Sales and Marketing Alignment Focused on the Needs of Your B2B Customers

Jan. 17, 2011 - PRLog -- Easily said, How and Where do I start? Before we jump into the How, lets answer one more question, Why?

The survey results of 1400 companies in 2005 showed when sales and marketing are in alignment, they grew 5.4% faster than their competitors. A 2010 survey continues to show those companies who have aligned sales and marketing are growing faster. The revenue growth rate was 20% year over year for those considered to be Best In Class.

In terms of "Where" to start, we use a frame work which allows all 3 areas of Sales and Marketing Alignment to naturally grow together. The foundation of the frame becomes customer focused messaging which allows customers to easily visualize how the capabilities of your products and services help them achieve their needs.

It is not "About IT", it is about what "Buyers Can Achieve With IT".

Our clients have demonstrated the best place to begin, (How), is to use a list of the feature-benefit statements associated with a group of product or services and drill into these looking for those which help customers achieve their most compelling needs.

The objective is to craft Sales and Marketing Messaging which allows a potential  customer to visualize the business usage of the product or service. These "visual" messages combined with consultative selling skills helps the customer develop a Vision of a Solution, based on value, as to how the product or service capabilities will help them achieve their needs.

http://www.visiongroupmn.com/sales-marketing-alignment.htm

These customer focused messages create a common language used in the buy-sell cycle with customers and also between Sales and Marketing.  It is important to note these messages are not directed at "generic" individuals, they are created for the individual titles your sales team encounters during the buy-sell cycle.  Depending on the markets/industries covered, different variations of messages may also be required.

Once these customer focused messages are crafted as building blocks, sales and marketing tools can be created to be used in all of the various demand generation, nurturing, prospecting and sales activities used throughout the buy-sell cycle.

Our clients tell us by using customer focused messaging at the first point of contact with customers helps them create the Best B2B Buying Experience, the beginning of the Best Customer Experience for their new and existing customers.

http://www.visiongroupmn.com/best-buying-experience.htm

With a solid list of customer needs and messaging, we are ready for the next step in the sales and marketing alignment.  Building a common sales process based on consultative selling stages, and the detailed sales steps within each stage.  

These research based consultative selling stages and detailed steps are lined up with how your customers buy your products and services.  The Vision Group facilitates which of the detailed steps match up with how your customers buy your products and services and helps configure a common sales process for your company.

Watch for future releases which will cover how to align sales and marketing with the shifting concerns of individuals making buying decisions.

Using the above overview allows companies to align their sales and marketing on how their customer buy their types of products and services, using a common language and a common sales process.

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About Vision Group: Our clients use consultative selling aligned with how their customers buy, while staying focused on the potential customers business needs. This leads to the Best Buying Experience, the beginning of the Best Customer Experience.

http://www.visiongroupmn.com

Customers tell us we help train and educate their personnel on what their best do naturally. Using behaviorally correct selling skills during the buy-sell cycle to connect and build trust while using the power of story with visual messaging to help new and existing customers develop a Vision of a Solution based on value.

With our continued association with Mike Bosworth we are offering training programs and consulting designed to help sales and marketing personnel become more effective at consultative selling and prospecting.

http://www.mikebosworth.com