February 18th 2009
Precision Sales and Marketing is more than getting better at selling
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I have been meeting with many folks over the last month, as Rocket Builders has been putting together several events (Ready to Rocket 25, 2009 It Outlook Executive briefings, and last night’s Vancouver Enterprise Forum on Social Networks for growing your business). One thought keeps coming to me in my discussions. Our industry ( and it is not alone) is stuck in a paradigm that to grow the business, you concentrate on getting better at selling. Selling is important, but the single minded approach is so wrong (and outdated). Our research and that of many others indicates that today the no 1 problem with improving your sales revenues lies in getting quality leads in the door.
Yet leads in volume are brought (or not brought) in by the story that is being taken to the market. The hard marketing work that has not been done on clear positioning, segmentation, messaging, value propositions and nurturing is what is holding companies back. Why? Because I have yet to meet a potential client who is able to generate the number of high quality leads they need for their sales numbers .
Of course if a high quality bluebird comes into the sales team, you get the business. But you can not build a business on bluebirds. And you can not get to where you want to be these days by having your sales force cold call lists. That day is long gone. As the market gets harder, companies need to get smarter about their marketing. They have to really do something effective!
In another post I will talk about how the complaint of very long sales cycles is also a symptom of an outdated marketing approach.
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Category: Marketing, Sales Effectiveness, Technology Industry
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