What does a successful B2B sales and marketing strategy look like?

For more than 25 years now, I’ve been providing advice to businesses on strategic sales and marketing issues. Here are some core observations from this experience:

1.      I’ve cocked it up numerous times and paid the (sometimes extortionate) price!

2.      I’ve seen a lot of ‘fads’ and ‘snake oil’ being promoted – I’ve even tried some of them!

3.      I’ve been around longer than the internet, smartphones, social media and digital strategies which means I can take a ‘wide-angle view’ of things (and, remember that we used to do ‘just fine’ without these things too!).

4.      I’ve worked with thousands of businesses and I’ve observed every possible pendulum position on the swing between success and failure.

5.      I’ve studied a lot of leading business books and continue to do so – but I filter all this information with the above experiences.

HOWEVER – I would also stress that no single person ‘knows’ exactly ‘what’ will work for ‘who’ … if you ask 100 ‘sales and marketing experts’ for their thoughts you will obviously see some areas of consensus but you will also, undoubtedly, received a lot of conflicting advice too. So … whatever you do, draw your own conclusions rather than following any single person’s advice.

Primary observation

My main frustration, which I’m sure won’t apply to you, is the apparent lack of ownership by the business leader or leadership team to genuinely understand their sales & marketing strategy. 

You will likely have seen episodes of Dragons Den where candidates are blasted for not knowing their numbers. Indeed, there is a lot of expectation to be able to understand a P&L and Balance Sheet but this is all pointless if you don’t have, at least, the same understanding and control of your marketing metrics.

Generally speaking, business leaders say that they outsource their digital marketing (for instance) to an agency … but that they get a report each month. More often than not, I’ll take 20 seconds looking at the report and will have countless questions that they then cannot answer … and the questions are not complicated. Examples include:

1.      How many new sales have you achieved in ‘x’ period and what did your marketing cost you in comparison?

2.      What is the trend line of visitors to your website –vs- enquiries received –vs- sales generated

3.      On your Google pay-per-click campaign, what are the search terms that are working for you and what search terms ‘should be’ in your opinion?

4.      When a visitor lands on your website, what do they do, what pages do they visit, how long do they stay, etc.

The massive advantage of digital marketing is that you genuinely get the analysis if you look for it and you can adapt and modify your efforts to truly gain maximum efficiency. 

Yet, most business leaders have never actually looked at their PPC dashboard or Analytics Interface because they don’t ‘understand it’ and seem happy to ‘not learn’??? Once upon a time they didn’t know one end of a P&L from another and they learned that … but a P&L is a rearview mirror and, while still an essential skill, understanding and ‘controlling’ your marketing is a ‘NOW’ activity.

The Marketing Strategy Basics

So … let us all gather around the campfire to recall our formal marketing training … oh dear, you didn’t do that either? OK, here are the starting points for you:

Step 1: Know your target customer.

Yep – this really is the first step … it’s generally accepted that you should aim for three customer profiles/avatars that you can describe, identify and define. The classic line of, “I can sell my product/service to anyone” simply isn’t an acceptable basis for a marketing strategy. 

Truly ‘knowing’ your customer means you can make sensible and strategic decisions in the next few steps and that means you’ve got a chance of controlling your marketing – GREAT! 

Step 2: Use the right message.

Following the above process is to genuinely ‘know’ the problems and pain your customers face – and then you have an understanding of why they might want to deal with you (because you understand their problems, your message can explain why dealing with you helps solve this very same problem!).

This ‘message’ becomes key to creating a genuine strategy. The more you distil your message clarity and the more purely you communicate it, the more obvious you become a potential supplier in the eyes of a prospective customer.

Think Ronseal

“It does what it says on the tin”. 

You don’t get better than that – so what’s your Ronseal Statement for your message (that communicates how you solve your customer’s problems)?

Step 3: Consider your brand.

Brand, not logo! Your logo is merely part of your brand … your brand is all aspects of how you present yourself and your message to your prospective customers. If done right, your brand communicates your message with the clarity and purity mentioned above.

Perception IS reality … if a prospective customer comes across your brand and perceives that you are the right solution for their problem then you go to the top of the list. If they see a DIY logo, poor design, inconsistent messaging and tardy presentation then that pedestal you were hoping to sit on has just crumbled to dust.

Your brand image / brand perception is generally built over the long term. There are rarely quick-fix solutions when you are looking at implementing a marketing strategy – so bear this in mind as you consider the next step:

Step 4: Selecting your communication channels.

This is what people often think is the ‘marketing bit’! You’ve got to work out what channels to use – web, e-commerce, social media, networking, direct mail, signage, exhibitions, etc, etc.

The good news is that … IF you’ve followed Steps 1-3 then Step 4 simply becomes a logic process. Where does my customer ‘go’ when they’re (finally) looking to resolve their problem? If it’s talking to people they’ve already met and built up a relationship with, then networking is an essential part. If their first step is to visit Google then you need to be considering your website marketing approach (SEO, PPC, etc).

There are no absolute rights or wrongs here – but you can easily waste lots and lots of cash picking the wrong channels.

These days, there seems to be an unhealthy emphasis on digital marketing … I’m 100% not ‘against’ digital marketing … but I do want you to consider non-digital, traditional marketing too as this works better today than it ever has done – just think, when did you last receive a physical brochure and what did you do with it – chances are, it stayed on your desk a while, you flicked through it a few times, etc. This compares to the Global average time spend on a website of just 15 seconds … and just think how quickly you scroll by posts on social media when they’re trying to sell to you!!!

Step 5: Work out what you’re going to measure.

The final step to an effective marketing strategy is to establish what metrics paint the pictures you want to see. You MUST take some control here and get yourself some basic understanding of what elements you need to measure to ensure your strategy is actually working and giving you a good return.

If you always convert 1 in 3 enquiries and you feel this is as good as it can possibly be, then you don’t necessarily need to measure sales – just enquiries. Following this logic, if you get 1 enquiry for every 100 visitors to your website then perhaps you need to focus on measuring website visitors? Logic is king here.

Step 6: What’s your sales strategy?

I’ve mainly focused on marketing in the notes above … I truly believe that if you get your marketing strategy right then you should already be 80-90% of the way to a new client when they reach out or you identify them. As such, selling techniques should rarely be needed and you simply have to discuss the needs of the prospect and make sure you’ve provided answers to their questions … and then simply ask for the order!

With skilled sales training, you will be able to improve conversions and drive further efficiency into your sales and marketing activities but driving a genuine marketing strategy first is ultimately going to generate more results for the medium to long term!

Conclusion

Take control and understand ‘enough’ of your activities and actions to be able to make strategic business decisions. Ask for help where you need it, definitely outsource that day-to-day marketing administration activity (when you need to), but take ownership and actively manage your sales and marketing or you’re missing the biggest growth opportunity in your business today.