As 2018 comes to a close, it’s natural to reflect on the content and themes that have shaped this blog over the past twelve months. Subscribers were joined by new readers to expand our active community of sales and marketing leaders, as we continue to explore the ever-changing contours of the B2B landscape.
In the world of B2B sales, it’s rare to uncover a new opportunity at a trade show and then actually close the deal at the same show. In reality, all the hours and dollars invested in the show won’t pay off unless opportunities that otherwise would not be discovered are either closed at the show or more likely, closed with diligent follow-up after the show. This makes it especially important to have a winning approach to post-show follow up.
My guest appearance on The Sales Conversation Podcast explored How to Sell Complex Solutions to Multiple Buyers using value selling. I shared practical strategies and tactics to advance your value selling approach with host, Bruce Scheer, founder of Sales Conversation, and together, we took a meaningful look at how to improve sales performance with value selling.
I was recently interviewed by my longtime friend and colleague, Bruce Scheer, CEO of SalesConversation.com. It was great fun being part of Bruce’s podcast series, which covers a broad range of topics that can help sellers be more successful. Before I summarize what we discussed, consider subscribing to The Sales Conversation Podcast on iTunes and listening to the entire podcast on Bruce’s website.
Grant Thornton’s 2018 CFO Insights on New Technologies research study reveals that “CFOs are playing an increasingly important role in influencing decisions related to technology.” At the same time the study found that “only 12% of executives strongly agree that they have an effective system of measuring financial key performance indicators associated with the implementation of technology.“
One of the biggest challenges in sales is getting buyers’ attention. And even when you do get a phone call set up, too often buyers on the other end of the line are clearly multi-tasking and not paying full attention. The panacea is to provide buyers with meaningful insights. Follow the five steps below to create deeper buyer engagement, which will lead you from initial contact to sealing the deal on renewals and future sales.
If you are marketing and selling a complex B2B solution, it is critical to differentiate your offering’s value proposition for each market segment. Markets are often segmented using geographic attributes (e.g., continent, country, region, state and dispersion) and / or business attributes (e.g., size, industry, product mix and legal structure). That said, the key factor in your segmentation analysis is how your customers use your solution.
Presentation is everything, from food and fashion to thought leadership and value propositions. There’s a lot riding on how well your team articulates the customer’s problem and presents the value of your solution. When it’s done clearly, persuasively, and with a sense of urgency, buyers will take action quickly and decisively in your favor.
When it comes to closing new business, there are various tools and dynamics that can make or break a sale. They are all complementary, so it’s not always possible to know which of them ultimately closed the deal.
Our series on value pricing wraps up with three pitfalls that can jeopardize future sales, customer satisfaction and of course, your bottom line.
