Business development has gone through an intense transformation over the past few years. As sales and marketing professionals, we’ve experienced firsthand the shift from salespeople driving revenue while marketing drives awareness to a buyer-lead journey. There is no turning back from this transformation, there’s just acceptance followed by implementing tactics that garner better results in a buyer-driven market.
- Technology is your friend.
Use of marketing automation software increases leads two-fold and 82% of salespeople are familiar with CRMs these days.[1] This indicates that CRMs, social media and website analytics, marketing automation, your Xerox partner portal, and other tools help simplify data collection, increase productivity and keep sales and marketing teams aligned. Thanks to advancements in automation and integration, utilizing these tools is easier than ever and teams that use them are faring better.
- Always be connecting.
Nothing beats a recommendation from a trusted source so word-of-mouth should never be forgotten as one of the most powerful sales and marketing techniques available.[2] From being polite to cashiers to extending help when someone needs it, the more your team connects, networks, and builds an outstanding reputation, the easier it is to drive growth. Encourage a connecting culture for your team, have your salespeople attend networking events, participate in community activities, and use social media to build trust and drive authentic relationships.
- Embody your buyers’ mindset.
Knowing your audience is the foundation of every single marketing tactic. It’s where the development of buyer personas came from and it’s the heart of inbound marketing best practices. True, the buyer’s journey isn’t linear, but humans are creatures of habit and their pre-sales research methods are habitual too.Most of us begin our buying cycle at a similar point each time and follow similar tracks to purchasing. Take buyer personification to the next level by discovering where your personas go for information and the type of buying related content they consume (e-books, white papers, case studies, testimonials) and create content that more closely mirrors your buyers’ habits.
- Position salespeople as thought leaders.
Developing a personal brand online and using thought leadership to elevate an organization is important. However, it’s typically reserved for company executives, not salespeople. When you allow the sales team to express thought leadership through blogs and case studies, it works to build trust with buyers before they make contact.In addition, buyers aren’t just looking at your website for products and solutions. Statistics show that after the ‘homepage,’ your ‘about page’ is the most visited page. This is due in part because buyers study your team.[3] Help salespeople build trust through content development, about page biographies, and ensuring they have professional social media profiles.
- Embrace integration.
The days of distinct lines separating sales and marketing deliverables are (almost) gone thanks to inbound demand and lead generation. Now, the two departments are more like players on the same volleyball team. Marketing sets the ball and sales drives it over the net. Point scored. Sales and marketing should be; well aligned, in regular communication, and work together on content topic development, email marketing campaigns, and collaborate on lead and demand generation strategies.
- Choose your team carefully.
Unfortunately, sometimes a salesperson comes along and “wows” their way into a job that’s not quite the right fit especially if HR or a recruiter, instead of the sales manager, is vetting a candidate. Your company culture is critical to success and drives productivity across the entire organization from admin to leadership to service.[4] Ensuring that a new sales person fits well within your team and shares a company-wide point of view enhances everyone’s success.
For more sales strategy tips and tactics and to find out what’s working for other Xerox Channel Partners, join and participate in our partner-only LinkedIn group.
Become a Xerox Channel Partner
Click here to learn more about the Xerox Global Partner Program and how we will help grow your business.
[1] Marketing Statistics, Hubspot, https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics
[2] 40+ Word of Mouth Marketing Statistics That You Should Know, Ambassador, https://www.getambassador.com/blog/word-of-mouth-marketing-statistics
[3] What’s the Most Visited Page on Your Website? Nu Expression, https://www.nuexpression.com/whats-nu/most-visited-page/
[4] Why Your Company Culture Should Match Your Brand, Harvard Business Review, https://hbr.org/2017/06/why-your-company-culture-should-match-your-brand
Subscribe to the Channel Partner Connection and receive email updates when we publish a new article.[wysija_form id=”1″]
