Times have changed and so has the formula for successful sales and marketing. Whether B:B or B:C the consumer has changed how they find solutions providers and vendors. Old marketing and sales models have been digitally disrupted!
Many CIO’s and CFO’s we work with explain that they don’t go to trade shows to find solutions and they don’t welcome calls from sales representatives because they can research solutions, understand feature functionality, view industry stacked rankings, and customer testimonials without leaving their office or being subjected to pushy sales types deploying their latest Challenger selling techniques.
BIG change! And in fact, companies that understand this are growing and companies sticking to their old strategies of outbound marketing are struggling with flat or declining sales. The most amazing thing about this evolution is consumerism is the fact that the data and technology is available today to take companies to the forefront inexpensively and quickly.
Over the past years of doing business, we’ve worked with many companies who were looking for growth. Some were consistently out-performing others, and some were trying to save their way to the future operational. P&L manufacturing as we call it is not a strategy for growth or significant company valuation growth. Enhancement perhaps. We’ve identified and packaged the small changes in sales and marketing activities that are driving revenue growth.
Quite simply, old methods of direct mail, telemarketing, cold calling, and trade shows participation no longer are as effective as they once where. In fact, they can be down right painful!. Managing inbound marketing efforts(Social, Web, Blogs, Etc) and the top of the “funnel” have become far more important than the traditional management of the bottom of the funnel. Sure the bottom of the funnel is still important but without blending with top of the funnel activities will not produce maximum results.
One clear trend we see is certain cultures that embrace evolution are being successful capturing new business while others that resist change and are operationally focused are struggling. It is so simple for many but frankly threatens other who don’t understand current consumer behavior. To quote Morgan Freeman in Shawshank Redemption as a recommendation for all sales and marketing teams “you either get busy living, or get busy dying”. (he is alive dont believe the hoax from Feb 14th)
I invite you to learn more about the automated marketing platform philosophy and understand what the meaningful business impact could be for you.
Peter Ransome
CEO
