Content Strategy

Create the single best resource for your niche. And you won’t have to worry about selling your product.

Content is winner takes all. It’s the 1% that gets 99% of the attention. If you can create the single best resource for your niche you won’t have to worry about selling your product.

To explain the importance of content in sales enablement, I have a beautiful story to share.

The story is about a former pool guy at River Pools and Spas (RPS),  Marcus Sheridan.

( I heard this story while taking Sales Enablement course at Hubspot Academy).

Marcus is CEO and president of the Sales Lion.

Story | River Pools

The story is about how Marcus studied the buyer’s journey for RPS customers and used content to squeeze the sales cycle.

Year 2007:

1. 250 sales appointments.
2. Driving 2-3 hours to the client site.
3. Educating the client on various aspects of pool installation for 2-3 hours.
4. Driving back home for 2-3 hours.
5. Marcus hardly got to see his wife and kids.
6. After all this hustle Marcus converted 75 clients out of 250 appointments.

Year 2009:

1. Recession hits.
2. People could not anymore afford to pay for pool installations.
3. Marcus starts to receive cancellation orders.
4. The company lost quarter-million dollars in 48 hours.
5. Weeks and months pass by, bringing the company on the verge of bankruptcy.

Year 2013:

1. 150 sales appointments.
2. 110 converted clients.
3. Marcus now had sales and marketing teams to work for him.

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How did Marcus reinvent?

Marcus used buyer-centric content strategy.

Here is how:

Marcus took a hard look at the buyer’s journey for pools and here is what he found out.

Most of the buyers asked him more or less the same questions in the sales appointment.

Two major things that the buyers wanted to know:

1. How is the pool installation process going to look like?
   • The pool showing up.
   • Going in the ground.
   • Patio going around it.
   • All the cleanup.
2. Which options shall they choose for customization?
   • Whether to use a heater or not.
   • Solid cover or Mesh cover, which would be better.
   • Whether the heater should be gas or electric etc.

So he thought, what if he can manage to get all these questions answered even before the sales appointment.

Marcus followed: “They Ask, You Answer” plan.

Marcus, with his team, created two things:

1. An awesome video to walk the buyer through the installation process.
2. A guide to help buyers make customization decisions based on pros and cons.

The sales team was instructed to guide the buyer to use the video and guide them to educate themselves.

Here is how Marcus’s pitch looked like.

Buyer: Hey Marcus, I’m checking out your website, could you come out to my house and give me a quote for a pool.

Marcus: Sure, I’d love to come out to your house, but you’re getting ready to spend a lot of money,

and if you’re going to spend a lot of money, I know you don’t want to make any mistakes.

So, as to make sure you don’t make any mistakes, this is what we’re going to do.

As we’re talking on the phone right now, I’m going to send you two things that you’re really going to like.

The first thing I’m going to send you is a link to the video that’s awesome.

This video is going to show you the process of the pool showing up, going in the ground, patio going around it, all the cleanup.

This way you’re going to see the whole thing, and this way when I come out to your house on Friday, you’re not going to say,

so, Marcus what is this process look like, you’re already going to know.

The second thing I’m going to send you is this guide, if you will.

This guide is great because it’s going to answer all those little questions you have right now about pools,

like should I get a heater with my pool? What’s the best type of heater? Should it be gas or electric?

Should I get a cover? What’s the best type of cover? Should it be mesh? Should it be solid?

We’re going to answer all those questions.

It’s a little bit long, this guide, it’s about 30 pages, but I promise it will be well worth your time.

Will you take the time to review those things before our appointment on Friday?

Buyer: Sure! (In 90% cases)

Source: HubSpot

If you carefully observe the pitch, Marcus tells the buyer that he cares about the buyer’s hard-earned money.

Marcus is also inspiring the buyer to make an informed decision.

How to find out whether Marcus’s buyer centric strategy worked or not?

An advanced data-analytics tool gave the answer.

Marcus divided the leads into two groups.

Group A had the people who bought the pool installation service.

Group B had the people who did not buy the pool installation service.

The team then found out the differences between the two groups.

The major difference between the two groups was, Group A, the buyer group had actually read at least 30 pieces of content.

This was proof that the buyer-centric content strategy actually works!

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