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Moving prospects along the buying process
Patrick Spenner and Karen Freeman recently published an article in the Harvard Business Review on the importance of understanding where a customer is in the buying process and of helping customers simplify the process itself: To keep your customers keep it simple. The article focuses on consumers but parallels exist in B2B markets and we have long championed these ideas among our B2B clients.
Read MoreSometimes your channel is your brand
“There is very little loyalty left. Manufacturer X is mercenary. They just want to make money, and I’m mercenary. In other words, Manufacturer X doesn’t care about me, and I don’t care about Manufacturer X. They just make a good product.” This quote from a recent study sums up the state of many of the channel relationships we see across a range of technology and industrial B2B markets.
Read MorePositioning challenges for technology startups
When we look at the cyclical patterns of startups vs. legacy systems we feel this time around will go much smoother than last major round of startups – the .com era. Today’s IT executives have been through this process before and know where the risks lie and how to mitigate them as much as possible. In a silver lining to the sluggish economy’s grey cloud, budgets are tight so even the most hyped technologies (e.g. mobile) receive much more attention and systematic evaluation than previous .com initiatives ever did.
Read MoreInsights from The Art of the Sale
In The Art of the Sale: Learning from the Masters About the Business of Life Philip Delves Broughton provides non-sales folks a glimpse into the world of sales by profiling a range of successful sales professionals ranging from an antiques dealer in Morocco to a global sales rep for a commercial airplane manufacturer. Along the way he provides his perspective on sales seminars – that at the end of the day they serve the purpose of recharging sales people so they can climb back into the trenches.
Read MoreWhy likability matters
Likability is also one important criterion we use to test advertising. Even as advertising and advertising research have become much more sophisticated over time, likability continues to be a useful predictor of effectiveness.
Read MoreMost strategic plans are financial plans in disguise
In a recent column in CIO magazine Daniel Burrus points out the flaw he sees in many strategic plans by saying, “Most strategic plans are financial plans in disguise” and goes on to say that a strategy built around maximizing profits in the near-term limits long-term growth activities.
Read MoreMarketing and selling to the reptilian brain
Tim Riesterer’s recent HBR blog post about stimulating the customer’s “lizard brain” to make a sale correlates with Isurus’ work on messaging and sales effectiveness. Riesterer points out that most sales messages fail to compel buyers to move away from the status quo because our “lizard brain”—the brain stem and other structures responsible for our survival instincts—prefers safety and avoids risk. Implicit in this message is the idea that a purely logical message often isn’t enough to drive change. To make a sale that breaks the status quo, the sales message must appeal to the lizard brain.
Read MoreWhat have you done for me lately? Marketing short-term benefits
Across a diverse range of b2b and consumer product categories studied by Isurus in the last six months, the messaging strategies that best resonate are ones that speak to short-term benefits. Messages that speak only to long-term benefits failed to motivate buyers, even when the eventual benefit is very meaningful (a life-saving therapy, a significant ROI, etc.).
Read MoreWhen the voice of one customer is too loud
It is important, often critical, to respond to the needs of key customers. However, it is equally important to determine which requests represent one-off customizations for key clients and which represent an opportunity with other customers. Primary market research – especially quantitative data—helps to safeguard against over-reacting to a single customer incident.
Read MoreThe challenges of the strategic IT function
In most industries the IT function is looking to be more of a strategic partner to the business rather than simply a cost center and service provider. CIOs are looking across the business to identify ways they can help the business compete and grow revenue. Many have developed a business liaison function that they place within the business units; a few are even setting performance metrics for their strategic role in the organization. These efforts have met with mixed results given the relatively high hill to climb.
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