How can you efficiently nurture those long-term prospects, learning more about their interests in the process, until they are really ready to engage with sales? Most sales people still don’t. Buyers no longer rely on sales people for basic information or exploratory “consultation.&# They get 95% of the information they need from the Internet—online publications, analyst reports, vendor websites, blogs and other social media—before they have any contact with sales. How do you separate hot leads from long-term leads from tire-kickers? Digg this! Tweet This! MORE >>

Differentiate for Success Competition has never been greater for customer mindshare. Sales cycles are extended, more stakeholders are involved in each decision, and more competitors seem to be invited into every deal. So are the leading characteristics for sales and marketing in 2010. So how can you best differentiate your offerings and break free from the pack? As a sales enablement professional, what tools are you giving to sales people to help them align offerings to deliver results? Predictions for 2011: The End of B2B Sales & Marke. MORE >>

Recognizing and acting on these 7 paradoxical sales principles is critical to your long-term success. To win more sales, stop selling. Focus on helping your prospects achieve their business, professional and personal objectives – not making a sale. To speed up your sales cycle, slow down. When you increase the complexity of the decision, you decrease the likelihood of winning the sale. In sales, there is no failure - just lots of opportunities for experimentation, learning and growth. To differentiate your offering, become the differentiator. MORE >>

In the “old days”, the mainstream marketing approach was to interrupt and engage prospects, educate them on the vendors offering and move them through the sale cycle towards a transaction – a very vendor and product centric approach. They want to be able to engage with a vendor when they are ready and actively seek out advice, often very late in the buying cycle, and have the vendor guide them through a complex buying and problem solving process - outsourcing part of the buying process to the vendor community if you will. Customers are are in the driver’s seat today. MORE >>

by Jesse Noyes | Tweet this The more than 1,000 sales and marketing pros heading to Eloqua Experience tomorrow are in for an insightful mix of best practices and big picture strategies. Because the Sales Process Starts Early and Ends Late. This keeps you front-of-mind when you enter that mid-stage and late-stage period of the sales cycle. The market has a short attention span, which means it’s on you to develop thought leadership that differentiates you from the crowd and gets you heard through the noise. Ernst delivers counsel to CMOs and top marketers. MORE >>