Posts Tagged ‘buying process’

Inbound marketing starts with deep customer insights

Wednesday, February 9th, 2011

Kristin Knipp offers great advice in a post previewing Hubspot’s talk at the upcoming meeting on inbound marketing for Medical Device companies. She recommends starting with defining a unique value proposition and then building a content factory to attract humans and search engines.

Value is in the eye of the beholder

Although not stated explicitly, it is essential that marketers define the value proposition with the target audience’s perspective in mind–and that the content directly contributes to the delivery of that value proposition.

Customer research makes gains in 2010

Friday, December 31st, 2010

Recently, I lost my crystal ball.  So, I won’t be adding to the posts about predictions for the new year.  Instead, I took a look backward to see whether previous year end posts still apply.  I think they do.

Learn from the past, capitalize on success

At the end of 2008, in Shorten the sales cycle next year:  Year end marketing planning, I advocated taking stock of what worked and what didn’t—so that you can capitalize on your successes and avoid repeating what turned out to be mistakes.   In particular, I suggested focusing on buyers’ perceptions in four areas: the desirability of the solutions, the reputation of the vendor, the effectiveness of the communications, and the responsiveness of the individuals leading the sales or business development effort.

Wondering what content your prospects find most relevant? Ask them.

Friday, December 3rd, 2010

Today, everyone is all a-twitter about the importance of being relevant. As they should be.

According to Marketo’s Andrew Spoeth, the average B2B buyer receives 20+ campaign touches per week. What this means is that prospects will only pay attention to that information they deem highly relevant to their situations.


Know  prospects’ priorities

If we want to capture prospects’ attention, engage their interest, and ultimately win their business we need to speak directly to our prospects’ highest priorities.  What that means is that we need a way of determining what these highest priorities are.

B2B marketers struggle to reach decision makers and measure marketing results

Monday, October 25th, 2010

In a recent post, Laura Ramos observed that business-to-business marketers have long struggled to reach decision makers and measure marketing results.  She observed that they may encounter difficulties because they don’t spend enough time understanding who their best customers are and what distinguishes them–noting that understanding buyer behavior is much more than conducting customer satisfaction surveys or publishing success stories.

I found her post timely.  I’ve been struggling with articulating the very concepts that she relayed so fluently as I revise own website.

Shorter sales cycles depend on deep customer insights

When you’re a marketing strategy consultant, everything comes down to marketing strategy

Wednesday, October 13th, 2010

This morning, a colleague called to brainstorm ideas on how to promote an upcoming program on “reaping the benefits of a diverse workforce”.  Her concern was that the small business owners she was targeting had opted not to attend other programs on diversity.

To address her concern, I immediately donned my strategic marketing hat.  Some would say that when you have a hammer, everything is a nail…

Helping prospects recognize they need what you have to offer

Win loss analysis: Is your company batting .300?

Monday, February 16th, 2009

Sports teams watch video replays to learn from experience and see how they can improve upon their game. In so doing, they examine what worked—for them and the competition—at various points in the game. They also study their performance under various playing conditions.

More than win or lose–it’s how you play the game

The goal is not so much as to see what cost the game, but to note specific behaviors that contributed to the win or loss—at crucial points in the competition. Only that way, can they reduce future vulnerabilities and replicate success.

Shorten the sales cycle next year: Year end marketing planning

Monday, December 29th, 2008

What’s the financial impact of winning one more account per quarter? What would it take to do so? If you don’t know, now may be the time to find out so you can improve the top line next year.

Capitalize on success, avoid repeating mistakes

As the year ends, it can be helpful to take stock of what worked and what didn’t—so that you can capitalize on your successes and avoid repeating what turned out to be mistakes. Our clients find that one of the best ways to do this is to go straight to the horse’s mouth—the customers that bought and those that didn’t.

Making the sale depends on addressing an urgent need

Monday, August 4th, 2008

This diagram describes the buying process. I contend that before anyone buys anything, they need to go through these nine steps. This is true for any purchase.

The higher the risk, the longer the sales cycle…

For low risk, inexpensive purchases like a candy bar, buyers whip through all nine steps in a matter of seconds. When it comes to major purchases, the buying process often takes months and sometimes years. For example, think back to the time it took your own business to decide to put up—or even redo—your website…

Shortening the sales cycle starts with getting into buyers’ minds

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008

Last week, we discussed the importance of reducing the cost of sales—which I defined as the time it takes to prospect for new clients and close new business. This week, I’d like to discuss how to get started.

Step one is recognizing that for the most part, we can’t convince anyone to buy something from us that they don’t want. When it comes to shortening the sales cycle—as with other forms of behavior change, the thing to remember is that it’s all about attraction and motivation—rather than persuasion and pursuit.