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What are trigger events? How can marketers capitalize on these events?
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4 Answers
Your mission as a sales person should be to find companies that have immediate wants and needs. This means that something happened or is happening to them – a move, a merger, new investors, etc. You have to look for any event that might create the opportunity for you, or better said you are looking for event that can trigger the sales for you.
It could be something internal or inside the company, like a new direction from management, a merger or an acquisition, rapid growth, or maybe a new product introduction. And it could mean the company is turning “Green” and needs new and different supplies and services.
It could be external or outside the company, like the new strategies of their competition or new legislation (Sarbanes- Oxley Act). Maybe even a natural disaster, which is a well-known external trigger for many customers.
Generally speaking, trigger events have effects inside the whole company. Suddenly new needs are recognized; previous decisions need to be revisited. Very often, management becomes aware of new priorities and changes the direction of the company.
Trigger events are extremely important when we are in the search mode, looking for our next customer, and when we need to identify our sales opportunities at a particular company from our target list.
Every company has something new happening. Maybe they improved or reintroduced their products or service. There could be new faces in the boardroom or on the sales floor. A new office may have opened up in the Midwest. A new vendor or strategic partner could have been added. Even new money or investor may come into the company.
Most important for a buyer is that the provider understands the buyer’s situation, needs and business.
Every change in the business environment causes a search for new suppliers or new service providers, and your main goal is to be in front of qualified buyers when they are ready to buy.
Remember: All needs are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.
Note: this excerpt is from my book: Trigger Events (2007).
As the creator of both Trigger Event Selling™ and Trigger Event Marketing™ and having used Trigger Events for almost 20 years to be a top sales performer at every company I have worked for - including WorldCom where I was named the #1 salesperson within six months of joining the company - I have a perspective on this question.
I can tell you that the importance of Trigger Events from a marketing perspective is their ability to align both sales and marketing so they focus on those decision makers who have money, the authority to spend it, and influence are most likely to buy from you.
I have uploaded an image that represents what I am about to talk about at http://ShiftSelling.com/files/images/Sales_And_Marketing_Alignment-110411.png
The image is from a Trigger Event Marketing presentation I recently did with Ivana Taylor of DIY Marketer and Esther Rmah of Survey Analytics.
Call (+1.866.744.7904) or email me (Craig.Elias@TriggerEventSelling.com) if you want access to the recording and the handout from the webinar.
When talking about Trigger Events it’s critical to understand a decision maker’s three buying modes, the typical activity associated with each buying mode, and the Trigger Events that shift decision makers from one buying mode to the next.
It does not matter what you sell or who you are selling to, buyers are always in one of three Buying Modes:
1) On one end of the spectrum is Status Quo. This is when a decision maker is happy with what they have and see no reason to consider an alternative solution.
2) On the other end of the spectrum is Searching for Alternatives. Here decision makers are unhappy with what they have and are actively searching for alternative solutions
3) The lesser known of the three buying modes is called the Window of Dissatisfaction. It exists between Status Quo and Searching for Alternatives. In this buying mode a decision maker knows what they have no longer meets their needs but they are so busy Searching for Alternatives for other more important problems that they have not found time to start looking for alternatives for what they are unhappy with…YET!
The first Trigger Event is one that makes a decision maker want something different. This first Trigger Event pushes them out of Status Quo and shifts them into the Window of Dissatisfaction. Our research shows the average close ratio is 75% when you get to these decision makers, before your competition.
In the standard AIDA marketing model this buying mode aligns with the I (Interest).
The next Trigger Event is typically one that has the decision maker understand that they can afford to do something about the problem and they move into the buying mode of Searching for Alternatives - where according to Aberdeen's research the average close ratio is 16%.
This would align with the D (Desire) in AIDA
Typically decision makers don’t buy after the second Trigger Event, often they need a third Trigger Event. One that helps them justify their decision to others – Typically superiors, subordinates, or shareholders.
This then aligns with the last A (Action) in AIDA
All three Trigger Events are excellent opportunities to make a sale but THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS TO HARNESS THE FIRST ONE to start the relationship building process when you have no competition.
If you want to learn the best Trigger Events for what you sell you can download, at no-charge, the Won Sales Analysis™ (aka Trigger Event Analysis) template and instructions at http://WonSalesAnalysis.com.
Call my cell phone (+1.403.874.2998) or Skype me (Craig.Elias) if you have ANY questions about the difference between competitors and the competition or questions about the Won Sales Analysis template.
Have an eventful week!
Craig Elias
P.S. If you want to learn more about the Window of Dissatisfaction™ or Trigger Event Selling™ you’ll find more details at http://WindowOfDissatisfaction.com and http://TriggerEventSelling.com
This is a good question. A trigger event is something that occurs within a company that may lead to an opportunity for business. Items like "New products" "new services" promotions, new hires, financial trends, mergers, etc can all be tracked by company or category vis Google Alerts. Once those events occur, it's up to marketers and sales to take advantage of those opportunities with outbound outreach as a prelude to relationship building.
As an email marketer our event triggered emails are aimed at:
Abandoned cart messages (sent a couple of days after a purchase has been abandoned but while it is still fresh in their minds)
Email newsletter sign ups (send immediately)
Transactional messages (sent immediately)
Event registration (sent immediately)
Subscribers birthdays (sent up to a few days before or on their birthday)
Updated profiles and customer surveys (sent immediately)
Friendly reminders (if you haven't heard from your subscriber in a while).
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