There's
nothing quite like closing a sale, no matter how big or small. Each
one is important. The old adage goes that 80% of your business comes
from 20% of your customers. To keep business prospering you must keep
receiving referrals from (and getting additional referrals into) that
20%. How can you be sure your customers are talking about you?
The
case history or application story lets you have your cake and eat it,
too. Not only does it provide information about the successful use of
your product or service to a slew of new prospects, many of those prospects
could well be in your customer company…albeit
in another division, another site or a business partner.
More than just a sales tool, case studies show prospects how someone in a situation similar to theirs is benefiting now by using your product/service. Not only that, but publications love to hear about how products are being used. Case study placements are a sure way to entice prospects…in and out of customer companies.
We've recently published case studies on the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, the British embassies, U.S. Air Force, Synovus Bank, Mandalay Bay Casino, Cal State-Sacramento, Snap-On, Hercules, Port of Rotterdam, Agricultural Bank of China, and the National University of Singapore, among others.
Au contraire, our clients tell us. If one little thing is off, such as "press release on Columbus prison" being called "press release on Ohio prison," the client contact is bugged. But, they say, that's all simple compared to getting a Purchase Order through. So, for tasks smaller than $X, it's just easier to have us do the job, bill them and they put the bill through as an expense on their credit card…which kind of defeats the system of checks and balances but keeps the programs rolling.