Name: Alexis
Posts by Alexis Borucke:
The Value Of Marketing | Sales Engine International
February 21st, 2012
Value of MarketingToday, it is often said that content is the most trusted form of advertising. Good content is also the most effective tool we have to support demand generation. That places a heavy responsibility on the shoulders of B2B marketers: to create content that delivers the highest value of marketing to the community and at the same time, produce this content in sufficient quantity and variety to meet the constant needs of various marketing channels. Is it possible to do both? For B2B marketers to succeed in the digital world, we have to be able to serve up steakhouse quality at a fast food pace. Have you ever entered your contact information, email address etc., on a web form in anticipation of downloading a piece of research or thought leadership that promised information nirvana, only to discover that it was barely on point of the promised topic and no more than a trick to lure you into giving up your identity on their site? What happens if marketers fail to deliver content that makes a trusted connection with the prospective buyer? The buyer moves on to shop elsewhere, and that opportunity is lost. At a time when 80 percent of B2B buyers find their vendor through independent research online, lost opportunities can add up quickly, and unfortunately, it is nearly impossible to quantify them. |
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The value of marketing in an authentic voice to your prospect and suspect community, is that it makes substantive thought leadership content available to these “invisible” buyers, at the time and place that is convenient for them. Using an authentic voice is the most effective means of establishing trust through content. This authenticity is obtained by working directly with the executives, product managers and points of customer contact within your organization. It is not “marketing speak”. Only by extracting content from the people who know the most about your product or service and the benefit it brings to your current customers, can you be reasonably confident that you will have the right information to engage new prospects through their buying journey. The value of marketing in this way is that it allows you to build a connection with buyers simply by being authentic and sharing your organizational value with the market. An authentic voice allows you to establish trust through your content, it makes your organization an asset to the B2B buyer community, and best of all, it ultimately attracts prospects that will make the ideal customer fit, simplifying the cost to serve and increasing long-term customer retention. That said, communicating in an authentic voice can be difficult. At Sales Engine, we’ve discovered that the value of marketing with video is that it makes it easier to create content in authentic voice. |
Alexis Borucke
Cyber Monday in a B2B Sales World
December 7th, 2011
The world of selling has changed dramatically. Sales reps are accustomed to and want to be able to drive the action on their own, but that is not possible in today’s 2.0 world. Last month, Cyber Monday sales reached over $6 billion. The Internet has changed the way buyers, even B2B buyers, shop. B2B organizations can learn a lot from how some B2C companies have harnessed today’s tools to build relationships with potential buyers and drive a steady volume of traffic to their websites.
I have been in B2B sales for nearly 30 years and the way we started, the way we were measured was: first – on sales success, second – on the number of dials, and third – on face-to-face appointments.
Today, 85 percent of outbound sales calls go to voice mail, never to be returned. 80 percent of buyers are finding the seller on their own, which is completely counterintuitive to the sales professional’s persona. As a result of failing to adapt to this shift in buyer behavior, half of sales reps are not meeting their sales quotas.
How can a B2B sales leader adapt his game to meet the challenges of the new world of sales? Take a page from the integrated marketing playbooks of all the B2C merchants who have leveraged it so successfully.
First, FIND your audience. To do this, you must build a database of ideal prospects so that you can reach out to them, but you also need to make yourself findable to them through search engine optimization and other initiatives that ensure your website is loaded with the right content to attract buyers.
Second, CONNECT with your audience. Making a connection was easy when all that it required was a warm handshake from a good sales rep. Today, to connect you have to have a strong array of different digital content to tell your story. You have to remember that the connection requires this level of human contact when telling your story. If you can’t get face-to-face as early as you once could, digital messaging is powerful to build that connection. Buyers are consuming information digitally and filing it away as they make their preliminary and final buying decisions. Integrated marketing connects your outbound delivery strategy with your audience of suspects and ensures that you have the right process in place to deliver the right piece of content to the right buyer persona.
Third, ENGAGE all your prospects. Many of them are not ready to buy just because you are ready to sell. You need an integrated marketing plan to stay continuously in touch with them in different manners and different styles. Keep touching them until they are ready. Until a trigger event happens that indicates they have decided to enter the market, it is fine to just keep touching them.
Once a trigger event indicates that they are ready to move on to the next step, make sure you have practices in place to keep sales follow-up in alignment with the marketing message.
FIND, CONNECT and ENGAGE is the new normal. Many, many companies are reaping great success by adjusting their models this way. Companies that are not are at a competitive disadvantage. Unfortunately, the old ways are not coming back. It’s important to change your sales methodology if you want to thrive in the new world.
The Results Are In!
October 19th, 2011
Interested in learning more about strategies to support the consistent delivery of relevant content? Watch our on-demand webinar on The Top Five Challenges to Delivering Relevant Content.
