by gabriel_sales | Oct 11, 2013
For B2B companies today, filling your sales pipeline is less about selling and more about making authentic connections. Here are 7 tips to start filling your pipeline today:
1. Be talkative and get contact information when you are part of a group or casually “networking”.
Often times a perfect candidate for your sale is someone sitting next to you at dinner or playing pick-up soccer with you. You never know unless you start a conversation and ask.
2. Don’t forget to put that data in your database.
Sure you got an email or business card, but make sure that gets into your CRM so you can add follow-up and include them in your campaigns and prospect nurturing.
3. Rent a list and start calling.
There are plenty of vendors out there who have targeted lists that you can rent and start calling potential prospects to help fill your sales pipeline. You can drill down to very specific data points, including company size, revenue, title, position and more to find the perfect match to your existing buyer personas.
4. Optimize landing pages for lead conversion.
Creating landing pages based on each segment of your target audience can be a great way to put leads in the sales pipeline. For instance, if you are selling a B2B technology solution, you may want to make one landing page for IT people and one for management. By speaking to the specific concerns and needs of each customer segment, your customers feel more comfortable taking the next step.
5. Improve targeting of decision makers (do the work upfront).
Before you start making calls and sending emails, it is important to take the time to understand your ideal customer profile. By understanding that demographics of the people you are targeting (title, geography, company size, etc.), you can craft more personal messages to improve conversion.
6. Craft an educational content offer.
When you send out your first piece of marketing content, send something that is purely educational. If a prospect feels like they are immediately trying to be sold, they are not going to go into your pipe. They might even end up going to your competition who does not try to pressure them before they were ready to buy.
7. Make opening intro free of sales and marketing lingo.
When crafting the messaging and scripts for your sales and marketing campaigns, try to keep the words “sales” and “marketing” out of it. When it comes to filling your pipeline, you should be focused on education to create awareness and desire, not selling.
For more B2B sales tips to fill your sales pipeline, you can read more educational content here. Please feel free to contact us with any questions.
by gabriel_sales | Oct 8, 2013
In the B2B world, both sales and marketing teams are now under more pressure than ever before.
Sales teams now have to deal with the customer of the digital age, who wants to go through the sales process without the help of sales. Marketers have to do much more with fewer resources, and new measurement tools mean they are more accountable for their efforts.
There are basically two options for how to proceed in this situation. You can keep trying the same tactics that worked when telemarketing and tradeshows ruled the B2B sales world; or, you can adapt.
We believe adapting is the road to success. We also believe the first step to adaptation is aligning your sales and marketing teams and giving them a shared quota.
One of the main reasons sales and marketing need to be aligned is that successful lead generation now requires a blended effort between the two. Lead generation now requires both a clear view of the sales funnel and a well-strategized content marketing strategy for nurturing. Unfortunately, it seems this is something many companies are still struggling with:
- 68% of companies have not identified or attempted to measure their sales funnel
- 65% of companies have no defined lead nurturing process or toolset
- 79% of marketing leads are never converted to sales
- Only 56% of companies have a system or toolset in place to qualify marketing leads
- (Salesforce.com)
The best way to handle all of these issues at once is by leveraging a marketing automation platform in conjunction with a CRM tool. With marketing automation, you gain backend visibility of your prospects and their digital behaviors, giving you insights into when and how a prospect should be nurtured. Using this information, you can then implement an intelligent content marketing strategy based on buyer lifecycle stages and monitor engagement. Marketing automation also has tracking and reporting features that allow you to measure the ROI and effectiveness of your sales and marketing tactics.
When everyone is working with the same data and working toward the same goals, sales and marketing can finally stop their war and start working together. In fact, automation users have a 53% higher conversion rate from marketing response to marketing qualified and a 9.3% higher sales quota achievement rate (Salesforce.com).
To learn more about the value of marketing automation in the B2B sales process, you watch this quick video that explains why Salesforce bought Pardot for $2.5B. Or, you can download our “Marketing Automation Implementation Checklist.”
To learn about the marketing automation consulting or sales pipeline management services we offer, you can check out our services page.
by Glen Springer | Oct 2, 2013
Photo of green plant between male hands on a black background[/caption]B2B marketers today face a complex landscape.
Old marketing tactics have dropped in effectiveness (cold calling, trade shows) while technological innovations have created an entire new way of buying and selling (digital content marketing, customer relationship management). Buyers now control the sales process and selling to them now requires the ability to reach and interact with prospects in an entirely new way.
Evidence of this shift can be seen in the findings of a February 2013 eMarketer report that lists the top challenges from B2B marketers today. Apart from not having enough budget (59%), marketers largest struggle is the ability to “reach the right target at the right time in the buying decision” (39%). This shows that B2B marketers have started to recognize that the buyer needs to be the main focus of all marketing efforts.
This also helps to explain why from 2011 to 2012, there was a 233% increase in the portion of marketing budgets allocated to marketing automation solutions (eMarketer).
Marketing automation platforms allow marketers to manage of all of their prospects from one database and track their prospects digital behaviors to help understand where each prospect is at in their buying decision at any given time. Within the platform, you can assign different numerical scores to each piece of marketing content you create—with lower scores assigned to early stage content and high scores assigned to late stage content like pricing pages or product comparisons. By looking at prospects consumption of all marketing efforts (website, blogs, email marketing, social), you can determine what “next step” is going to be most appropriate for each prospect.
This is why using marketing automation for B2B lead nurturing is so effective, as some of the prospects that come into your pipe are not ready to buy right away. You will know this because your marketing automation solution will tell you that the prospect is not engaging with any high-scoring digital content that signals he or she is near a purchase decision, which tells you the prospect needs to go into a lead nurturing stage.
B2B lead nurturing consists of sending your ‘not-yet-ready-to-buy’ prospects marketing content that educates them on your solution and industry in a non-threatening way. A quarterly company newsletter or educational email campaign are good examples of this. By tracking consumption of your nurturing efforts using your marketing automation platform, you will know when a prospect moves out of the nurturing phase and is ready to be engaged by sales.
When done correctly, lead nurturing helps to build trust and keep your company top of mind when your prospect is finally ready to make a buying decision.
To learn more about the importance of B2B lead nurturing, click here. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.
by gabriel_sales | Oct 1, 2013
If you’re in B2B sales, you know that cold calling is nowhere near as effective as it used to be. Call to connect ratios have dropped from 18-22% to 7-11% since 2010, which means the cost of using this tactic for lead generation and qualification has doubled.
In order to help improve your conversion ratios and lower your cost of sale with telemarketing, we suggest you do what most salesmen are too timid to try: ask for an appointment on the first call.
As a B2B sales outsourcing company with over 13 years of experience in cold calling, we have found tremendous success with this tactic and believe when used with delicacy, it can be highly effective for lead gen and qualification.
We believe one of the reasons this strategy works is that asking for what you want dramatically improves your chances of getting it. Research shows that 75% of sales calls end without the sales person asking for some kind of commitment. This is understandable, as everyone hates a pushy salesman. However, if done with tact, asking for a quick meeting does not have to be tense or carry pressure.
Here are a few quick tips for getting the first sales appointment on the first sales call:
- Let your prospects get all of their objections out first. Don’t interrupt; make them feel like they have been listened to and their needs have been clearly understood.
- Ask a series of light, qualifying questions first to get a couple of “yes’s” prior to asking for the meeting (i.e. Is this your email? Is this number the best number to reach you at? Is it all right if I send you some more educational information?).
- Ask for the appointment in the same tone and cadence as your light, qualifying questions. If the question sounds more like an afterthought or ancillary, it will carry less weight, and your prospect will feel less pressured.
- Be prepared to offer a specific time right away, rather than leaving it entirely open. Say something like, “We are open late next week; how about Thursday or Friday afternoon?”
- Don’t be discouraged if it doesn’t work the first time. We have seen this tactic work best when the question sounds natural and second nature, so with practice, your success should improve.
The most important thing to remember about using this strategy is your tone of voice or speaking style. Aim for nonchalant—rather than excited (which can come off as desperate)—when asking for the meeting. Getting the first sales appointment on the first call takes a lot of finesse, but with practice, it can be a highly effective strategy for lead generation and qualification.
For more tips on getting the first sales appointment, click here. If you would like more information on how B2B sales and marketing have changed in recent years, you can download our white paper called, “The New Rules of Buying and Selling in 2013”. Please feel free to contact us with any questions.
by gabriel_sales | Sep 27, 2013
A lot of B2B sales companies and sales people look at weeks that have any form of a holiday where people are going to be out of the office as a really big negative. Salesmen think, “People aren’t in the office; no is doing any business,” and they will approach their calling with a somewhat negative mindset.
We believe that if you shift your perspective, you can learn to see holiday weeks as a good thing and use them to your advantage. We look at holiday weeks and say yes, there are definitely going to be people out of the office; but what that really means is there are less meetings happening, people are at their desk more often and are more easily reached by phone.
To use those weeks to your advantage, set yourself up to offer a webcast, webinar or something else that people could attend during time when things are moving slower (as compared to a week where there are tons of meetings and deadlines and all kinds of quotas to meet). Many sales teams are often encouraged to go out and look for new strategies, read books and do research to find out what is going on in the industry and what could improve their sales margins. If your webinar invite is in their inbox, your content might be what fills the lull in their day.
In summary, taking advantage of those weeks where people are out of the office is a good thing. We have seen that during these weeks the numbers go down as far as people that you reach, but the people that you do reach will be more open to conversation.
For more B2B sales tips, click here.
by gabriel_sales | Sep 4, 2013
In the B2B sales world, marketing videos are becoming more and more popular as a B2B sales tactic.
While there are many different types of B2B sales videos you can make, it is good to start by considering what you want the video to do (entertain, build brand awareness, etc.). As a B2B sales and marketing outsourcing company, we have found that “headshot” videos of your top executive/s can help move prospects through the sales cycle while simultaneously making your entire sales process more efficient.
Here are three advantages to using headshot videos of your top executive/s as a B2B sales tactic:
1. It makes your prospect feel more comfortable.
Most executives are experts in one thing or another, and experts love talking to other experts to bounce ideas around and troubleshoot. Executives love talking to other executives because they share a certain type of understanding and perspective in regards to what really matters. For example, executives think about things like P&L and margins in ways that junior salesmen have not yet considered. When a prospect sees that they are in agreement with your executive’s way of thinking, you are one step closer to closing.
During your B2B sales cycle, you can offer an onDemand video of your top executive speaking about the problems you solve for your customers to facilitate that experience of understanding for your prospect in a digital format. Simply by watching a short video, your prospect feels like they have been able to pick your executive’s brain enough to speak intelligently about your product or solution.
2. You can address objections digitally.
Headshot videos of your executive are also valuable in addressing objections digitally. When selling any type of product or service, the same type of objections are likely to come up over and over again. By having your executives address these objections in onDemand videos, your prospect feels like you understand their concerns, and your salesperson doesn’t have to explain the same thing over and over again. This can be especially useful for high-level objections that require technical expertise or explanation beyond the knowledge of a junior salesman.
3. Everyone spends their time more efficiently.
The most important advantage of creating headshot videos of your executive is time efficiency. For most B2B business owners, their business is like their ‘baby’; they love it and could talk about it all day and night. Unfortunately, that is not an effective B2B sales tactic as your executive’s time is expensive and could be spent better elsewhere. By filming your executive’s pitch and sharing it with prospects digitally, your executive can instead have a one-to-many conversation—saving huge amounts of valuable time.
Using a marketing automation platform, these type of executive headshot videos can also make your entire sales process run more smoothly. When you send or share your videos with prospects, your marketing automation platform will tell you which prospects watched what videos. This way, you will know where each prospect is at in terms of discovery and education, so you know when to bring in the executive to help with the close. This saves both your executive and your salesmen from wasting time in meetings with prospects who are not educated or not looking to buy yet.
In summary, headshot videos of your executive can be extremely useful for your prospects, your executives and your salespeople. Your prospects love them because they get high-level education from someone who shares their business perspective. Your executives love them because they no longer have to give the same pitch or address the same objections over and over again. Finally, your salespeople love them because they help push prospects further along the sales cycle while also giving visibility into when to bring in the executive to close.
If you would like more information on using video for B2B marketing, click here. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.
For B2B companies today, filling your sales pipeline is less about selling and more about making authentic connections. Here are 7 tips to start filling your pipeline today:
