Magnus Marketing Blog

Jill Konrath is a kindred spirit: check out www.sellingtobigcompanies.com. I would have loved to have been her sales support/marketing person - together there is no account that would have remained unpenetrated. Maybe we can partner some time in the future.

She did a webinar today, accessible via WEBEX discussing sales strategies, everything pretty much was not new stuff - but was right on. She amended my view that if you encounter objections or someone doesn't call you, your value proposition likely wasn't strong enough. She also mentioned that there are multiple ways into an account and that the RESEARCH is KEY to opening an account, because it feeds the unique value proposition.

One thing she said was particularly great and reinforces another point. Collateral is not necessary in the early stages of a sale. Moreover, she said, collateral can actually HINDER entry because it can raise objections. Plus, no one cares about "speeds n feeds" or as she put it - the trite product/service benefits. UNLESS, they can be directly tied to a BUSINESS benefit and that takes a deeper dive into the company situation than just b.s. about high level generic industry "pain points".

Again, today, I had a back and forth email with a Chief Medical Officer of a major healthcare company who was on for a meeting, but then cancelled a meeting with my client - I tried to reinvigorate his interest. How did I get him to email me - at MY HOME email address? Through research! Because I understood what he had done and mapped it to my clients technology solution. There are a few other things that were said and stated, of course. But still. NO COLLATERAL! Just a voicemail and well written email done just right. If he doesn't do the meeting, someone in his organization will.

OK, admittedly there is something to be said for a pleasant female voice, that does have a little to do with it also.

Marketing needs to learn to work with sales and become a strategic resource. Stop the b.s. collateral, fancy expensive toys, and blogs,podcasts,pretend monikers and create an intelligent presence. Customer-centricity is achieved when the focus and attention is on the customer - marcom needs to reflect it.