Strategy Driven

SEPTEMBER 15, 2020

You can focus on marketing, you can work on training your sales team, you could even open your profit channels to bring in more money from different locations. Create highly efficient routes and manage your remote teams in real-time. You may find that your business does a lot better working on the B2B stage than it does with B2C.

Strategy 66

Strategy Efficiency B2C Discount 66

Strategy Driven

NOVEMBER 2, 2020

Applying the knowledge you get through training or participation at seminars and conferences in your organization contributes to its development. At the same time, the constantly growing level of expertise within the business will support the complex processes of building the business strategy, executing, and managing it.

Development 66

Development Goal Efficiency B2B 66

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 13, 2015

In an ideal B2B world, your happy customers would spread the news about your great products, generating all the well-known benefits of word of mouth. That’s why you might get strange looks if you ask the customer’s managers for referrals. Many B2B products become more useful when most players in the industry adopt them.

B2B 8

B2B Incentives Reference Reputation 8

Eric Jacobson

JANUARY 15, 2012

I met Debbie a few years ago while we worked together on a training committee for MicroMentor , a nonprofit that connects small business owners with business mentors. Currently, Debbie is a brand marketing and social media consultant to small businesses and nonprofits in California. Ask the candidate to explain why and watch body language.

Marketing 71

Marketing Real Estate B2C B2B 71

Strategy Driven

JUNE 9, 2014

Don’t forget their managers who force them to use an uncomfortable ‘system,’ a non-sales helpful CRM, and hold their salespeople accountable for their actions and numbers. Here’s what to train and teach your salespeople : Teach why people buy rather than how to sell. Dead and over. FREE StrategyDriven Trial Membership.

Customer Loyalty 63

Customer Loyalty B2C Reputation CRM 63

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 2, 2012

Our article in the current issue of HBR, " The End of Solution Sales ," has created quite a stir among B2B sales professionals and pundits alike. So, companies train their reps to ask customers endless questions about their business and their priorities. As the saying goes, "The flak only gets heavy when you're over the target.".

B2B 15

B2B B2C Learning-by-Doing Class 15

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 1, 2018

A Fortune 250 B2B company spent a quarter of a million dollars trying to solve the wrong problem. Our research on B2B sales management found that in particular, a common problem is lack of alignment around product pricing and sales force compensation strategies. Over 150 B2B salespeople were involved in the research.

Marketing 8

Marketing B2B Price Goal 8

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 23, 2018

Our recent benchmarking of nearly 900 B2B companies underscores the importance of these tools. Those behaviors can serve as the basis of training, reinforced daily by front-line managers. A B2B technology supplier used Microsoft Workplace Analytics and other digital tools to track the behaviors of its sales reps.

Team 11

Team Price B2B Tools 11

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 21, 2015

How well is your company managing its sales pipeline? Research conducted by Vantage Point Performance and the Sales Management Association revealed that 44% of executives think their organization is ineffective at managing theirs. companies with effective pipeline management had an average growth rate of 5.3,

Process 8

Process Company CRM B2B 8

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 26, 2011

And while these companies were the first to acknowledge the business benefits of delivering a great customer experience, business-to-business (B2B) organizations are increasingly getting in on the game. These customer experience management initiatives can be complex. These customer experience management initiatives can be complex.

B2B 15

B2B Airlines Travel Stage-Gate 15

Harvard Business Review

JULY 29, 2013

We spoke with Mike Moorman, a senior leader in ZS Associates'' B2B sales and marketing practice and a leading authority on sales management, about how inside sales (which refers to sales positions done remotely from headquarters, without face-to-face meetings with clients) is transforming the way that B2B companies interact with their customers.

B2B 8

B2B Power Market Segmentation Customer Intimacy 8

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 24, 2012

Companies in all varieties of B2B markets have moved beyond selling products and services to offering complete "solutions" to their customers. Alstom keeps trains ready to run each morning for railroad operators rather than just selling the rolling stock to them. B2B customers regard a solution as something that helps their business.

B2B 14

B2B Business Objectives Focus Group Marketing 14

Harvard Business Review

JULY 31, 2012

While B2C companies have become adept at mining the petabytes of transactional and other purchasing data that consumers generate as they interact online, B2B sales organizations have only recently begun to use big data to inform overall strategy and tailor sales pitches for specific customers in real time. Yet the payoff is huge.

B2B 13

B2B Chemicals Analysis B2C 13

Strategy Driven

OCTOBER 8, 2012

I visit prospective customers almost daily, mostly insurance agents and property managers, and provide value. Jeffrey, My company helps small B2B businesses plan a video strategy and develop web series and webinars to tighten their bond with their customers. Do you have any advice for me? Best Regards, Jeffrey.

Video 50

Video Objective Loyalty B2B 50

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 13, 2017

Because I teach a course on Product Management at Harvard Business School, I am routinely asked “what is the role of a Product Manager?” ” The role of a Product Manager (PM) is often referred to as the “CEO of the Product.” Self-management: Being a PM can be incredibly stressful. Company Fit.

Productivity 8

Productivity Products Core Competence Management 8

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 3, 2017

To motivate, manage, and reward B2B salespeople, many companies use sales incentive plans that link large commissions or bonuses to individual results metrics, such as territory quota achievement. New Sales Management and Culture. Using performance management, coaching, training, and sales data and tools.

Incentives 11

Incentives Short-term Metrics B2B 11

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 18, 2011

The role exists in B2B and B2C firms as diverse as Allstate, Dunkin' Brands, USAA, Philips Electronics, FedEx, the Cleveland Clinic, and SAP. Three-fourths of those we examined sit on the executive management team within the company. Who are these new customer experience executives — and why do companies appoint them?

B2C 14

B2C B2B Forrester Budgeting 14

Harvard Business Review

JULY 18, 2014

Many companies have even managed to break down silos to the extent that customer data is now under the purview of the marketing department, which I prefer to call—and which should be called—the customer department. B2B companies have been doing it for years. The best B2B firms are very responsive to customers.

Marketing 8

Marketing B2B Outsourcing Trends 8

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 10, 2017

Using new software to analyze the digital exhaust of calendar and email metadata provides a practical way to build an accurate profile of how frontline sales representatives and managers spend their time, who they interact with externally and internally, and what effect this has on sales performance. Related Video. The 8 Types of Salespeople.

Software 10

Software Metrics CRM B2B 10

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 28, 2012

There's no better place to get a sense of the potential downside of social media for business than in B2B sales environments. Sales managers are under a lot of pressure to get their reps to exploit interactive online technologies to the max, but that's a lot easier said than done.

Media 8

Media B2B Seminar Metrics 8

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 20, 2018

If your business is B2C, the train is about to leave the station. If you’re B2B, the train is parked in the station, but it’s leaving soon. You hired and trained “I-shaped” employees who could dive deep into a specific domain. Buyers have become much less patient, and less forgiving of friction.

B2C 14

B2C Energy Marketing Efficiency 14

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 21, 2013

The managers who express this idea in our simulated competitive games aren’t thinking of some simple shelving-units-on-wheels format – the kind of oversized salesman’s bag that’s been hauled out to prospects for decades. The vans are also used to provide education and training.

B2B 8

B2B B2C Education Travel 8

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 25, 2014

Dorsey focuses on Fred Thomas and his sales team and the sometimes strange but effective motivational techniques of his district manager, Frank Pacetta. It’s a great ethnographic study of B2B selling for capital goods. You ultimately can’t substitute money for management.

Strategy 12

Strategy P&L TQM Strategic Planning 12

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 18, 2011

So when companies rely solely on market research to design the customer experience, the result is a manager-biased lowest common denominator of customers' expectations. So how should customer experience managers go about transforming the company's inert touch points into live interactions that co-evolve with customer processes?

B2B 13

B2B Consensus Productivity Products 13

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 10, 2013

By walking relationship managers through the profile creation process, explaining compliance considerations, and establishing baseline business rules, organizations like Thrivent are able to balance encouraging an authentic, human voice for each rep while aligning with corporate guidelines. Customer service Sales Social media'

B2C 8

B2C B2B Human Capital Media 8

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 1, 2016

research on B2B purchases indicates that 25% of the buying decision depends on the interaction with the sales professional. 500 technology distribution company I’m working with has expanded its offerings to include services like installation and hardware management. McKinsey & Co.

Strategy 8

Strategy Execution How To CRM 8

HR Digest

NOVEMBER 18, 2021

By skills, we mean basic skills, people skills, management skills, and technical skills you know you are good at. Management Skills: Motivating, leadership, problem-solving, etc. Expert: You have a fairly impressive experience and training with the skill. Conflict management . Time management . Stress management .

Skills 111

Skills Six Sigma Software CRM 111

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 26, 2016

” As Walter Friedman documents in Birth of a Salesman , sales wasn’t seen as a function that required specialized training or education until well into the 20 th century. And companies performed the training, not schools. It should continue with the cross-disciplinary study relevant to realistic training in the area.

Education 8

Education Levitt Retail Training 8

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 11, 2011

Some are cutting-edge global high tech; others are classic B2B service providers. Each firm had a different training philosophy and each manager onstage offered their unvarnished view of what worked and what failed. On occasion, I moderate and facilitate customer events for a variety of firms.

Software 14

Software Critical Success Factor Early Adopters B2B 14

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 22, 2017

Brocade’s Net Promoter Score went from 50 (already a best in class score) to 62 (one of the highest B2B scores on record) within 18 months. This gives marketing an opportunity to measure and manage itself in new ways. Zscaler, a cloud-based security platform for businesses, created a Value Management Office. The results?

Creativity 14

Creativity Marketing Agility Budgeting 14

Harvard Business Review

JULY 18, 2012

In our analysis of over 700 unique B2B purchases, we identified seven distinct customer contact profiles. What's Wrong With Your Sales Training Program. How to Succeed at Key Account Management. Readers interested in benchmarking their sales organization against today's best organizations can take this brief exercise.

Consensus 15

Consensus B2B Analysis Benchmarking 15

Harvard Business Review

JULY 18, 2012

In our analysis of over 700 unique B2B purchases, we identified seven distinct customer contact profiles. What's Wrong With Your Sales Training Program. How to Succeed at Key Account Management. Readers interested in benchmarking their sales organization against today's best organizations can take this brief exercise.

Consensus 15

Consensus B2B Analysis Benchmarking 15

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 23, 2015

To some, ball bearings are boring, even though these small steel spheres are what keep everything from factory machines and wind turbines as well as cars, trucks, planes, and trains moving smoothly and safely. That lag poses dangers. Railway operators and wind farm owners were among the first to deploy the concept.

Industry 8

Industry System Business Model B2C 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 4, 2016

Hiring managers will see what you have done — and can do for them. He’s building a bridge between challenges he’s met in the past and challenges the hiring manager is currently facing: “Build start-ups’ commercial infrastructures from the ground up—driving long-term growth and profitability.

Brand 8

Brand Press Release Marketing B2B 8

Harvard Business Review

JULY 17, 2012

While it's fine to utilize a professional network to sell — for instance, in the B2B service space, we spoke with several startups whose first sales were to their previous employers — don't neglect to realize that the best customer feedback will come from transactions that are truly arms-length. MORE ON SMARTER SALES.

Entrepreneur 15

Entrepreneur Discount B2B Long-term 15

Harvard Business Review

JULY 17, 2012

While it's fine to utilize a professional network to sell — for instance, in the B2B service space, we spoke with several startups whose first sales were to their previous employers — don't neglect to realize that the best customer feedback will come from transactions that are truly arms-length. MORE ON SMARTER SALES.

Entrepreneur 15

Entrepreneur Discount B2B Long-term 15

Harvard Business Review

JULY 30, 2013

Across our portfolio and in my own entrepreneurial experience, I have seen three main sales models work successfully in scaling B2B sales: 1) Enterprise; 2) Telephone; 3) Developer-driven. The telesales team can also be a nice training ground for enterprise sales reps - a path that can be cheaper and less risky than hiring someone externally.

Marketing 8

Marketing Productivity Products Learning Curve 8