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The Evolution of B2B Selling: Focus on Helping Customers Buy
Many B2B companies are experiencing longer sales cycles, declining win rates, and increasingly unreliable forecasts—not because their sales teams are ineffective, but because their customers are struggling to buy.
| Executive Takeaways |
| B2B buyers face overwhelming complexity, not a lack of information. |
| Long sales cycles and no-decisions often reflect buyer indecision, not sales failure. |
| Winning sellers focus on boosting buyer confidence, not pitching products. |
| Helping customers buy is now the key to competitive differentiation. |
Center For Creative Leadership: What Happens When You Take Marketing Seriously?
Sat, Dec 14, 2013 — Greensboro N.C.'s Center For Creative Leadership (CCL) was a pioneer in understanding what makes a leader, and in applying this research through executive education. Since their founding in1970, almost 500,000 global leaders have completed a CCL leadership program. As in all industries, success brings both innovation and imitation from existing and new competition.
The Buying Process Has Changed: How Well Has Your Marketing Adapted?
Sun, Dec 8, 2013 —
The Elton John Brand – Lessons in Marketing Management from The Rocket Man
Wed, Nov 20, 2013 — I read with interest several recent Elton John interviews in support of his latest (33rd) album release, The Diving Board. In a WSJ interview, the album is praised for being a return to the basic style that had Elton continuously on the Top 40 charts for over 4 years during the mid-70’s. The articles made me think about how a brand that started strong can survive for so long putting out some questionable products, and what lessons about marketing strategy we can we take from this.
Big Data – More Transformational Than the Gutenberg Printing Press?
Sat, Nov 16, 2013 — Last month I visited the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz, Germany. Until this visit, I had not fully considered the impact the invention of the printing press had on the dissemination of knowledge and in enabling democracy. Prior to Gutenberg’s invention, the transfer of recorded information was reliant on scribes copying information by hand from one book to the next. After the printing press, multiple copies of a document could be created, increasing the dispersion of knowledge and lowering its acquisition cost. More information, lower cost.
How We’re Going To Make $1 Billion (for the US Economy)
Mon, Nov 11, 2013 — “You Can Be a Millionaire and Never Pay Taxes” – Steve Martin, circa 1974 Okay. So I’ve used this reference before, but it really fits this story. It’s one of my favorite Steve Martin gags, when he says, “YOU can be a MILLIONAIRE and NEVER pay taxes.” How? “First, get a million dollars.” In some small way, the sketch makes this point: it takes money to make money. So, what’s it going to take to make $1B? As it turns out, only $200,000. And we know where it’s going to come from.
YOU HAVE PERMISSION TO TAKE A BREAK.
Sat, Nov 9, 2013 — Guest Blog by Joanie Rufo, Initiate Consulting. One of the common themes I see in my work coaching executive leaders is the unilateral struggle of leaders to rest and renew. “EACH OF US NEEDS TO WITHDRAW FROM THE CARES WHICH WILL NOT WITHDRAW FROM US.” – Maya Angelou
The Power of Pricing: How to Improve Your Pricing and Profits
Wed, Oct 30, 2013 — Your sales team defines price as what’s on the invoice. Your CFO defines price as ‘what we take to the bank’. Your customer says price is too high. Your pricing manager says that price doesn’t match our standard terms. Your distributor says they can’t make any money on your line. And it’s still Monday morning! What’s the right way to define and measure price? More importantly, how can you improve net price realization and take more money to the bank? I define price as what goes to the bank, after all discounts, returns, warranties, commissions and other deductions are taken into account. There are several elements to price management. The first is achieving the optimal price for each good or service. The second is managing your product mix and services to achieve the optimal price for a set of customer transactions.
Outstanding CEOs Often Play It By Ear
Wed, Oct 16, 2013 — I did not like the Beatles when they first came to America, but I am a contrarian by nature. Today, John Lennon and Paul McCartney are music icons that created a legacy of sound and lyrics. The Beatles created some of the most recognized and memorable songs of today. "I don’t read music, you got a problem with that?" - said Paul McCartney. They created music from what came into their minds. How did they do this and become world renown? I suggest to you they “played it by ear.”
Let’s Talk Growth – 5 Questions CEOs Should Ask To Energize A Staff Meeting
Sat, Oct 12, 2013 — Twice this week, once at a client lunch and once during a dreaded staff meeting, the topic of unproductive staff meetings came up. This got me to thinking about the why. Upon reflection, is it because many of us focus staff meetings on the burning operational issues of the day, or because we focus on reviewing operational dashboards with little discussions of the 3rd, 4th or 5th "why" for average or lackluster performance? Jeff Bezos, when asked during his first meeting with Washington Post writers how he’d define success at the Post, replied “Growth."