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

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.

B2B 15

B2B Airlines Travel Stage-Gate 15

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

AUGUST 25, 2014

It’s a great ethnographic study of B2B selling for capital goods. But the disconnect between sales and strategy (in this case, a lack of strategy to deal with a technology that is redefining the market and customer behavior) is the hidden subtext of the book. Thomas is doing his best to maintain Xerox’s share in copiers.

Strategy 12

Strategy P&L TQM Strategic Planning 12

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

OCTOBER 21, 2013

They’re envisioning well-designed, self-contained environments, tricked-out with the latest high-tech, high-touch technology. The vans are also used to provide education and training. Many products can be complicated to operate or dangerous if used incorrectly, and a van can save a customer from traveling to a training center.

B2B 8

B2B B2C Education Travel 8

Harvard Business Review

JULY 25, 2012

B2B companies often have a distinctive outside-in view of interactions across functions and groups at client organizations. One consultancy observed that a client company trained its marketing staff in a highly "lopsided" way, leading to high-turnover (and low marketing-effectiveness) in regions where staff were undertrained.

Productivity 13

Productivity Products Market Segmentation Sample 13

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 30, 2014

Yet for all the shared responsibility, the marketing and sales relationship has often been a contentious and lopsided one, with sales dominating in B2B sectors while marketing leads in B2C ones. From the sales side, teams need to be trained to take the insights generated by marketing and act on them.

Marketing 11

Marketing Guidelines B2C Analysis 11

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 10, 2013

The personal connection is equally important in B2B as B2C sales — so long as you are not just competing on price and there is risk in the purchase decision, prospects will always be inclined to buy from someone they feel they know, like, and trust. Deliver highly personalized service at scale. Customer service Sales Social media'

B2C 8

B2C B2B Human Capital Media 8

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. After all, the technology now enables a different kind of relationship with customers. Insight Center. Sponsored by Accenture.

Industry 8

Industry System Business Model B2C 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

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. Take, for example, the impact of online technology.

Education 8

Education Levitt Retail Training 8

HR Digest

NOVEMBER 18, 2021

Expert: You have a fairly impressive experience and training with the skill. You can find some of the most significant hard skills here: Technological savviness. B2B Marketing. Proficient: You know how to handle particular situations by prioritizing effectively and making decisions more quickly. List of Skills for a Resume .

Skills 111

Skills Six Sigma Software CRM 111

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. The changes happening in consumer behavior, technology, and media are redefining the nature of creativity in marketing. The results? Invest in the end-to-end experience.

Creativity 14

Creativity Marketing Agility Budgeting 14

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 5, 2015

This is a big transition for firms whose marketing, sales-training and enablement tools, and wider organizational processes reflect outdated assumptions about purchasing in their markets. The AIDA model and its variants are the basis for sales funnels at many B2B firms. Don’t believe the hype.

B2B 8

B2B AIDA AIDAS Disintermediation 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 6, 2016

Over the past 20 years, information technology and digital channels have changed the way consumers shop for products ranging from cars to homes to electronics. Those forces are dramatically changing the way B2B companies and their customers approach buying and selling, too. Sellers must respond. Sellers must respond. Systems (e.g.,

B2B 8

B2B Information Information Technology CRM 8

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 7, 2016

Alex Mohler admits that when he first started as director of client services at Crubiq, a B2B sales company based in Raleigh, North Carolina, he felt like a fish out of water. “I looked at my new job as an opportunity to learn about an exciting, cutting-edge technology, and that was very motivating for me.”

How To 8

How To Case Study Tactics Goal 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 13, 2017

And here’s an interview with Sam Lessin , former VP of Product Management at Facebook, who says he has “never successfully trained empathy.”). Pro: Breakthrough technology can offer customers things they didn’t even know they needed. (Read more about what Paul Jackson has to say about EQ and PMs here.

Productivity 8

Productivity Products Core Competence Management 8

N2Growth Blog

NOVEMBER 30, 2010

While the technology supporting sales process have clearly evolved, the traditional sales strategies proffered by sales gurus 20 or 30 years ago have not kept pace with market needs. Today’s consumer (B2B or B2C) does their homework, is well informed, and buys…they are not sold. Great post.

Blog 373

Blog Ryan B2C Brand 373

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 25, 2014

Digital channels have upended the well-trod ruts of sales and marketing organizations — already, nearly a third of all B2B purchases are done digitally. Our analysis of 73 B2B technology companies shows that across sectors, the top 25% of companies achieve more than twice as much return on sales investment compared to the bottom 25%.

Marketing 11

Marketing ROI B2B Team 11

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 4, 2017

” The biggest problem with a short-term approach is that managers develop blind spots around crucial processes such as recruiting, hiring, and training and development. Splunk , a San Francisco-based B2B software firm, is a case in point. This situation soon necessitated a creative approach to recruiting, hiring, and training.

Long-term 8

Long-term Short-term Team Succession 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 4, 2017

” The biggest problem with a short-term approach is that managers develop blind spots around crucial processes such as recruiting, hiring, and training and development. Splunk , a San Francisco-based B2B software firm, is a case in point. This situation soon necessitated a creative approach to recruiting, hiring, and training.

Long-term 8

Long-term Short-term Team Succession 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 23, 2016

If you want to see how mobile technology can disrupt the very basics of business models and habits established over hundreds if not thousands of years, look at what’s happening in India. By July 2016, virtually every Indian had a mobile telephone and access to text messaging, primarily using 2G technology.

Strategy 8

Strategy Banking Venture Capitalist Bottom-up 8

Harvard Business Review

JULY 8, 2015

We came to these conclusions after studying the sales force of a large B2B software company using six quarters of quota attainment data for several thousand employees. For example, in one large B2B technology company, top performers spent 18% more time with customers per week. It’s clear that time with customers matters.

Metrics 8

Metrics B2B Competitive Advantage Analysis 8

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 20, 2017

Despite lower oil prices, currency depreciations, higher taxes, and geopolitical uncertainty, the region is still rich in opportunities, from selling efficiency-enhancing technology to the Saudi government to offering Western products to 100 million Ethiopian consumers.

Depreciation 9

Depreciation Contingency Plans Policies Marketing 9