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11.24.08 Has Your Company Fallen Prey To A Marketing Predator?  By Frank ReedIf you've ever wondered whether you are the client of your search marketing agency or just another victim of a marketing predator, read on. Small business owners, because they must be generalists, are especially vulnerable to fast-talking specialists who over-promise and under-deliver. If you are concerned about becoming prey and don't know what else to do but pray, I have some advice for you. Before I get going here I want to disclose one thing and warn about another. First, the disclosure: I am a lifelong sales professional and I am actually proud of it because I firmly believe that, when done correctly, sales is a helping profession that can serve people. Now for the warning: What you are about to read is part rant, part experience, part anger, part disgust, and all honesty. You see, I am passionate about search marketing. I am also passionate about professional and ethical sales practices. My problem is that I am not sure that these two areas have ever been formally introduced. Prey Traditionally, what I have seen of the marriage of the search marketing space and the level of sales professionalism has been limited at best. For the first decade of its existence search marketing sales efforts have been predatory on a good day and just disgusting on a bad day.
Even though we search marketers think that the rest of the business world understands search marketing and its many nuances, that is simply not true. Most SMB (small and medium business) owners and marketers don't even realize that the top results of a SERP (search engine result page) is usually held by paying advertisers. Go ahead and laugh. It's until the industry understands this, though, that sales people will continue to prey on these people who are just trying to do good business but are ignorant of how search works. So I don't get long winded here, just listen to these simple words of warning for SMB's:
• If your search marketing sales person is trying to give you some kind of time-related discount, or an ultimatum about signing up for their services, just turn and run. That's an old-fashioned closing technique that has no room in real business at any level in our modern world.
• If your sales person dodges your question, and uses spin and redirection to avoid answering it directly, then turn and run. Demand that your sales person knows what he or she is selling. PROTECT YOURSELF. • If it sounds too good to be true, it absolutely is, and if the word guarantee occurs anywhere in the conversation other than the statement "We cannot guarantee anything," then run. Pray As an SMB owner or marketing professional who has little or limited knowledge of the intricacies of search marketing, please consider hitting your knees in prayer before embarking on finding a partner in the space. This is not your only defense against the sales predators that are trying to close you to meet quota, but it's a darn good place to start. Also, take a look at these few quick pointers to protect yourself as you go out into the wild world of search. Oh, and for those of you who have already been burned by my industry? My apologies and a suggestion that you look at this list and get back to basic blocking and tackling yourself. That's how you win against this nemesis known as the search marketing sales person. Continue reading this article. About the Author: Frank Reed is the founder of SEMCheck and provides advice and consulting for SMBs at FrankThinking.com. |
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