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How Many Points of Contact Does it Take to Make a Sale?

Article Overview: Points-of-contact represent all your marketing tools and generally every way in which people come in contact with your company. It usually takes many touch-points to make a sale – the old average was seven. Today we are inundated with so many sales messages it takes more. Having a wide variety of different tools increases your chance of being in front of your ideal client at the moment they want to buy, or have someone to refer you to. Employing a mix of big and splashy, or small and direct vs. en mass and automatic make it easier to cover more bases in man power and budget.

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How Many Points of Contact Does it Take to Make a Sale?

They used to say it takes seven points of contact to make a sale. Today that number is much higher due to the advent of the web and the amount of sales messages we receive daily through newsletters, Google ads, LinkedIn messages, blog posts, etc. – especially in the B2B space. Whatever the number, the key is still the same: the more and more kinds of points of contact the better in order to reach your audience, when they want to buy.

Points of contact are...

A business card, networking, a call to/from your office, newsletter, website, speaking engagement, an ad, blog posts, articles you write, Twitter messages, etc.

The more kinds the merrier is my motto because: if they met you once and are only receiving your company newsletter, it gets monotonous and they may start to ignoring it. However, if they also see an ad, an update pops-up on LinkedIn, then notice you’re speaking as an expert, or spot your brochure on a colleagues’ desk, then get the newsletter again; suddenly you are top of mind for whatever you do. You are providing more opportunities for them to sell you and refer you to decision makers (ex: send your newsletter to a peer) and to see your brilliance and understand all of what you do.

The pros and cons of a one-time campaign

A very action-oriented and adventurous client said to me, “I want to do something bold!” A one-time, flashy, specific campaign is great for bringing people into your funnel. But, then what? Other points of contact need to be available to keep them engaged and coming back - leading them to your pre-sale action step. Once this particular client brings them in en masse, she needs to build their trust to move to the next step in the buying cycle. We must ensure the mechanisms for doing that are there to support the initial big effort.

Why variety is good

It may sound like a lot of money and effort, but if you have an action plan it will make things much less daunting. If you use items that happen automatically, like a newsletter, you have the potential to impact a large number of people at once. The next step is to decide what marketing things you’re going to do and then plan and budget for them over a quarter, if not a year.

By not planning for, and supporting one effort with other points of contact, you’re wasting time and money.

Be strategic and smart.

Spend your time and money wisely by planning, making sure you’re talking to ideal clients in the right way, but also by ensuring all your points of contact are leading prospects on a consistent and compelling path towards your pre-sale action step. Rapport has developed a great tool for helping you do this: the Rapport Marketing Map.

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Article Tags: B2B marketing, marketing strategy, Rapport, sales funnel, Toronto, website design

About the Author: Faith Seekings
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Faith Seekings is the President and Creative Director of Rapport Communications & Design Inc in Toronto. Rapport helps boutique and mid-sized B2B companies identify what makes them unique then creates the brand and marketing tools they require to build rapport – and business – with the customers they want.

We're an all-inclusive marketing, design and web firm; that means full service, from strategy, brand development, excellent design, to final production – printing or web development.

Contact me any time with questions, or to book a Rapport Marketing Map session.

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