Magnus Marketing Blog

Hello blog visitor! Expecting tips and tricks? Believe it or not, I have given you some through the posts here:
1. Treat organizations as individuals with unique needs. Tailor your value proposition, solution set, and messaging accordingly.
2. Go beyond the high level surface stuff and dig into the firm, create a real account book.
3. Respect and talk to the salespeople.
4. It isn't about you, your company, your product/service - it is about the unique customer.
5. Quality is more important than quantity of anything determined by how much converted business in dollar value is achieved.
6. Experience means zero with respect to results
7. Hiring the right salespeople, leaders, and team is critical to execution.

Research is only one part of the equation, that is only a foundation to execution. Another interesting thing: I have broken every single rule in business development, yet got the CIO, CFO, VP, CMO, etc. to talk to me and even do in-person meetings.

1. I don't call at 7 a.m., I call at 2 p.m. in the afternoon
2. I leave long-winded messages
3. I talk in a high pitched voice
4. I don't call more than 2 or 3 times a week to one person, if that.
5. I send wordy long emails, my collateral is descriptive and fact based - not flowery, I have done creative things with business research.
6. I did direct mail in December around Christmas and got leads.
7. I sell the gatekeepers
8. I have no technology background aside from a few ERP/E-com classes. In other words, I am not an MCSE, programmer, or other techie. Yet I have had great conversations with Directors/CIO's about the merits of one ERP over another.
9. The best prospecting was in the summer
10. Most companies I worked for had no advertising or other external marketing activity, I had to earn marketing dollars from biz dev efforts.

Best tip: ignore all the "standard" sales/marketing stuff. Doesn't make a difference. Why - it is about THE CUSTOMER! get that, you will have million dollar accounts too.