Sales Enablement is a huge topic in B2B these days. We all know the B2B sales cycle keeps getting longer, more and more people are involved in big purchase decisions, and lead nurturing is incredibly important. In today's world of B2B solutions, is sales enablement even possible? The practical reality for many B2B organizations is that sellers don't really sell anymore. Tags: Collaboration Creating Demand Marketing Sales Strategy B2B enablement Forrester IDC ISBM ITSMA marketing Neil Rackam sales sales cycle sales enablement sales support SAVO solutions MORE >>

As with many B2B firms, a relatively small number of key accounts generate a big percentage of revenue for this company, not to mention critical market insight, references, and the impetus for product and solution innovation. The Tags: Marketing Relationships Sales account management account-based marketing accounts b2b key accounts marketing relationships sales I was interviewing a Key Account Manager for a large tech firm the other day, and was struck by her comment that she wanted the firm's marketing people to be much closer to her customer. So, what do we do about it? MORE >>

B2B marketers focused on high value solutions know that customer evidence is like gold. Over the past six months I've had the opportunity to work with several large B2B firms to improve their customer reference programs. Collaboration Marketing Organization Revenue Sales Strategy B2B benchmarking best practice case studies content customers evidence management marketing reference sales solutions success storiesGreat products may sell themselves based on features or price. ITSMA has found this repeatedly in sales studies. Benchmarking the Best. Do you agree with the list? MORE >>

It's critical with B2B marketing, too. Thought leadership marketing is supposed to create a master narrative for B2B organizations. The problem with so many B2B marketing programs, however, is that the master narrative is lacking. Tags: Marketing Reputation Social Media Thought Leadership Accenture B2B brand HubSpot IBM marketing narrative thought leadership Years ago, when I was a lowly graduate student at MIT, I learned an essential lesson about communications while taking a course on "framing" the news. Politicians understand this the best. Delivered." Make sense? MORE >>

Consistently creating engaging content is one of those programmatic challenges that strikes fear in the hearts of many B2B marketers looking to take more advantage of social media. It shows up regularly in surveys on the obstacles to social media success; it came up repeatedly in the group of manufacturing and distribution company marketers I had the privilege of working with last week in ISBM's workshop on B2B social media. Indeed, there are four levels of content sharing that B2B marketers should include in their social media mix. Four Levels of Content Sharing. MORE >>