Here's an interesting question to consider: "Where does the B2B sales model go from here?"

And, whilst I wonder whether the sales model example quoted in the article is really so different from other technology companies who sell through channel, it's still a good question to ask.

Without doubt, the traditional "sales force" has changed over the last 10 years.

The other day I dusted off an old classic book on the sales force written back in 2001 and was amazed how out of date it was.

No mention of e-commerce, inside sales, web-demos or conference calls.

No search. No social media.

It seemed as far removed from today as when I was a young gun laughing at the old sales pros  talking about the 2p's they kept in their Ford Granada's so they could call the office from a phone box once a day.

But, back to the question: "Where do we go from here".

For companies that are looking to increase revenue growth it's always useful to break down their business model and understand where is can be improved.

If you have a traditional B2B "direct" sales model, you can look at different channels, such as e-commerce or inside sales to improve efficiency. Pushing repeat orders through these channels enables you to reduce expensive field sales resource.

In addition, re-thinking the sales process can reduce costs through using technology to increase the effectiveness of your sales team which, in turn, increases profitability.

As the article points out, you can also consider developing indirect channels to drive revenue.

Selling through partners, distributors and resellers are options that may be better suited to some of your products and services than others.

Sometimes it takes a new product/service proposition to open up revenue opportunities through different channels. An example would be a training provider that has a direct B2B sales model for it's in-house courses but now delivers e-learning solutions. The lower price point of e-learning may require a change in the sales model and could be more suited to an indirect sales channel.

The theme here is "change".

As the article points out, "the percentage of reps making quota has been stuck in the fifties (percentile range) for years" and the average Sales Director tenure is "as low as 19 months".

Either it's the people that are no good or something else needs to change to hit the numbers.

Sure, it could be a skills development issue. Or maybe improving the sales process. Or maybe the market's moved on and you're still trying the sell the way you always did.

Ah, wouldn't it be great if the worst problem you had in sales was where to find a phone box?

Labels: b2b sales, inside sales, revenue improvement

I don't know whether I'm just a grumpy 40-something or maybe I'm just having one of those "emperor's new clothes" moments but I'm starting to wonder about the direction of social media.

You see, like many others, I'm spending some of my time on twitter, LinkedIn groups, etc. I'm following people with similar interests, commenting on discussions, etc.

It's true, my involvement isn't full time since, like you, I'm also running my business and delivering projects for clients and trying to generate more revenue.

And, in my quest to find the next useful piece of information or discussion to tweet about and comment on all I'm seeing is more of the same.

LinkedIn discussions are often either the same questions asked in a different way or just a long running debate that's been added to over a 12 month period.

The latest "research" or report just seems to re-hash old statistics or spin someone else's report to create content.

After all, content is king and you need to feed the beast.

Plus, if you follow all the social media experts they'll keep telling you that this is the best way to convert business, drive sales, etc, etc... but very few give you concrete examples outside of a few huge brands or shoe-string niche consumer start-ups.

It's a bit like the myth that you lose 90% of your heat out your head. Totally debunked by scientists since the 80's but still everyone believes it. Maybe it's because it's got a statistic in it?

There are countless other examples where some study has been regurgitated over years to be held up as a truth that everyone just accepts. And I think there's a lot of that happening in social media.

Sometimes I get the feeling that on many LinkedIn groups (and to an extent on Twitter) there's this self-serving clique of people who simply retweet each other and start discussions just because they have to (it's in their social media plan).

I know... that's social media etiquette, of course. Which is maybe why I'm just being a grumpy middle aged man.

But, I think it's valid to question why you're doing something and also where it's going.

I read in a report (ironic, I know) that one hot area for new business ideas is in "filtering" social media content.

Wasn't that was social media was all about. Content gets filtered and recommended to you by people you trust?

But if everyone's playing the game of "must tweet 4 times a day" or "must produce an article every week" what's going to happen?

As I've posted about before, marketing does one thing really well - abuse a new channel until it gets saturated. Junk mail, cold calls, email, it's all been done before.

Even Twitter now has promoted tweets and accounts.

Well, it was fun while it lasted.

Labels: social media, social networking sites

It's that time of the year where everyone starts predicting the sales trends for 2012.

The latest article to catch my eye, Barrett's The 12 Sales Trends of 2012, has  the overall theme of "Adapt or Perish", which I think pretty much sums it up.

It's a lot like the theme I developed in this post last month.

Picking through the 12 sales trends covered most are part of the ongoing evolution (or should it be revolution) in sales that's been brought about by "search" and the internet. This has been the single most disruptive force in sales aver the last 10 years.

When I say disruptive, that's not a criticism, I'm talking in terms of how search has completely changing the B2B sales landscape.

It's what the article points to as "A seismic shift in the way we sell".

In the 21st century business is more about questions than answers; more about thinking than action; more about people than capital. 2012 is about getting your house in a new order because the world changes yet again and we need to change with it.

Transactional salespeople, or "order takers" have basically been replaced by ecommerce. Every aspect of sales has gone higher up the food chain, which is reflected in a number of the trends outlined including "the polarisation of buying and selling".

Your sales team today are no longer just "closers", they're facilitators.

Other trends look at improving efficiency of selling, through better CRM, targeting and segmentation and reducing expensive sales resources, such as "Field sales team numbers to halve".

It's now all about getting more from less, which is basically what every business needs to consider.

As the article concludes, "Buyers are in the driver’s seat"

Labels: b2b sales, crm, revenue improvement, sales, sales consultancy

There was an amusing moment recently when I sat in on a board meeting at a young start up company.

After all the discussions around the business proposition and how to leverage a recent launch event it suddenly became clear to everyone around the table that they actually had to start selling.

There was a lot of looking around at each other and the room fell silent.

I could almost hear the tumble weed blowing across...

The truth is that for start-ups and any small business - everyone does "sales".

Labels: sales, start-ups

• cross division offerings - you can unlock significant revenue opportunities by combining service offerings from two autonomous business units. One company I worked with had separate consumable and equipment divisions who never combined their offerings because of internal structures, leaving money on the table which their competitors exploited.

• cross territory sales - a common problem in companies with fixed sales territories is that they're often not aligned with customer decision making. I worked with a company that had no-one looking at national accounts. The sales team were focused on their own little area meaning that they never looked for the larger opportunities. Salesperson X could be dealing with a division of a national company with offices around the UK but since they "weren't on his patch" they were left untouched. Wouldn't the salesperson just tell their colleagues to follow up these opportunities? Not when they're competing with each other for the president's club and holiday to Hawaii!

• Failing to cross-sell to existing customers - do they buy every product or service that you offer? Have you ever walked into a customer and seen or heard about a competitor's product or service. Did they say "I didn't know you did that"?

• Not exploiting all opportunities within existing accounts - do you know which customers are part of larger groups? Are you in contact with all potential buyers within the same account? For example, if you sell training services and you only deal with HR what happens if the Sales Director buys a training programme elsewhere? Are you sure you will always be asked? Most decisions in larger companies involve more than one person, often 4 or 5; are you in contact with all of them? Do you even know them all?

• Not catching up with dormant accounts - if you're a project based business, are you keeping up with every account? If your contacts move on, are you following them, and are you in front of their replacement? This is a common problem for business owners who are focused on delivery and let accounts go cold. It's not your customer's responsibility to tell you; it's no good moaning that old so-and-so never called you - you need to call them (or at least get one of your business development team to give them a regular nudge).

Labels: business development, business development consultancy, sales consultancy, sales consultants

As many business owners are thinking about their sales and marketing plans for 2012, I looked back at a post I made at this time 2 years ago (see Do you have a sustainable model to generate new business?) and wondered whether I should just re-post it.

Back then, looking at the tough market conditions facing service companies, I asked the question "Is this just a passing phase... or is this "business as usual" for the next few years?"

Anyone who's been watching the slow-mo train wreck of the Eurozone will surely now be thinking it's the latter.

Chatting with a client yesterday who runs a consulting firm, he summed the mood up by saying that it's going to take at least another 3 years before things get better.

Well, he is an optimist after all :-)

With analysts saying that Europe's facing a lost decade of growth you could be forgiven for thinking that it's all over, but let's not confuse macroeconomics with your own business.

You see, to me, even if there's no growth at a GDP level that doesn't mean there has to be no growth for your business. In fact, revenue growth for your business really has little to do with GDP growth and more to do with how you run your own sales and marketing efforts.

Sure, the current market conditions are tough for many but, and this is my point, you'd just better get used to it.

Back in 2008 when we were all thinking it would be a short sharp recession, cutting back and putting things on hold was a sensible approach. Then when it all bounces back you can put your foot back on the pedal, right?

But, for many business owners today, there is no more room to cut back. Cut back and you don't have a business anymore. In fact, do nothing and you won't have a business anymore.

You need to stake your claim and find a way to grow.

And I mean grow... not just survive.

Of course, you need to be realistic, which is why I say you need an austerity plan for growth.

Which may sound contradictory but what I mean is you need a plan to grow your business during these times of austerity. But there is still business out there. Sure, it's tougher to win and you need to do more for less, etc. Those things haven't changed, in fact they've just become baked in.

But, let me repeat, there's still business there.

And now's the time to find a way of winning it.

Beat your competition, innovate your marketing. Be creative, because it's at this time that the strongest businesses will grow.

As a final passing thought, here's 2 books I'd recommend reading at this time:

Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid and Blue Ocean Strategy

Re-thinking your business model, partnering with clients (and suppliers) in new, sustainable ways and re-shaping your proposition are all ways to see a huge potential for growth in the current crisis.

Labels: b2b marketing, business development, new business development, strategy

Are you wondering about what tactics to use for lead generation?

According to this infographic from some clever marketing types called "Inbound Marketing vs Outbound Marketing" you should put all your money into inbound marketing.

Here's the reality check:

OK, let's put on one side the fact that this is developed by a digital agency with a heavy bias towards inbound marketing. And, let's not read too much into the fact that it's probbaly more specific to B2C rather than B2B.

And, hmmm, let's not criticise the fact that the inbound marketers are all smiles, lollipops and sunshine while the the poor outbound marketer is a pawn of Satan, losing money due to his outdated marketing tactics.

All that bias I can forgive as the usual spin on any statistics used to support an argument.

But, to me, there are a few glaring things wrong with this.

Firstly, the graphic conveniently ignores email marketing.

Because email's an outbound channel and a digital one,  it doesn't really fit with the old guard/new guard story. Cost per lead for email campaigns are very low so how can you square that with the "outbound marketing costs more" theme.

I'd also question how you can refer to trade shows as "Outbound". To me it's the same dynamic as Inbound since, as far as I know, people aren't hauled off the street kicking and screaming to attend them.

So, omit a huge outbound marketing tactic that doesn't fit your theory and then simply assign the "highest cost per lead" tactic as Outbound just so that it helps support your argument.

I'd guess that if email was included then the correct graphic would be less polarised and a much more boring "horses for courses" picture would emerge.

Also, simply looking at cost per lead is a narrow view of things.

Conversion ratios, volume of leads and average sales value should always be looked at.

Let's take trade shows as an example.

According to these guys, trade shows... ooh, trade shows are bad. Really expensive cost per lead, you'd be mad to spend any money on them.

But if they give you access to the right level of decision maker, help you close larger deal values or generate a significant number of high quality leads then should you do them? Hell, yes!

Take the other extreme - blogs.

According to the infographic, 55% per companies who blog reported leads from this channel were "below average" in cost. I would challenge how many companies distinguish leads coming from their blog compared to SEO (or even PPC for that matter) - yes, I know that you can do this but I bet very few marketers really do know the numbers.

Anyway, apart from that, the crucial bit for me is what quality are the leads and how many can that tactic generate.

If the number of leads is less than you need (or too low in quality) to hit your revenue numbers then it doesn't matter how low cost they are. A trickle of cheap leads won't plug a big hole in your next quarter's sales target.

The truth is, "Inbound" marketing is just marketing. And whilst for one company trade shows may be a high-cost way of generating leads for another they may be the only way. Or maybe not.

If something doesn't make sense in terms of marketing ROI then it gets dropped.

But don't write it off forever.

DM has started to pick up in terms of high-value B2B campaigns.

Equally, social media may be the next best thing or maybe it'll reach saturation point too.

I know it doesn't make for a big headline or flashy graphics but lead generation is about getting the mix right for your business, trying out different things to see what works and then sticking with what works until it doesn't.