• by Tom Hespos , May 20, 2002

"Pull!" I yelled to the young fraternity pledge manning the launcher. The clay pigeon soared out over the pond. I quickly drew a bead on it and fired. Judging from the where my wadding ended up, I had been aiming too low. The clay pigeon floated like a Frisbee over the pond for a few more seconds and then plopped into the water.

Lee, another of my fraternity brothers – a native South Carolinian – had been shooting for most of his life and thankfully had some tips for a New Yorker who had never fired a shotgun prior to that day.

"You have to pick up the pigeon with your eye the second it leaves the launcher," he said. "Be patient and don't try to hit a fast-moving target. Follow it until it reaches the top of its arc. Right there is where it appears motionless, like it's just hanging there in the sky. Then, just as it's about to descend, you pull your trigger."

Pledge Chumley loaded another clay pigeon and let it go. This time, I picked it up out of the corner of my eye and waited patiently for it to reach the top of its arc. Just before it started to descend, I pulled the trigger and the pigeon disappeared in a cloud of black dust.

"Perfect," said Lee. "Do that every time and you'll do well for yourself."

I did do well for myself. That year, this New Yorker scored a 19 out of 20 in an inter-fraternity skeet shooting competition and took second place out of 16 contestants. (I lost to a guy from Sigma Alpha Epsilon who, it was rumored, slept with his shotgun.)

Lee's advice made me a great shooter, but that advice also applies to running a great online CRM program. Too many advertisers are running DR advertising that tries to hit a moving target. Not knowing when a prospect is ready to buy, the advertisers often don't know the best point at which to pull the trigger. Thankfully, we have CRM tools that can help to take the guesswork out of this. Let's dissect Lee's advice for a minute...

1. Pick up the target - It's a fair assumption that most folks who see online advertising aren't ready to click through to an e-commerce site and buy something right there and then. This behavior is exaggerated when you're dealing with high ticket or high consideration products. But the fact that someone isn't ready to buy immediately doesn't mean that they're not interested in a relationship with you. Pick up the target by auditing all of your consumer touch points, especially online advertising. Then, engage the prospect not with a hard sell, but with something that interests them. Perhaps offer some free information, or an incentive for filling out a survey. Whatever the case, you want to come away from your first encounter with the consumer with an email address and permission to send email.
2. Follow the target through its arc - Leverage that permission. Build trust and build a relationship by providing value. In exchange for the value that you deliver, let consumers tell you about themselves – demographics, psychographics, purchase behavior, etc. If you're selling digital cameras, follow your consumers by asking them if they plan to take a pleasure trip any time soon. If they tell you that they're leaving for Niagara Falls in three weeks for a vacation, you're approaching the top of the arc.
3. When the target reaches the top of its arc, pull the trigger - Quite a few marketers know that a certain behavior that, when expressed by a prospect, indicates a readiness to purchase. For instance, auto manufacturers know that many people buy new cars within a few months of moving into a new house. Our CRM programs should pick up on these behaviors and pull the trigger at the appropriate moment by serving up an offer when the behavior is observed. Online surveys can help marketers to observe behavior. In the case of the car manufacturers, a question they might ask on a survey might be "Do you plan to move in the next six months?" Other products might simply ask "Do you plan to purchase a [digital camera, new guitar, piece of furniture] in the next few months?" Find out not only if the prospect is interested, but also when they're going to be most interested. CRM is a practice that, like advertising, is ruled by the variables of time, place and manner.

   We've all learned the lesson over the past few years that it's very difficult to move product by trying to hit a moving target with constant hard sell messages. If I barrage the entire web audience with an offer and ignore the timing aspect of things, that's the equivalent of firing at every clay pigeon just as it leaves the launcher. Maybe I'll hit one out of every 10,000 I aim at in this fashion.

   However, if I have patience, track my target and wait for the best possible moment to pull the trigger, I'll enjoy a much higher rate of success. And as my aim becomes more refined over time, I'll be able to better anticipate when my target is about to hit the top of its arc, and I'll hit more targets as a result.