December 11, 2007
THE SALES PROCESS STARTS BEFORE YOU THINK IT DOES
Reg Nordman is the Managing Partner for Rocket Builders, a sales and marketing consultancy for high growth companies. He works with large and small companies such as: Asentus, Maximizer, Sophos, Microsoft Canada, and Research in Motion. Previously he has worked in direct and channel sales for major firms such as Unisys and Commodore. For his clients, Reg assists them in breaking through various sales and marketing challenges to grow the business. Using RocketBuilders Precision Sales and Marketing process he helps CEOS get more from Sales and Marketing. Reg is focused on getting clients “more effective selling time”. Reg has been publishing executive book reviews for his clients since 2002, and a blog since 2004.
Thank you Reg, for sharing your experience!
What are the major tendencies that characterize the new market realities?
No company can prosper and grow without significant and thoughtful investments in marketing. Everything is getting more difficult.
Eg my post Nov 8: News from the trenches- The sales process starts before you think it does
Describes how the customer is first engaging the sales force about 20% of the way down the sales process. What does this entail? Prospects go online to identify their problem and look for solutions. By the time the customer engages the salesman, they have created a short list of companies to talk to and they believe that this company is one of a few that have the potential solution to their problem. This immediately creates two problems:
1. Most sales people are unable to shift gears to accommodate the needs of these customers. They do not want a demo, a brochure or a proposal. They want you to quickly get up to speed on their business and issues and how your product brings value. How are you different? The results of a poor response is that the opportunity disappears as fast as it appears.
2. Marketing becomes of No.1 importance with the brand promise, materials in the public eye and the ability to drive “qualified leads ” to the sales funnel. The Marcomm dept has to really be on top of things. But you never will never know its not working.
Hidden problem. Are clients looking at your online “story” and dropping you from their shortlist, and thus never engaging you? Guess what? You will never know!
So business is changing yet most sales training is stuck in the 90’s . That is so like , yesterday. (Read the article)