Sales and Marketing 3.0

sales and marketingSales cycles are complex and the era of the greasy used car salesman is no longer applicable in today’s market. Sellers need to be more sophisticated to survive. The focus doesn’t lie in generating more leads – the 80’s style antiquated sales funnel. The funnel is dead, so to speak. Marketing tactics around the funnel are still applicable but it’s about the customer journey, the education and more importantly, the brand loyal customer. Imagine sales and marketing 3.0 – truly working together focused on the customer experience.

How do we get there? The answer is simple: pay attention to the customer. Understand their problems and challenges and offer solutions to solve them. It’s fundamentally human. We solve problems and we create tools and processes to solve problems. It’s what separates us from the animals and the primates. The question is are you using the right “tools” to address today’s customer?

In order to be successful as an organization today you need to identify a problem, have solid solution and offer clear and definable measurement/proof to that solution. Can you fill these gaps now as a marketer or agency? If not, what’s holding you back? Easy answers, right? Er, maybe? Let’s explore this further… Are you trying to justify what you are selling or are you trying to deliver what the customer really needs?

It’s not so easy. Is it about you, your internal processes or what you hope will happen? Or is truly about the customer? If you don’t or can’t deliver on your promise, someone else will.

Learn this and remember, one size does not fit all. All customers (buyers) are different. Evaluate the stage they are in with their relationship with your brand and provide them with the content, information and resources they need to become further engaged and satisfied. This happens through all touch points they have with your brand. Some of which you can control and some you cannot. Remember, what happens offline (which could be as high 80% of someone’s interaction with your brand) is not directly controlled by the marketer.

However, there are tools today that can provide additional insight, which will allow sales and marketing teams to be more strategic. Let’s face it, time spent being strategic and working on improving business is far better than being lost in tactical execution!

Right On Interactive is passionate about helping clients solve real problems, help companies do more with less and out pace the competition. If you’re interested in learning more about customer lifecycle marketing, start here.

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