|
| Recent
Articles |
ComScore Reports Heaviest Online Spending...
Apparently there's a flurry of online spending-all by procrastinators and deal-seekers. This is leading to a strong final week of pre-Christmas online shopping. comScore is reporting that online sales are up...
Propasal By Social Media
Since we launched at Ignite, we've been inundated with prospects that are looking for a social media agency. As you can imagine, one of the most common requests that we get from these prospects is always "Can you...
Lead Management Tips & Ideas
I recently had the opportunity to speak with Tricia Reilly about trends in lead management software. Tricia was one of the speakers at Best Practices in Lead Management, a B2B marketing session at...
Think More And Do Less: Questioning The Status Quo
Are you too busy to think? Many of us feel that way at times. As simple as it seems, finding time to think effectively is vital to developing a solid sales, marketing and lead generation strategy. Without question...
B2B Marketing & Lead Generation Via Social...
Have you dipped your toe in the water of social networking yet? And if not, should you start? That's a question I know a lot of very busy B2B marketers ask themselves which is why I found Tessa Wegert's...
Lead Management Far From An Easy Task
Companies that adopt effective lead management processes generate more revenue from their lead generation investment and have overall higher close rates on marketing generated leads than those that...
|
|
|
01.11.08
The Human Touch And Cultivating Relationships
 By
Brian Carroll
In today's commoditized business climate I think what sets companies apart with a complex sale is how well they build and cultivate relationships.
Over the years, I've observed a truth; and this truth will requires many sales people to reconsider how they think selling should be done.
The truth is, average sales people think they are most effective when they talk with someone WHEN they are ready to buy, but top performers seek to build relationships with the right people in the right companies BEFORE they're ready to buy.
This is where marketing can have a profound impact by helping their sales team go beyond the lead.
Today's prospects have a general lack of trust and they simply don't want to be sold. They are weary of pitches, hype, pushy sales people and manipulative marketing tactics. They are time constrained and too busy to think or strategize. So what do they do with most sales and marketing messages? They simply ignore them.
For this reason, I think it's critical to contact and have conversations with our future customers that are devoid of sales pitches. Quite literally when we begin a conversation with them, their attitudes and beliefs are being shaped, primed by the information they have already soaked up through various sources.
Be a resource to them regardless of their timing to buy. Otherwise, they are likely to get information from the internet or uninformed colleagues, trade publications or heaven forbid your competitors. In other words, we need to move from lead generation campaigns to conversations.
Sellers can make the biggest impact early on in the buying process, or before it happens by developing relationships with potential clients and becoming a trusted advisor. The best way to do this is by starting with what we call the "human touch." A personal phone call to the right person that is free of sales pitches (and will help you start and build the relationships required to win the complex sale.
My advice, forget about the sales pitch and concentrate on building a relationship with your potential customer as a trusted advisor by doing lead nurturing.
The goal of lead nurturing is to maintain a relevant and consistent dialog with viable leads - regardless of their timing to purchase - until they are sales ready. A key aspect of lead nurturing is the ability to provide valuable education and information to prospects up front, so that you become more than an expert; you become a trusted advisor.
I was honored to speak at the Jill Konrath's Sales Shebang. Jill posted a summary of what I shared on the Selling to Big Companies blog. It includes specific tips on how you can leverage thought leadership to win more sales with lead nurturing.
Read: Leverage Thought Leadership to Win More Sales (with Nurturing)
Comments
About
the Author:
Brian Carroll is the CEO of InTouch Inc. InTouch is a 50-person company focused on delivering effective lead generation solutions for "the complex sale."
Brian authors the very interesting B2B Lead Generation Blog which focuses on B2B lead generation, sales leads, and marketing for the complex sale.
|
|
|
