I wish I had written that…

I just read an ebook on the New Rules of Sales Enablement by Jeff Ernst. It is written from the perspective of a classically trained marketer who had the “ah ha” moment of what it really takes to sell. Well, this little book should be required reading for all product marketing management. I used to say, don’t confuse selling with installing. An adjunct to that is don’t confuse sales enablement with collateral or sales process.

Mr. Ernst outlines six critical elements a successful sales person manages and advocates marketing to understand them and get them incorporated into a repeatable sales playbook (not to be confused with a sales process).

1. Understand the customer’s marketplace and business issues
2. Help the buyer envision solving their problems using his or her products and services
3. Frame the buyer’s evaluation criteria so that the competitors are at a disadvantage
4. Help the “buyer champion” sell within his or her organization
5. Overcome objections raised by the buyer
6. Respond to the tough questions immediately and with credibility

What is the difference between a playbook and a sales process? A sales process is how you progress through the sale. The playbook is what is done within the context of the customer’s environment.

I liken this to how head coach Josh McDaniels is running the Denver Bronco’s team. He has all the positions covered (sales process), but each week the Broncos adjust their playbook and approach to exploit the weaknesses and protect against the strengths of the opposing team. How this is done is through heavy analysis and the coaches strategizing how to play this week’s game.

Translation to marketing: First identify a specific sales environment, the customer. Think industry, think decision maker and influencer, think company size and environment.

Know the customers has a lot of options to solve their problem, including doing nothing. Define the playbook with questions that probe for problems, pain and view to solve their world. You will have to talk to your top sales people to determine the questions and what they are looking for with those questions.

Teach the sales to set decision criteria and plan for landmines. This isn’t just listing unique requirements and capabilities. It is using questions, with the sales person’s knowledge of what is important to the buyer, to get your unique value as the baseline requirement(s). Nice to have doesn’t cut it. As far as landmines, if I know what the competition is up to I can discredit them before I get hit.

If you still don’t understand, call your local sales person and ask them what it means.
Happy selling.

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…meetings that is..

Yep, that is what a Forbes survey of over 760 business executives said in June 2009. “While web-, video-, and teleconferencing have their role, they cannot substitute for human interaction when it comes to accomplishing certain business objectives.

They pointed out that “… traveling to meet clients, convening teams and the motivation born of live exchange-as a crucial element to their success.”

We probably all knew this, but face-to-face is all about the ability to read another person (77%), and being the best for persuasion (91%), leadership (87%), accountability (79%) and decision making (82%).

And yep, it is necessary for effective teamwork (80%) and the down-time at in-person conferences builds stronger client bonds (81%).

Ok - so yes, there are times we all just want the facts and just the facts. So give it to me in a webinar so I can double and triple task. Then I can just tune in to hopefully get the major bullets out of the meeting.

All the more reason to make sure we use a mixture of web, social media tools and the real in person relationships to make it all happen.

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I am a 2009 Finisher of the Triple ByPass. No, that is not the surgery type bypass, but the road bike craziness.
Three weeks ago I was griping on the blog about lack of hard, consistent training and focus. Questioning my sanity about showing up at the start line, knowing how grueling the ride is.  Well, I showed up, rode well and had some thoughts about the bike and business… read on.

Progress is not linear - the week I wrote about training, I pushed hard. Very hard. Multiple step -up climbs that taxed the body and mind. A week off and then another mountain day. The same ride on July 4th (Carter - Estes - Big Thompson) - I rode 23% faster. Why? As in marketing there is the consistency of message and constant work, then a push or splash to get attention of the market. Done right, there is more return for the money. Where we miss it, is forgetting about the prep for the hard press and then continuing the drum beat after the major event. This might seem easier if you are a big company with lots to talk about. For small companies, it is even more important to stay out front with relevant information.  That takes preparation and digging. A splash here and a splash there (think one per quarter) will result in blimps on the screen and make your hard training times worthless.

The right fuel - On last year’s ride I bonked. Bonking means the brain says go, the body says “I’m done.” I failed to fuel properly. I ate the wrong food (Pringles and Coke for salt sugar and caffiene) when I really needed protien.  And it was not enough. So when everything gave out on Vail Pass, there was only one cure. Get carb’s in the body as no one was coming to pick me up. Once fueled, I had enough to limp my way up and down another 35 miles.

Fueling marketing means the right stuff (tactics, resources, materials) for sustainable results. A little here, a little there gets you just a little and a limp. Consistent fuel and support of the organization will produce predictable results. If you have starved the beast, just feeding it money or people will not get it back in form. It takes time. Also note, money and people cannot cure all ills. The mix of PR, analysts, advertising, field events, etc., need to be coordinated. Too much of one or the other with not make the engine work properly.

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No need to be concerned because…

• We repeat the marketing and sales cycle over and over, working through the leads. So it makes sense certain materials get dragged out and used over and over.
• Most business’ revenue comes from 1 or 2 products, representing 80% of the revenue. So, it fits those marketing materials are used.
• Sales people will use what they are most comfortable with. The same reference stories, the same white papers and the same presentations. It is appropriate the sales process is predictable and repeatable.

Yes, we should be concerned , IF…

• You are spending 80% of marketing’s time on corner cases  (i.e. industries, solutions, products) that are not strategic, this is a problem.
• You haven’t aligned the marketing materials with your marketing and sales funnel.
• You are constantly searching for the ‘right’ collateral for a marketing campaign or event. And worse, you settle for something that will just do for a call to action.
• You haven’t updated your materials with new media, such as video / white boarding and online webinars, which are fast becoming the preferred mode to obtain information quickly.
• You hear constant clamor for customer reference stories. (I usually discount the general statements from sales for “better collateral.”  However, if there is a lot of noise and sales can be very specific about what is missing and how the new collateral will be use, then there there is probably a problem). 
• You hear constant noise about defining a true value proposition and how this product solves business problems.  In this case you most likely have general product collateral with a lot of marketing speak and not enough differentiation.  Or it maybe too engineering, in love with the technical abilities.
• Things are done by rout, that is you produce the same materials in the same way for all the products without consideration of the audiences

If your yes’s out strip your no’s its time to re-examine and prioritize the marketing strategy. More is not better.

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I started a series on the channel which has been posted at  The Examiner on the B2B Marketing page.  Well received.  So here are the links to the 4 that have been posted.

Part I: So you want to get into the channel:  An approach to laying out a strategy and the questions you need to ask.

Part II: Is your company channel ready? This outlines what it means to be channel ready from product packaging, pricing, customer support, sales, etc.

Part III: We’ve signed a partner to sell, now what? Tips and techniques for getting the channel up and running fast

Part IV: The channel and sales compensation:  The strategies and pitfalls of compensation.  How to avoid conflict (or create it if that is what you want).

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