• November 16, 2013
  • Mark LaCour
  • 0

September emails answered. Learn what to think about after your first sale to an oil and gas company, what an Iron Roughneck is, how to respond when a prospect rejects your request to have a 20 minute call, the top marketing mistake made when trying to sell into the big oil and gas companies, and why my home state of Texas is benefiting while other states are not.

 

Transcript of Session –

Hey, folks. Let’s learn some more about the oil and gas industry, shall we?

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Okay. I know, I know, I know. I’ve been hearing it for a couple of weeks now. We are very late in doing our monthly e-mail show. In fact, we’re so late that we’re doing the September e-mails in November. My apologies, we’ve just been so busy, but let’s get right to it, shall we?

All right. First one. We have just sold to our first energy client and it was a very large deal for us. What shall we be thinking about as we grab more business like this?

All right. First thing is, it’s not energy, it’s oil and gas. Second thing, there are some things you need to be thinking about because of the size of this industry and the composition you’re dealing with that you probably wouldn’t have to deal with in smaller verticals with companies that aren’t – don’t have the scope of these guys.

So, one of the things is in future deals, should you even pursue the deal, you know, you can spend a lot of time and resources to do a deal that’s lower no margin and it also could be that you’re responding to request for quotes or request for proposals and you don’t have any chance of getting the business, so just deciding whether you should even go after those future deals is something you need to think about.

Next thing is you need to understand where you’re positioned within the organization. Most of the large oil and gas companies have multiple business units and usually you’re selling to that business unit not to the company and you need to understand that. You also need to understand where you fit in politically, you know, it’s – are the people you talk to the people that are decision makers or actually a budget approval authority or the influencers and what’s going on in an organization. You need to know all of that before you decide that you’re going to pursue these opportunities. But, if you pursue them and you’re doing your homework, the rewards can be large. So good luck to you.

Number two. What is an iron roughneck?

An iron roughneck is automated piece of equipment that attaches drill stem together, basically screws them together. It used to be a very manual process, literally using chains and wrenches and years ago a lot of people got hurt. Now, it’s automated, but the thing that’s kind of cute about it is newbies in the oil and gas industry on a rig are still called a roughneck because of that long term association.

All right. Number three. How do I respond when a prospect rejects my request to have a 20-minute call or meeting? I just need 20 minutes to show them how I can help save them time and money.

All right. You’re approaching this all wrong. If you’re approaching this by saying, look, can I have 20 minutes of your time, I can save you money and time blah, blah, blah. You’ve already shot yourself in the foot. What you need to do is do your research and instead of your call sounding like that, what it should sound like and this is based upon your research is, hey, Mr. Client. I understand you’re having a problem with say safety issues or Mr. Client I understand that you’re having a problem with operational efficiency or I understand you’re having a problem with your choke valves. Whatever it is, you start the conversation off with the problem they actually have and they’re going to listen to you and then, the rest is up to you, but that’s what you need to change in this.

Number four. What marketing mistakes do you see a lot of companies do when they’re trying to sell into the big oil and gas companies?

Probably number one is they’re talking to the wrong audience. This industry is so huge and there are so many different segments in it that even though you get a roomful of people that are in oil and gas, they may have nothing to do with what your product or service does. You know so that’s probably the biggest marketing mistake is figuring out who the segment of your market is and making sure you’re talking to the right people.

Number five. Your home state of Texas is in the news a lot about all the oil it’s producing, can you explain that in layman’s terms?

The easiest way to explain it is by the end of this year Texas will surpass Venezuela, Kuwait, and Iraq in oil production. Think about that. Once they, in the US has surpassed all those big oil producers in the Middle East and we’ve created about a million jobs from that. So, you know, I’m proud of Texas and I’m proud for what we’ve accomplished and the rest of the country could accomplish parts of this as well if they just get their hats on straight politically and environmentally and understand that the fracking process inherently isn’t a bad thing.

We’ve got done it well here in Texas and we’re benefitting from it, some other states have benefited from it. It would be great if the rest of the country would benefit from this. The bottom line is if your state chooses not to enjoy this boom cause by fracking, it doesn’t matter because your state is going to miss out on the money.

So, I hope this helps and we will see you all next time. Thank you.

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