Is the Role of Marketing Changing
By Ian Dainty Have you tried any prospecting lately, or talked to any potential customers for your products or services? If any of these people do have the problems your products or services solve, have you noticed that they may already know quite a bit about the types of features your solution does offer. Many savvy B2B purchasers are now able to begin the buying cycle without you. It used to be that when a prospect was in the hunt for a solution to a problem he would call his local sales rep, and have him come over for a chat. In fact, he would probably call three or four different companies and have each of them send over a representative. As business and sales people, we salivated over this, because this was what we called low hanging fruit, ripe for the picking. We always thought, I have the information, and they need me to find out about the types of solutions I could offer them to solve their problems. The Internet has changed all of that. Now your prospects can go online and learn almost anything they want to know about all of your products and services, as well as the products and services your competitors offer. This takes away the advantage you may have had before. So what can you do to take back that advantage? There are a number of things that can help you. That is why marketing has become so important now more than ever, and will become even more important in the future. You need to have different marketing campaigns that will grab your prospects and want them to come to you first. Here are five marketing ideas you can pursue to keep your company name constantly in front of your prospects and customers. 1. Offer them something to prove you understand their business problems. Offer them a free report, a white paper, a webinar; have them sign up for your newsletter, etc. Show them you understand their business, and that you can help them. 2. Increase the frequency of your communication with your customers and prospects. You should be sending them something of value at least every two weeks. If you arent doing this, you can bet at least one of your competitors is doing it. 3. You should have at least five marketing approaches you are using. These can include any of the following.
Direct mail
Shows & Exhibitions
Conference calls
Webinars
Telephone marketing
Email capture
Public Relations
Press releases
Referrals
Focused advertising
And there are many, many more ways to keep in touch 4. Ask more questions every time you get a chance. Try and understand your prospect and customer from every angle. Get a 360 degree look at your customer. Then send them an email thanking them and confirming everything you talked about. 5. Get a third party to interview your present and past customers. These types of interviews yield very positive results for two good reasons. First, your customers are impressed that you would pay someone money to interview them. Secondly, your customer will be more frank and objective with a third party and you will learn more this way. Always remember to help your customers. Dont pester them and you will be successful. Ian Dainty has been involved in selling and marketing for over 30 years. Ian started his business career with IBM. He has owned, grown and successfully sold two technology related businesses. Ian has trained thousands of sales, marketing and management people on strategies for opening new account, selling to small and medium sized businesses, as well as managing large Fortune 500 companies. Ian has written a book entitled “A Blueprint for Success in Hi-Tech Sales”. Visit Ian’s web site at http://www.hitechsalescoach.com and join his newsletter to obtain a free copy. Or you can purchase the book on its own. You can also contact Ian at ian@hitechsalescoach.com Good Selling. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ian_Dainty http://EzineArticles.com/?Is-the-Role-of-Marketing-Changing&id=344671 apartments with no credit check in atlanta ga
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