When customers ask for new products or features, should you jump to fill the request? These situations can help you deepen your relationship with your customer. On the other hand, you could also end up wasting time and resources creating a new offering that they're not willing to pay more for and that no other customer needs.
When you make the decision to target market segments strategically, you can create significant profitable growth opportunities for your business. But what happens when the sales team fails to embrace those new segments?
A signed contract signals the start of the final step in the Value Lifecycle: Deliver and Measure Value. This step not only strengthens your relationship with your customer, but enhances your capacity to develop new offerings and improve existing ones. Here are the top three objectives in making it work.
Ask the VP of Sales and the VP of Marketing at any company how well their teams get along and you’ll likely find some level of friction. Salespeople complain that marketing doesn’t provide enough leads, and that leads are not “sales ready.” Marketing complains that salespeople fail to follow up on leads properly and bungle their own opportunities. The complaints have been around for some time and there’s a bit of truth on each side. One thing is clear: if companies want to maximize revenue potential, they need to make sure sales and marketing are putting forth a coordinated effort. Here are five solutions to get your sales and marketing teams on the same page.
Well if you’re not going to lead with the demo, what should you lead with? Consider that old quote, “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” The best opportunities can be found when initial conversations center around the prospect’s business problem.
Do you know the difference between “ROI” (return on investment) and “ROMI” (return on marketing investment)? Occasionally we’ve noticed that some of our discussions about ROI have led to some confusion among our readers. I suspect this is because when people hear “ROI” and “marketing” they primarily think of “return on marketing investment” (ROMI).
Do you ever downplay the value of your offering because you’re afraid prospects or customers won’t find the estimated ROI believable? I’ve had many discussions with B2B salespeople who say they tone down value as soon as ROI calculations start to become “too high.” For example, let’s say a salesperson’s solution costs $1,000, and their ROI calculations show that the prospect will receive $100,000 worth of value. Feeling that the resulting 9,900% ROI is unbelievable, the salesperson will say, “We don’t really deliver $100,000 of value. We actually deliver $10,000 of value.” The salesperson believes that a 900% ROI sounds more believable to the prospect.
Recently I read a MarketingProfs blog post reporting that business decision-makers are 10% more likely to consider B2B brands that consumers know and feel connected to. The report, which was based on data from a survey of 9,500 global consumers and 450 business decision-makers, included some interesting charts and categorized companies in four ways. Known, but not relevant Highly relevant Limited relevance Not relevant
I truly believe in the power of ROI tools and value calculators to help generate better, more qualified B2B marketing leads and enhance a B2B sales rep’s ability to close a deal. If I didn't, I wouldn't be in the business of selling them. Here are my responses to common objections to value selling tools:
This is Part V of a five-part series about the lifecycle of value in B2B selling and marketing. You’ve set your price, shown the customer the cost of his problem, and proven you’re a better option than your competitors. Congratulations, you’ve now made it to Phase 4 of the Value Lifecycle. This is the point at which you perform a rock solid analysis that convinces your prospect to invest in your offering. If done right, Phase 4 the Value Lifecycle is a lot of fun, because success at this stage means you’ve closed the deal.
