- Independent Financial Planner
Submitted by: Michaeliy Shawn
Most Sales Executives I speak with feel as soon as the economy turns around, their revenue numbers may be once again achievable. Budgets will be funded people will start buying and happy days will be here again.
The economy seriously isn’t like a light switch that is either on or off. Economic downturns like the one we recently experienced have broader consequences. And as conditions improve within the next 12 – 18 months, it is critical for Sales Executives to recognize what has changed and adjust their strategies and approaches accordingly.
We are now in a necessity based economy and this will not change anytime soon. Precisely what is a necessity-based economy? For your prospect this means the pain of not having your products and services must override the pain of paying you for them.
A lot of companies have cut staff, slashed their budgets to bone and improved the productivity of their remaining employees. Surviving the trauma of the recession, they will not be quick to staff up, spend and return to their old ways.
Here are a few facts to consider while you plan your go forward strategy:
1. To be better salespeople your Reps must become better businesspeople. In this new environment, your prospect will expect no less.
2. Differentiation is crucial to success. Your prospects will always opt for the low cost solution if they see no difference.
3. Know when to leave. Sales Reps must fully appreciate the opportunity cost of pursuing business they are not likely to win.
According to MarketingSherpa, word of mouth is the most important influencer in buying decisions. The second most important decision influencer? B2B business videos.
This should come as no surprise. Over the past several years, there has been an explosion of video content on the web – and B2B marketers have taken notice. At a time when most budgets are being cut, the medium sized business video marketing spend on web video continues to grow. Why? Web video is simply the most effective method for communicating your sales message towards the widest possible audience.
B2B business videos is one of the tools Sales Engine International uses to help create awareness and nurture leads for our clients. Here are a few lessons we have learned:
1. Create video content for prospects in all phases of your buying cycle. Creating a video with a “buy now” sales message will only resonate with a small part of your prospect base – those who are “sales ready”. Most prospects need to engaged and nurtured over time. Rather than creating one video than hammers home your value proposition consider making several smaller content pieces that address the different phases in your buying process. We’ve learned this is critical step in keeping top of mind awareness for our clients.
2. Be interesting. You have about six seconds to capture the interest of your viewer. There’s no time for feature dumps or product tutorials. You may have the greatest solution in the world – but if you don’t grab the viewer quickly – your message will never be heard. At Sales Engine, we call this creating a “punch in the nose”.
3. You can’t produce a “viral video”. The dream of most marketers is to create a video that goes viral. Unfortunately, B2B marketers who set out to create a “viral video” will almost certainly fail. Viral is what happens after the video is created. Although you can take actions to help spread your video – like posting it to You Tube and social networking sites – you cannot guarantee it will go viral.
B2B business videos should play a major role in your medium sized business video marketing strategy. Our clients have learned its effectiveness with prospects in all phases of the buying cycle.
Sales Engine International is a Sales 2. marketing and sales performance organization. Clients go to us for innovative solutions to their sales revenue challenges. Thank you for reading!
Our client portfolio ranges from start ups to the Fortune 50.
About the Author: Sales Engine International is a Sales 2.0 prospect engagement and marketing campaign execution company. Contact us about your business needs. Phone: 800-913-0857 or email info@salesengineintl.com.
salesengineintl.com/
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