Avitage

MARCH 12, 2016

This is a sales content strategy guide for the perplexed. It is for people in marketing and sales who must collaborate to get these strategic assets right. For this article we are talking about sales content. More specifically, we’ll focus on B2B sales that are defined as complex, considered or value sales.

B2B Sales 120

B2B Sales Marketing & Strategy B2B Content 120

Avitage

JANUARY 11, 2016

Unfortunately, most sales professionals focus primarily on learning sales techniques. Adopting a better sales mindset might be what’s required. With the typical sales mindset, techniques might be even be experienced by prospects as gimmicks. The post Changing Your Sales Mindset appeared first on Avitage.

B2B Sales 120

B2B Sales Acquisitions Buy B2B 120

Avitage

MARCH 10, 2016

The design point for your B2B sales content strategy must be your buyer’s engagement model, mapped against your sales strategy. Without well-defined and documented sales use case requirements, effective sales content strategy is not possible. Fundamentally, it must be conversation centered.

Marketing & Strategy 120

Marketing & Strategy Content B2B Sales Paid Search Agency 120

Avitage

JANUARY 19, 2016

To paraphrase David Packard, sales conversations are too important to leave to sales people. B2B sales conversations for key touch points should be designed. How have you designed the sales conversations for your key touch points? How have you designed the sales conversations for your key touch points?

B2B Sales 120

B2B Sales Design Conversion B2B 120

Avitage

JANUARY 16, 2015

Traditionally, buyers were dependent on vendors through their sales representatives for information. They don’t believe — often because they haven’t experienced — sales reps can provide any other useful information. Relevant — adjective; 1.

Relevance 120

Relevance Conversion Vendors Press 120

Avitage

FEBRUARY 24, 2016

One of the early questions I ask prospective B2B clients is: “When you go-to-market through your marketing and sales functions, what percent of your target prospects are find vs create opportunities?” The post Find vs Create Sales Opportunities appeared first on Avitage. Find opportunity prospects are actively searching.

Trigger Marketing 120

Trigger Marketing B2B Sales Marketing Prospects High Quality Lead 120

Avitage

OCTOBER 21, 2016

Most sales executives I’ve asked about their view on CEB’s book Challenger Customer have completely missed the value for their sales program. “Oh yeah, I read Challenger Sale a couple of years ago, good book.” Challenger Sale introduced concepts about what B2B sellers should do.

B2B Sales 120

B2B Sales B2B Practices Research 120

Avitage

FEBRUARY 2, 2016

There is a generally high desire for sales coaching in B2B selling. To be successful sales people need: Knowledge and information (including sales strategy and process), Skills and techniques, Conversations and messages These inputs enable sale people to know What to do, What to say, How to say it.

B2B Sales 120

B2B Sales Training Differentiation Acquisitions 120

Avitage

JULY 26, 2017

B2B sales organizations with a complex, “platform,” or value sales process face some of their biggest challenges in the initial prospecting stage. The process for a value sale is naturally longer than a simple product sale. If your sales role is major accounts, you have even more at stake.

Conversion 120

Conversion Differentiation B2B Sales Buy 120

Avitage

MAY 11, 2018

In Marketing and Sales Content — Differences That Matter I identified the problem that few people explicitly understand the difference between sales and marketing content. During 20 years creating sales, marketing and training content for B2B organizations we discovered it really does. Does this really matter?

Design 120

Design Account Based Marketing Content ABM 120

Avitage

MAY 11, 2018

In Marketing and Sales Content — Differences That Matter I identified the problem that few people explicitly understand the difference between sales and marketing content. During 20 years creating sales, marketing and training content for B2B organizations we discovered it really does. Does this really matter?

Account Based Marketing 120

Account Based Marketing Content ABM B2B Sales 120

Avitage

MARCH 29, 2016

If you sell the way you did 10 years ago, you don’t need a sales content strategy. But if you’ve truly adopted a customer-centered sales philosophy you know you have new requirements. ” They develop virtually all sales opportunities. ” They develop virtually all sales opportunities.

B2B Sales 120

B2B Sales Marketing & Strategy B2B Content 120

Avitage

JULY 17, 2015

What if your “sales content problem” isn’t the real problem, but a symptom of the problem? I watched with interest the webinar How to Unclog Your Sales Pipeline, with Craig Nelson of CallidusCloud and Scott Santucci of The Alexander Group, moderated by Gerhard Gschwandtner from Selling Power.

Content 120

Content Webinar Metrics Acquisitions B2B Sales 120

Avitage

JUNE 3, 2015

Sales professionals have been slower to change their sales methods to adapt and align with new buying processes and the expectations of buyers. “Social selling” while new and popular, doesn’t yet represent a significant breakthrough in the way B2B sales people sell.

Lead Ranking 120

Lead Ranking Content Lead Scoring Sales Qualified Leads 120

Avitage

MARCH 25, 2016

In this digital era, content is a primary driver of sales and marketing performance. The post Overlooked cause of low sales and marketing results appeared first on Avitage. We have written extensively on this. Background articles are referenced at the end of this article. High selling costs are both a symptom and additional casualty.

Marketing & Strategy 120

Marketing & Strategy Acquisitions B2B Sales Paid Search Agency 120

Avitage

JANUARY 16, 2015

Traditionally, buyers were dependent on vendors through their sales representatives for information. They don’t believe — often because they haven’t experienced — sales reps can provide any other useful information. Relevant — adjective; 1. To make this more relevant, I offer two versions.

Relevance 120

Relevance Vendors Press B2B Sales 120

Avitage

JUNE 11, 2014

(Huffington Post, see Mike Kunkle’s excellent webinar) To fuel this content dependent activity, many are urging sales people to blog, and to become thought leaders. Lori Richardson, John Jantsch, ITSMA) This is a logical extension from a belief that sales people must think more like marketers.

Cross-Selling 120

Cross-Selling Thought Leadership Blogger Network Marketing 120

Avitage

JANUARY 11, 2015

I get many sales prospecting calls, but usually for products or services I could care less about. I’m always looking for insights, especially about how companies are thinking about content to support their many use cases. I also like to experience selling from a buyers perspective. I delete and forget.

Lead Nurturing 120

Lead Nurturing Paid Search Agency Impressions Intent 120

Avitage

MARCH 7, 2012

We are working with several clients to help them improve their lead nurturing program to deliver a higher volume and quality of sales ready leads to the outside sales team. We have found a tendency on the part of Inside Sales to conduct their work from what I would term a traditional mindset.

Lead Nurturing 120

Lead Nurturing Sales Qualified Leads Telemarketing Lead Qualification 120

Avitage

MARCH 7, 2012

She eloquently points out that this is a key reason sales opportunities “go dark” or result in “no decision.” Her trademarked process focuses on the internal issues the customer must resolve to make a buying decision with ANY vendor.

Vendors 120

Vendors Custom Publishing Tips Efficiency 120

Avitage

MARCH 28, 2012

35 Days to First Conversation — do the math For prospects who actively engage your content, assuming a two day lag in viewing, here is a possible sequence to your first call appointment (elapse time not work days) (“your mileage may vary”): Day 1 – send initial invitation touch with vmail call Day 3 – prospect views email (..)

Microsite 120

Microsite Activities Conversion Content 120

Avitage

MARCH 28, 2013

B2B content creation is buried within many, many, go-to-market tactics such as projects, activities and events, across many marketing, training, sales and even channel groups, What is your cost of content created by sales and marketing people for example?

Allocation 120

Allocation Webcast Content Case Study 120

Avitage

MARCH 28, 2013

B2B content creation is buried within many, many, go-to-market tactics such as projects, activities and events, across many marketing, training, sales and even channel groups, What is your cost of content created by sales and marketing people for example?

Allocation 120

Allocation Webcast Curation Content 120

Avitage

MARCH 28, 2013

However, as many IT marketers are discovering, […] The post IDG On Connecting the Dots Between Content and Sales appeared first on Avitage. B2B marketers are allocating one-third of their budgets to content marketing, and more than half plan to increase content marketing spending in 2013.

Allocation 120

Allocation Curation Content B2B Sales 120

Avitage

JANUARY 16, 2018

This will become even more evident when marketing begins to adequately support B2B sales content requirements, as well as those of the sales channel. By this I mean sales and marketing people, and their audiences, use and consume content. Sales assumes marketing or product teams know how to create sales content.

Content 120

Content Domain Paid Search Agency B2B Sales 120

Avitage

OCTOBER 18, 2016

I received a call from a colleague who started a new sales job with a software company. ” Sales content for key sales engagement points are the most under-served content requirements in most B2B organizations. Marketers don’t package and deploy content to sales that marketing may be using for lead gen and nurturing.

Lead Gen 120

Lead Gen Content Marketing Management B2B Sales 120

Avitage

SEPTEMBER 26, 2017

To address this reality, many B2B selling organizations are shifting from the traditional product sales model that focuses on features, benefits, pricing and discounting. They are adopting a value sales model. This sales approach focuses on creating value as much in how they sell, as what they sell.

Lead Ranking 120

Lead Ranking Startups Marketing & Strategy B2B Sales 120

Avitage

AUGUST 14, 2017

” That was the first question Barb Giamanco asked me on her sales podcast, Right Message, Right Support, Right Sales Content, on the Razor’s Edge. Key Considerations for Effective Selling Content If your sales team conducts a complex, solution or value sale, situation-ready selling content is essential for your success.

Conversion 120

Conversion B2B Content B2B Sales 120

Avitage

OCTOBER 22, 2016

.” Now we’re telling them, “sell into the ‘hidden opportunity market’ ” As a result of recent client work, I’ve re-examined CEB’s Challenger Customer for clues on how to improve B2B sales practices, especially for sales content. The point where prospects are willing to speak with sales reps.

RFP 120

RFP B2B Sales Marketing & Strategy Marketing 120

Avitage

JUNE 28, 2017

Without mechanisms to make the complex simple, people experience the feeling as “complicated” This is the condition B2B sales and marketing leaders experience when it comes to defining and executing sales, marketing, content and data strategies. Complexity, coupled with exponential change, can paralyze effective execution.

B2B 120

B2B B2B Sales Differentiation Segmentation 120

Avitage

APRIL 17, 2016

So this prompted us to developed a list of the primary requirements for B2B sales prospecting success. Complicated is often due to lack of clarity about key requirements.

B2B 120

B2B Sales Cycle B2B Sales Marketing Prospects 120

Avitage

APRIL 3, 2015

For all the time, attention and investment made in sales enablement tools, it’s a shame a fraction of that hasn’t been invested in solving the core problem: the content itself. sales enablement hasn’t yet met expectations. How well does sales define their requirements? But then …. See Need Better Content?

Work Management 120

Work Management Budget Programs Marketing Management Content 120

Avitage

SEPTEMBER 27, 2017

“As b-to-b organizations place greater focus on both inbound marketing, and optimizing content for the sales force, the skills and behaviors required for content ideation, writing and delivery are rapidly changing. This understanding is critical because content and sales conversations must […].

Marketing & Strategy 120

Marketing & Strategy B to B Buyer Personas Content 120

Avitage

SEPTEMBER 27, 2017

“As b-to-b organizations place greater focus on both inbound marketing, and optimizing content for the sales force, the skills and behaviors required for content ideation, writing and delivery are rapidly changing. This understanding is critical because content and sales conversations must […].

B to B 120

B to B Buyer Personas Viral Marketing Content 120

Avitage

APRIL 1, 2016

Missing or under-performing customer facing content has a significant impact on strategic business objectives: new customer acquisition and organic revenue growth, sales and marketing productivity and efficiency for lower selling costs, data acquisition and customer experience. Customer facing content is not created on purpose.

Acquisitions 120

Acquisitions Sales Cycle Content B2B Sales 120

Avitage

FEBRUARY 9, 2017

Asking Better Questions Our clients must improve their sales and marketing performance and productivity in order to achieve top business results. B2B selling organizations know they must arm sales, marketing and channel professionals with high-value content to effectively perform their jobs.

Lock-In 120

Lock-In B2B Sales Paid Search Agency Order 120

Avitage

OCTOBER 27, 2014

People responsible for sales and channel enablement, marketing and content operations, or supporting groups that use content, face many challenges. Think about the customer-facing, content-using groups across your organization: in marketing and sales of course, but also customer service, training and HR (talent acquisition).

Content 120

Content Curation Paid Search Agency Marketing Automation Services 120