7 Questions To Ask A
Marketing Consultant
BEFORE You Hire Them

By Glenn Fallavollita - CEO of SellMorePayroll.com | Author | Speaker
 

· Word Count: 540

· Time To Read: 2.1 Minutes [based on reading 250 words per minute]

· PRINT AND USE AT YOUR NEXT SALES MEETING

A growing number of payroll services are recognizing that sending out a generic marketing campaign and placing an ad in the phone book no longer work.  The days of simple selling are truly over for the payroll service industry.

 

Because of this, many payroll services are thinking about hiring a marketing consulting firm to help them achieve their sales and marketing goals.  If you fall into this category too, and would like to avoid wasting tens of thousands of dollars on poor performing marketing campaigns, I have listed below seven questions to ask someone BEFORE you hire them:

 

7 Questions To Ask A Marketing Person BEFORE Hiring Them:

 

#1: Do you specialize in working with the payroll service industry? If they don’t have any experience in working within the payroll service industry, tread lightly as they could waste a lot of your money on non-performing marketing messages. 

 

#2: What are the top three to five buying triggers or hot buttons of a payroll prospect or a referral partner? If they cannot answer this question, or know what a buying trigger is, their marketing messaging could result in your payroll service being just another “me too” payroll service. 

 

#3: How much money have you helped make other payroll clients? If they cannot provide you with any dollar success stories, or if they cannot tell you they “can’t track their marketing campaigns,” it’s another red flag.

 

#4: Will you supply me with three references from other payroll service bureaus that hired you in the last three to four months?  If they cannot provide you with any references, or references who have engaged them in the last 90 to 120 days, consider this another red flag. The reason: It takes 90 to 120 days before an owner realizes that a consultant isn’t worthy of making a positive impact on the sales leads or client referrals.

 

#5: Do you have any staff to help you; or are you a one-person operation? It is better to hire someone who has a team behind them to ensure copy, content and design formats are correctly formatted, proofed and implemented. 

 

#6: How long will it take you to create and send out your first marketing campaign for us? If they tell you, “Before we send a marketing campaign out, we need to research your marketplace and customer base to determine their needs.” you might end up spending thousands of dollars on someone who isn’t competent on delivering immediate results.  Remember, you are paying a marketing consulting company for results, not to spend tens of thousands of dollars on research. 

 

#7: Can you go to my whiteboard right now and write out the marketing campaigns you recommend us to send in the next 30 days?  If the person cannot tell you what they recommend in the next 30 days, segmented by your prospects, your payroll clients and your referral partners, then they truly don’t know how to help grow your business. 

 

Executive Summary:  There are many marketing campaigns a payroll service can immediately (within 24-hours) send to their marketing databases to start generating a list of sales leads.  And if the person or company you are interviewing cannot tell you what they are, then think twice before hiring them. 

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About The Author

Glenn Fallavollita is the President of SellMorePayroll.com, a Division of Drip Marketing, Inc.  He founded Drip Marketing, Inc. in 2002 and serves as CEO, lead copywriter and strategist.  He is also instrumental in developing the curriculum, format and expansion of Drip University - the training arm of Drip Marketing, Inc. and SellMorePayroll.com.  His work, insight and creative talent has been the catalyst for the delivery of more than 35 million e-mail campaigns on behalf of his clients.

To learn how we can help your payroll service increase its sales, visit us on the web at www.SellMorePayroll.com or call us directly at (856) 401-9577.