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B2B Executive Strategies
Reaching Year End Sales Goals
August 5, 2011 - Vol 2, Issue 3 |
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Greetings! |
Now that the NFL is back in business, we can all take a deep breath and watch Bret Favre 'unretire' for the fourth time as we finish up our relaxing summer vacation. Then it's back to work to finish a record breaking year. 
McKinsey's latest quarterly magazine asserts that marketing is now everyone's job. I also hear at more companies than I can count that "sales is everyone's job." So what should everyone be doing?
Considering that driving revenue and deal flow is the focus of both the marketing and sales organization, as summer wraps up these functions at companies everywhere are evaluating and exploring ways to drive sales these final few months. In our three articles, you'll see that it takes a collective effort from sales and marketing to reach and surpass year-end targets. The consistently performing growth companies have key common traits. All have special relationships with their top accounts. They know how to leverage these relationships to secureadditional dollars with them. And finally, they understand how to engage these customer advocates to convert prospects.
Enjoy!
Sean |
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Geehan Group Events | |
B2B Executive Round Table | Palo Alto | August 31, 2011
Motivation Show | Chicago | October 4-5, 2011
CFG Roundtable | San Francisco | October 11-13, 2011
Publication Date | The B2B Executive Playbook | October 11, 2011
ITSMA | Boston | October 26-27, 2011 |
| Love the One's Your With | |
Sean Geehan Founder and CEO of Geehan Group, Author of The B2B Executive Playbook
Everyone gets excited when a major new customer is secured. There's a celebration,bells are ringing, and lots of recognition and rewards are doled out. This event may evenmerit a personal call or note from the president.
Yet, how much celebration happens when a long-standing customer renews for the sixthstraight year? Forget that they haven't bid out the work in three years (no competition=greatermargin) and they are already in your system (low cost of support, faster payment= greater cash flow). What is marketing doing to celebrate and sustain these keywins? Read More... |
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Driving Market Awareness | |
Karen Posey Senior Consultant
A common challenge executive's face is building awareness in the market about their organization or a new solution to drive sales. In the B2B world, one way to drive market awareness is through Executive Summits. Executive Summits traditionally consist of a compelling keynote speaker that focuses on an important topic, one or more case studies from strategic customer(s) and a few sessions that stimulate thought and conversation. This creates an environment where the participants are talking 80% of the time.
Typically, marketing events focus on the end user or even the influencer but the real opportunity is focusing on the decision maker. In order to attract decision makers to your executive summit you need to create the right environment to entice them to attend, especially if you don't have name recognition. Securing compelling keynote speaker, focused on a relevant topic, will make all the difference in attracting attendees because the use of a strong keynote will position your organization as a thought leader. Read More...
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Relationships Build Big Deal Success | | Rob Urbanowicz Principle and Vice President Client Services
"Big Deals" get everybody excited. The city of Boston just had 1.5 million fans comewatch the Boston Bruins team parade through the heart of the city after the Bruinswon professional hockey's coveted prize, the Stanley Cup. The streets were litteredwith the Bruin jerseys and yellow confetti. The Stanley Cup is a "big deal." And everyonewho had any connection to the Bruins was ecstatic.
 Dave Hersch, CEO at then small start-up Jive software recalls one of their firstbig wins. "When we first started out, we went up against IBM for a big deal witha large manufacturer. They flew in ten people. We had three of us running the companyfrom an apartment. The odds were stacked against us but we did our homework andbuilt a solid relationship with the decision maker. The customer liked our lightweight,flexible approach to solving their problems, and we won. We celebrated with whiterussians in the apartment." Even big B2B players get excited over big deals. WhenBoeing recently landed its $1.7 billion order for six of its 777 jets with QatarAirways, you can bet more than just the sales rep was excited over the win.
How important are relationships to B2B sales success? Read More... |
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