Deborah Grove, a successful entrepreneur and founder of Green IT is Sustainable summed up the challenges of the consumer-generated, word-of-mouth, I-decide-when-to-buy world succinctly yesterday when she said to me, “There is no more selling.”
Well, if there is no more selling—what replaces it? A new role, not just for sales, but for marketing too. Especially business-to-business marketing. At best, the new role of businesses marketing is “facilitating buying decisions.” (I know—where will it all end…)
This is one more notch in the belt for Markets-are-conversations believers. The 7/24/365 economy provides endless customer choices and information. As a marketer, I must help my clients to stay three steps ahead of the competition. But now I’m reminded that downstream, where the rubber hits the revenue road, where the sales closing conversation takes place, the world has changed also. It really is a conversation.
Selling is the toughest job. Tougher than marketing. I admit it. No matter how targeted, measured, tested, and authentic your marketing or product development is—the sales person has to engage an overstressed, overeducated buyer, and well, you know …
So, to help out your sales team in the post-selling world, here are 3 mistakes to avoid. Now that Selling and Marketing = Facilitating Buying Decisions for Savvy Customers:
- Relying on advertising.
David Meerman Scott, blogger/ content/marketing/public relations guru extraordinaire puts in best in his recent post at the fabulous WebInkNow Blog—“Instead of advertising to people, you create content that is welcome and appreciated by your buyers and helps them solve problems.” David’s entire post is, (link here) as always, well-worth reading. - Not co-creating content with customers.
In the old world, smart marketers tested content, campaigns—everything. Today, successful marketers make it easy for their customer evangelists to participate in creating content. Your raving fan customers are happy to collaborate. (Here is my earlier post on how a software company collaborates with customers for product development.) How better to ensure your content is written for your customers and not for you? - Failing to prepare content that makes your prospects & customers smarter.
You only have a short window with any interaction to get a prospect’s attention. Buyers are very busy—with lots of content to pick from. Make every word count. Tell them something of value every time they interact with your company. On your web site, newsletters, white papers, expert articles, etc. If the information doesn’t help them make better buying decisions—leave it out.
What are your ideas for marketing success in the post-selling world? I’d love to hear what is working—or not working.
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