker: TFS had just introduced the line of laser equipment at the open house. The customer had completed about 70 percent of the traditional sales cycle before he walked into the showroom and he hadn’t even seen the machine.

It’s the Entire Organization

Although inbound principles start with initial customer inquiries, which can lead to a purchase, inbound concepts don’t stop there. As the title of the latest Wiley book suggests, inbound concepts apply to essentially every aspect of an organization. In Hockenberry’s view, the distinction between an organization that has embraced inbound ideas and one that hasn’t is simple: The former makes every customer interaction easy; the latter doesn’t.

“Some organizations make it difficult for their customers to pay their invoices,” Hockenberry said.

It starts long before paying an invoice, however.

• Your prospective customers want to learn about processes and capabilities. If you fabricate components, you might consider posting a video that shows off your best work. If you make equipment, why not post a video that shows the equipment in operation? Augment video with close-up images and blog postings for a triple play. Bear in mind that your audience wants an education, not a sales pitch. (This includes a sale pitch disguised as education.)
• Do you have extensive resources to help customers after the purchase? If your product or service can be helped by an app that users can download, create one. If human interaction is necessary, devote some time and energy to creating a service department that can assist your customers. Savvy potential customers will ask, so these aren’t just services to assist existing customers; these help to attract new customers.
• If your company’s products or services would benefit from virtual demonstrations or augmented reality, get cracking! An inbound strategy uses every available technology to create a complete message.
• “Something as simple as a stretch wrapper can help an organization make its customers’ lives easier,” Hockenberry said. “One stretch wrapping manufacturer, Lantech, developed a series of capabilities it dubbed LeanWrap®. It relies on a few operator inputs and uses that information to determine the amount of stretch wrap to use, the proper tension, and a few other parameters to reduce the likelihood of shipping damage.”

  If you’re a fabricator using a machine that gives you a potential edge over the competition—in this case, one with features intended to reduce damage in transit—it’s not enough to have this capability; you have to announce it, too.

  “If you don’t tell your customers about an advantage, you might as well not have that advantage,” Hockenberry said.

• Don’t lose sight of a few other basic considerations. Are your equipment interfaces and your website easy to use, or do you just tell yourself that? Don’t stop improving them until they are both intuitive and attractive.

  “The iPhone is a great example,” Hockenberry said. “It’s an attractive product that is packaged well and easy to use right from the start.” Your products or services might not be quite that appealing or easy to put into use, but don’t make it any more difficult than it needs to be.

• Your potential customers might take a peek at your company from the perspective of a few current and former employees. Websites such as Glassdoor, Indeed, Vault, CareerBliss, and Kununu allow employees to rate their employers, and prevailing opinions can be insightful. It’s likely that employees who are treated well will treat the customers well. Would you want to do business with a business that has a lot of disgruntled employees?

If you’re starting to think that your company is under a magnifying glass, you understand inbound; if you run your company so well that you have nothing to hide—that your company looks good, despite relentless, prying scrutiny from every possible angle—then your organization is inbound.

Eric Lundin can be reached at ericl@thefabricator.com.

Todd Hockenberry, todd@top-line-results.com