STRATEGY

Thinking About Expanding Your Market?  Ten Questions To Answer First

Application software companies frequently talk about expanding their markets.  Often this idea represents wishful thinking rather than a well-thought out rationale and business plan. If your business is discussing expanding its market, here are 10 questions to answer before you decide. 

STRATEGY

The CIO's Agenda--Make IT Affordable, Workable, and Credible

A recent forum included a round table discussion of CIOs from different companies and industries. They summarized their charter as make IT affordable, workable and credible. These realities impact all IT users, professionals, and vendors.

STRATEGY

Vertical Focus – By the Numbers

Vertical, vertical, vertical.  Software companies, service providers and even hardware companies are making public statements about their vertical strategy, focusing their efforts on a specific type of industry, for example banks, or steel mills or bakeries.  Of course, every company wants to look at the numbers that count the most, revenue and expenses.  Increasing revenue and decreasing costs are the results of an effective vertical strategy.

SALES AND MARKETING MANAGEMENT

Improving Sales and Marketing with the Sales Funnel

The sales funnel is not a new tool for the management of the sales process.  Most sales managers use it to understand the sales pipeline and its status.  However, the sales funnel can be an important tool in improving performance.  It can help us identify areas for improvement and understand what actions can help the sales and marketing process to both increase deal flow and lower the cost of sales. 

Sales and Marketing’s Number One Mistake

Where can we find sales and marketing’s number one mistake?  Looking at web sites, we see it.  Looking at brochures, we see it.  PowerPoint, we see it.  On sales calls – that is when we see it most.  It is amazing that almost every sales and marketing organization makes the very same mistake.  What is this number one mistake?  It is failing to follow a rule we all learned in sales and marketing 101 -- THINK LIKE THE PROSPECT.

CIO Horror Stories and What They Mean For Vendors

Customers and vendors do not always see eye to eye. This article illustrates three cases where vendors did the opposite of selling; they pushed the companies away. With each horror story, we are certain that the vendors in question have a very different story; however, it would be wise of vendors to examine the practices that drove the business away. The role of management is to see that rules are followed, but understand the need for exceptions.

STRATEGY

Vendors, What Kind Of Revenue Is Realistic? 

For application vendors, all revenue is good revenue.  However revenue comes in many varieties, and not all are equal in terms of value, cost or risk.

STRATEGY

Vertical Marketing – What Is A Vertical?

What is vertical marketing?  Vertical marketing is product and promotion efforts targeted at specific industries.  Many benefits are derived from vertical marketing.  These include messages that are better received, credibility, marketing budgets that go farther, less competition, etc.  A common mistake is the failure to understand the verticals you choose to target.  The definition of a vertical is not what the vendor thinks; it is what the prospects think.

MARKETING

Sales Objections and the Role of Marketing

Objection handling is considered by many one of the most importance skills in sales.  sales people must be ready and able to address objections; marketing must enable sales to respond to sales objections by providing answers and tools. 

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MARKETING

Technology Vendor – Can You Afford Credibility?

For Technology vendors, credibility is the ability to sell. Credibility is vital, is hard to build, and easy to lose.  Building credibility doesn't have to be costly.  This article touches on the concepts you can employ to build your credibility. These concepts are the basis for a seminar presented by The Credibility Forum.

MARKETING

Application Vendors - Avoid Sabotaging Sales With Marketing

Have you ever lost deals where you knew you had the better product?  Have you ever lost deals where the prospect agreed you had a better product?  Many reasons exist for losing deals.  The two most frequent reasons are poor salesmanship and poor marketing.   The sad truth is that in most cases -- Good marketing beats great product

MARKETING

Public Speaking - The Value Equation

Speaking at public forums (conferences, seminars and forums held by independent organizations, trade associations, professional and industry trade groups, and academic institutions) gives a person and their company exposure and credibility.  Speaking at public forums has proven to gain more business, through increased awareness of the company and specific subject.   But the real value is not showing up and speaking.

MARKETING

Building an Industry Expert

Why do some companies get more coverage in magazines than others?  Why do they get more speaking slots at industry events?  Why do they get more time in front of the key decision makers?  One reason might be that they have an industry expert.

SALES

The C Level Buyer - Pet Peeves

 C-Level executives have some pet peeves in dealing with suppliers. These are things that you do, as a supplier, that stand in the way of your success.

SALES

Mail Campaigns, A Sales Tool Too.

Most companies use mail campaigns as marketing tools.  Mail campaigns are used for lead generation, customer and market surveys and market awareness.  While mail campaigns are a reliable marketing tool, most sales organizations do not see them as a sales tool.

SALES

Knowledge Is Power And In Sales It Leads To Trust, Value And Deals.

How do you get a deal?  Yes, many factors come into play, but two key factors are trust and value.  Does the prospect or customer trust you?  Think about why a customer would trust you and how you can improve upon that trust. Do you bring value to your customer?  To bring value, the customer must trust you to provide him with knowledge he did not have before.  Simply put, to get a deal, you need to show value; to show value, the customer must trust what you say.  No trust, no value, no deal.

SALES

Beating the #1 Competitor – NO DECISION

Ask almost any sales executive who their number one competitor is and you will get an answer of “NO DECISION”.  Who is this universal competitor and how do we beat it?

SALES and MARKETING

Software Buying Has Changed – Will Vendors Follow Suit?

ABSTRACT: Software and services vendors talk about agility. They talk about keeping an eye on the market and meeting the needs of the customer. However, do they take their own medicine? How an enterprise buys software and services has been changing. Buyers are smart about buying technology. They are skeptical, risk adverse, and tighter with their budgets. What are those changes, why did they happen and what does it mean for the both the buying enterprise and the selling vendor?

SALES

The First Call – Cold, Warm or Hot?

ABSTRACT: You never get a second chance to make a first impression.  When using the phone, getting to talk to an actual person is more difficult all the time.  When making calls, you cannot afford to do an average cold call.  Do not squander your chance to make a good first impression with a cold call.  Invest your time to improve the call.  Make it warm or even hot and increase your hit rate.

SALES

Knowing Your Prospect’s Influencers

A prospect is listening to many different people at the same time.  While you are doing your best to influence the decision, the prospect sees you as only a single input to decision-making.  Prospects listen to many, with each type of influence having a different degree of trust and therefore of influence.  Understanding where you stand and how to influence the influencers can help you win.

SALES and MARKETING

Who Is Your Prospect?  Or, The Dry Bean Story

Do you know who your prospect is?  Not their name but who they think they are.  If you think they are something that disagrees with what they think, you lose credibility and your message does not get through.

SALES and MARKETING

Overcoming The Roadblocks To Hearing YES 

OK, the economy is bad. OK, it is hard to get excited about the turn-around. IT projects are on hold to the dismay of IT professionals and vendors. But is money really the roadblock? We think risk and time present roadblocks as big, if not bigger than money.

SALES

The Ten Questions You Dread

Your heart misses a beat.  A lump rises in your throat.  If you are a pro with years of experience under your belt, no one sees your discomfort.  If you are new at this game, the prospect smells the fear.  We all recognize the symptoms.  You have been asked one of the Ten Dreaded Questions.  Only by being prepared can you turn the Ten Dreaded Questions into an opportunity to sell, and not a need to panic.