Posts related to B2B marketing and sales

B2B vs B2C: 7 Attributes of Effective B2B Marketing and Sales

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Effective Selling

As we know, several factors fundamentally differentiate B2B from B2C. B2B (Business-to-Business) sales are transactions between business entities and B2C (Business-to-Consumer) sales is where businesses sell to consumers.

Typically B2B sales are complex and considered. Evaluation and decision making follows multiple stages of learning and evaluation. B2B sales cycles are longer and purchases typically have higher dollar volumes and higher risk. B2B is often characterized by team selling to committee buying. Decisions involve various stakeholders and influencers including economic buyers, solution users, procurement specialists, domain experts, etc. B2B buyers self sell.  Sales teams are no longer the single source of product information and benefits. Education has shifted to the web where buyers search products and ‘self-sell’.

The buying and selling process is fundamentally different in B2B and marketing and sales must work well together around the customer buying process. Content needs to be multi-stage and mapped across the buy-sell cycle. It must include a spectrum of TOFU (top of the funnel), MOFU (middle of the funnel) and BOFU (bottom of the funnel) content. Content for B2B is typically less emotional and more educational. It includes value propositions and product facts. Qualification is more important in B2B as the cost and of sales is high so it is important that sales teams are focused on the qualified opportunities. Marketing and sales teams must collaborate on the qualification process and lead nurturing is more important.  The cycle for B2B is elongated and complex and buyers decide when they engage with sales.

7 Attributes of B2B Marketing and Sales

When you design your B2B revenue strategy, consider these 7 attributes.

1. Use the right set of performance metrics.

Measurement focus in not just about lead generation and vanity web metrics, it is about a tangible focus on pipeline and revenue impact.

    • Impact on pipeline / Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) plus impact at each funnel stage
    • Impact on close rate
    • Impact on deal size / contract value
    • Impact on total revenue.

2. Segment your markets and tailor the messages.

Segmentation and clean data is critical in B2B marketing. Campaigns for new acquisition and cross selling are driven by predictive analytics.

    • Segmentation around demographics, firmographics, behaviors
    • Clean data
    • In-house and 3rd party data
    • Business Intelligence Tools for predictive marketing

3. Design and launch integrated campaigns

B2B campaign design is complex and follows a variety of buy-sell paths. Campaigns can be automated and driven by business rules. Marketing Automation is a critical enabler.

    • Multi-touch, multi-stage programs
    • Lead Nurture Strategies
    • Account based advertising
    • PPC vs. Organic
    • Smart (e.g. IP-based) Retargeting
    • Branding and experience
    • Derivative content

4. Maintain a solid digital experience across web and social.

The website continues to be a marketing and sales hub for B2B and social media amplifies your impact and visibility.

    • Social media sites also present a brand and product / service message
    • Website personalization plays a high value role for B2B to tailor content and messages for particular segments
    • Organic SEO around your best content helps build visibility – especially on the long tail
    • Landing pages remain a critical conversion point for lead generation.
    • B2B emphasis on LinkedIn, Twitter
    • Social selling  – enabling the account teams with relationship intelligence and social media engagement
    • Using discussion Groups on LinkedIn and Quora

5. Use the right revenue technology including Marketing Automation, CRM, Data Management and Business Intelligence.

The role of revenue technology, including Marketing Automation, CRM, Data Management and Business Intelligence is prominent in B2B. Closed the marketing and sales loop.

    • Marketing Automation for List management, life of the lead, lead scoring / grading, nurture programs, list management,
    • CRM for contact management, opportunity management, sales nurture
    • Data Management and Business Intelligence for predictive analytics and campaign design.

6. Take advantage of content marketing across the cycle.

The inbound marketing model relies on compelling, search visible and tailored content across the buyer process.

    • White Papers
    • Solution Briefs
    • White Labeled Assets (B2B2C)
    • Webinars
    • Infographics
    • Video
    • Apps and tools

7. Build your selling excellence.

Of course the effectiveness and capability of the sales team is paramount in complex B2B sales.

    • Balance the inside vs. outside mix
    • Align specialists and sales teams
    • Mix your farmers and hunters
    • Activate account and cross selling (3Cs – continue, crop rotation, colonization)
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Revenue Architecture for Closed Loop Marketing and Sales

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A 5 Stage Sales Pipeline Management Model

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Effective sales pipeline management is vital to your business. Align your teams around a ‘lingua franca’ to better manage deal qualification, forecasting and the sales process.

We know the B2B sales pipeline is changing.  Inbound marketing and emerging marketplaces (like 99designs, Thumbtack and BlurGroup among others) manage elements of prospecting and the lead generation cycle outside of direct sales. Marketing plays a bigger role to drive inbound leads into the sales pipeline and marketplaces can replace some elements of sales outbound prospecting.

In complex or considered sales, the professional management of the sales process from working lead to committed remains vital.  It is important to get the sales team on the same page and using the same sales process. Quite often, we see companies that are not using a common language for the sales pipeline. Forecasting is much more difficult when we are unclear about the status of each deal and the stage in the process. Firms often over-invest in some deals and under-invest in others while colleagues who support the sales effort become frustrated when time is wasted.

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SharpSpring Review

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If you’re looking for a marketing automation platform that offers many of the same functionality as the more expensive options, give this SharpSpring review a look!  Sharpspring works primarily with agency partners (like Revenue Architects) and is well suited for mid-sized businesses and high end professional sales teams. As an agency, we work with Sharpspring along with other platforms including Eloqua, Hubspot, Pardot and Marketo. We find SharpSpring is an excellent fit for businesses that value inbound marketing. email marketing  and integrated CRM. Depending on the solution architecture in your organization, including the existing infrastructure of CRM and Office, SharpSpring may be a fit.

This post highlights features found in marketing automation platforms as well as a few lesser-known features found in SharpSpring.  Let’s begin with the most common functions of a marketing automation platform:

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Marketing Automation Selection Criteria

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Marketing Team Working on Vendor Selection

Choosing a marketing automation vendor can be challenging. Whether you are jumping into marketing automation for the first time, or are re-evaluating your current system, it can be a difficult and daunting task – especially with how many options are out there these days. Marketing Automation Selection Criteria can help.

The vendor you choose will have an enormous impact on not only your Marketing Department and marketing efforts, but could easily touch other areas as well such as Sales, Customer Service and IT. It is important to consider these other groups when evaluating various vendors, as they may have requirements, obstacles and questions that should be taken into consideration.

To help make the evaluation process a little easier and more effective, here is a recommended process to follow: Read more

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7 Attributes of a Lead Scoring Model

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Every company will have different ways of measuring a qualified lead, yet there is a set of factors that you can use to map into a lead-scoring model. Many marketing automation solutions, such as Eloqua, Marketo, Hubspot, Pardot, ShaprSpring, and others, have built-in lead scoring algorithms and pass this information into a CRM system like Salesforce and SugarCRM.

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These scores can be set up to deliver marketing-qualified leads based on certain criteria and scores, helping sales teams accept the leads (Sales Accepted Leads) and focus their energies on the top prospects.

Marketing Automation and CRM are both important. We use Sharpspring technology for our small business retainer services to deliver inbound marketing programs and integrated marketing. Sharpspring includes an integrated CRM as well as API hooks into leading CRMs so it is great for small businesses. The life of the lead is a great way to see the flow of the lead through time and the lead scoring approach helps sales focus immediately on the top inbound leads.

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What’s Makes a Good User Experience?

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John Stone from Revenue Architects asked me this question over lunch. The answer I gave him got me thinking about a conversation I had at a conference a few years back.

I was approached by a business executive who asked me what is the difference between usability and user experience. My answer: Here’s the big difference, user experience is all about ROI (Return on Investment).

Integrated Digital Strategy

Source: RevenuePerform.com

The start of any good user experience begins with a clear business goal. Whether it is a mobile app, website, or even a physical product a good user experience fulfills that need. Start by asking yourselves the hard questions – What do I want my users to do? What do I want them to accomplish? What is the call to action? Given that end goal, a good user experience optimizes the path and flow that they will need to take.

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Sales Imperatives for the Mutual Fund Wholesaler

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Across industries, there are a lot of articles that suggest sales is dead. The argument is that web provides a content rich platform for buyers to “self-sell” and there is no longer a need for a salesperson to drive awareness, shape and develop needs and craft tailored solutions. Some studies found that 70-80+% of a decision is made on the web and through trusted networks before a person ever engages a sales person. The sales rep’s role is reduced to order taking at the end of a self-sell cycle.

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