{"id":570,"date":"2008-04-28T12:23:04","date_gmt":"2008-04-28T20:23:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.regnordman.com\/2008\/04\/28\/validation-that-salesmarketing-processes-and-models-need-to-change-does-yours\/"},"modified":"2008-04-28T12:23:04","modified_gmt":"2008-04-28T20:23:04","slug":"validation-that-salesmarketing-processes-and-models-need-to-change-does-yours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.regnordman.com\/2008\/04\/28\/validation-that-salesmarketing-processes-and-models-need-to-change-does-yours\/","title":{"rendered":"Validation that sales\/marketing processes and models need to change- Does yours?"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was mentioned awhile back that many sales organizations\/professionals have a problem when customers self-serve on the Web and enter the sales process further along then they are used to. A “cookie -cutter” response and the resultant adjustments to this were described in Marketing Plans for Service Businesses<\/a> , by Professor Malcolm McDonald<\/p>\n

One-to-one communications and principles of relationship marketing,
\nthen, demand a radically different sales process from that traditionally
\npractised in service organizations. This point is far from academic, as an
\nexample will illustrate.<\/em><\/p>\n


\nThe company in question provides business-to-business financial services.
\nIts marketing managers relayed to us their early experience with a
\nwebsite which was enabling them to reach new customers considerably
\nmore cost-effectively than their traditional sales force. When the website
\nwas first launched, potential customers were finding the company on the
\nWeb, deciding the products were appropriate on the basis of the website,
\nand sending an email to ask to buy. So far, so good.<\/em><\/p>\n


\nBut stuck in the traditional model of the sales process, the company
\nwould allocate the \u2018lead\u2019 to a salesperson, who would telephone and make
\nan appointment, perhaps three weeks hence. The customer would by now
\nprobably have moved on to another online supplier who could sell the product
\ntoday, but those that remained were subjected to a sales pitch, complete
\nwith glossy materials, which was totally unnecessary, the customer having
\nalready decided to buy. Those that were not put off would proceed to be
\nregistered as able to buy over the Web, but the company had lost the opportunity
\nto improve its margins by using the sales force more judiciously.<\/em><\/p>\n


\nIn time, the company realized its mistake, and changed its sales model
\nand reward systems to something close to our \u2018interaction perspective\u2019
\nmodel. Unlike those prospects which the company proactively identified
\nand contacted, which might indeed need \u2018selling\u2019 to, many new Web customers
\nwere initiating the dialogue themselves, and simply required
\nthe company to respond effectively and rapidly. The sales force were
\nincreasingly freed up to concentrate on major clients and on relationship
\nbuilding.<\/em>
\nThe changing nature of the sales process clearly raises questions for the<\/em>
\ndesign of marketing communication, such as: Who initiates the dialogue,<\/em>
\nand how do we measure the effectiveness of our attempts to do so across<\/em>
\nmultiple channels? How do we monitor the effectiveness not just of what<\/em>
\nwe say to customers but what they say back? And how about the role of<\/em>
\nmarketing communications as part of the value that is being delivered and<\/em>
\npaid for, not just as part of the sales cost?<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thanks to Simon Backer for telling me about Professor McDonald this AM.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was mentioned awhile back that many sales organizations\/professionals have a problem when customers self-serve on the Web and enter the sales process further along then they are used to. A “cookie -cutter” response and the resultant outcomes to this were described in Marketing Plans for Service Businesses , by Professor Malcolm McDonald<\/p>\n

One-to-one communications and principles of relationship marketing,
\n then, demand a radically different sales process from that traditionally
\n practised in service organizations. This point is far from academic, as an
\n example will illustrate.<\/p>\n

The company in question provides business-to-business financial services.
\n Its marketing managers relayed to us their early experience with a
\n website which was enabling them to reach new customers considerably
\n more cost-effectively than their traditional sales force. When the website
\n was first launched, potential customers were finding the company on the
\n Web, deciding the products were appropriate on the basis of the website,
\n and sending an email to ask to buy. So far, so good.<\/p>\n

But stuck in the traditional model of the sales process, the company
\n would allocate the \u2018lead\u2019 to a salesperson, who would telephone and make
\n an appointment, perhaps three weeks hence. The customer would by now
\n probably have moved on to another online supplier who could sell the product
\n today, but those that remained were subjected to a sales pitch, complete
\n with glossy materials, which was totally unnecessary, the customer having
\n already decided to buy. Those that were not put off would proceed to be
\n registered as able to buy over the Web, but the company had lost the opportunity
\n to improve its margins by using the sales force more judiciously.<\/p>\n

In time, the company realized its mistake, and changed its sales model
\n and reward systems to something close to our \u2018interaction perspective\u2019
\n model. Unlike those prospects which the company proactively identified
\n and contacted, which might indeed need \u2018selling\u2019 to, many new Web customers
\n were initiating the dialogue themselves, and simply required
\n the company to respond effectively and rapidly. The sales force were
\n increasingly freed up to concentrate on major clients and on relationship
\n building.<\/p>\n

The changing nature of the sales process clearly raises questions for the
\n design of marketing communication, such as: Who initiates the dialogue,
\n and how do we measure the effectiveness of our attempts to do so across
\n multiple channels? How do we monitor the effectiveness not just of what
\n we say to customers but what they say back? And how about the role of
\n marketing communications as part of the value that is being delivered and
\n paid for, not just as part of the sales cost?<\/p>\n

Thanks to Simon Backer for telling me about Professor McDonald this AM. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,19,18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.regnordman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.regnordman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.regnordman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnordman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnordman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnordman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.regnordman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnordman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnordman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}