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. But word of mouth is an important ally in your marketing efforts. Many B2B products become more useful when most players in the industry adopt them.

B2B 8

B2B Incentives Reference Reputation 8

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 1, 2018

A Fortune 250 B2B company spent a quarter of a million dollars trying to solve the wrong problem. After throwing millions at both problems, they finally realized what the real issue was: misaligned goals between marketing and sales. Marketing and sales departments often set their strategies, and goals, separately from each other.

Marketing 8

Marketing B2B Price Goal 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 6, 2016

According to Gallup , only 29% of B2B customers are engaged with the companies they do business with. That means 71% of your customers are likely not committed to sticking with your company or, even worse, are actively seeking to move their business elsewhere. Let that sink in. This problem is not new. How do you do it?

B2B 8

B2B Metrics Learning-by-Doing Goal 8

Leading Blog

NOVEMBER 3, 2023

A study by McKinsey specific to the business-to-business (B2B) area suggests that businesses that optimize QTC for end-to-end accountability significantly outperform peers that don’t. There is, on average, a 30 percent loss of efficiency in operating this across the siloed functions of sales, I.T., logistics, and finance. finance, I.T.,

Industry 269

Industry Stage-Gate Organization Company 269

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 4, 2016

And while two years of shrinking GDP growth , sanctions , and a volatile ruble have led some companies like GM to leave the market, there has not been a large-scale exodus of MNCs from Russia. For multinational firms, Russia’s attractiveness lies primarily in the size and sophistication of its market.

Depreciation 8

Depreciation B2B Price Crisis 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 27, 2015

Instead, B2B entrepreneurs should focus their efforts on small businesses. In this way, the start-up that initially served only small businesses can disrupt incumbents and come to dominate the large enterprise market, too. They focus on large enterprises, hoping to gain legitimacy from “anchor” customers.

B2B 8

B2B Disruptive Innovation Short-term Entrepreneur 8

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 10, 2014

Marketers often distinguish between paid, earned, and owned media. Loyalty and reward programs provide this type of context for B2C companies, while strategic account and relationship management programs do the same for B2B companies. Owned media can be used in B2B as well. Marketing Media Social media'

Media 8

Media B2B Disintermediation Content 8

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 5, 2018

90% of them reference ethical behavior or use the word “integrity,” 88% mention commitment to customers, and 76% cite teamwork and trust. Several words always come up in practically every discussion, no matter if the company is a large enterprise or a small business, B2B or a B2C, product or service, new or established.

B2C 15

B2C Ethics Teamwork B2B 15

Harvard Business Review

MAY 12, 2015

Getting the brand back on track took a CMO who was committed to listening to customers — to learning what they really wanted from the brand. Style one: Market-driven CMOs who capitalize on the voice of customers. Market-driven CMOs are great listeners. Market driven CMOs listen to customers. It had meaning.

Leadership Styles 8

Leadership Styles Leadership Brand Audience 8

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 9, 2014

(About two-thirds were in B2B businesses.). Not surprisingly, they advocate bringing marketing and monetizing concerns much further forward in the R&D process. When there are lots of companies whose goals are to go for high [sales] volume and high market share, that creates a price war. Innovation Marketing'

Price 11

Price Productivity Products Simon 11

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 17, 2014

Even though a design executive said the look was “wrong, wrong, wrong” for the beauty care brand equity she was trying to drive, her opinion was overridden and the product went to market anyway — no doubt at enormous expense. Yo-yo commitment. The product subsequently underperformed and was taken off the shelf.

Supply Chain 8

Supply Chain Software B2B Brand 8

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 4, 2014

for 10+ years; deployment of design as an integrated function across the entire enterprise; evidence that design investments and influence are increasing; clear reporting structure and operating model for design; experienced design executives at the helm directing design activities; and tangible senior leadership-level commitment for design.

Venture Capitalist 8

Venture Capitalist Fashion B2B Hedge 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 24, 2016

Some products are truly innovative but stay walled up too long in R&D and then are released to market when they are no longer unique. Playmobil priced its play set far too low, which allowed customers to make money from it in the resale market. The luxury SUV that set a record for pre-sales.

Productivity 8

Productivity Products Price Arkes 8

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 4, 2017

Yet, despite the fact that all of our guests across our 18 sessions (and counting) have embraced these truths, the average result of such commitments to innovation seems to have been tenuous. Over time, their products and services became better and better, and those innovative entrants moved up market, slowly increasing performance.

Christensen 8

Christensen Finance Innovation B2B 8

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 22, 2016

But, knowing the industry well, her declared commitment suggested more than an understandable desire to eradicate unhappy bureaucratic burdens. At one global B2B sales organization, for example, sales people perennially complained about the burden of filing detailed reports on sales calls to accounts and prospects alike.

Compliance 8

Compliance B2B Report ROI 8

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 12, 2016

But when it comes to little-known leaders in their market, Germany has 1,307 “hidden champions,” nine times as many as those two countries combined. Talk to these midsize firms and you will hear the same thing: “We want to be the best in our field” and “We want long-term commitment to this field.”

Industry 8

Industry Long-term Short-term Class 8

Miles Anthony Smith

NOVEMBER 7, 2019

65 Content Marketers List the 44 Content Marketing Agencies Crushing It (Plus 70 Tips & 78 Myths Dispelled) ​Digital marketing is becoming harder to ignore as we now live in a world of internet ubiquity. Click "READ MORE" to see the 44 content marketing agencies and 70 related tips from the experts!

Marketing 105

Marketing Content Audience Brand 105

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 16, 2013

But in my experience, visibility is rarely the real issue (especially with B2B companies selling bigger-ticket, complex services and products). Such organizations send mixed messages to the market, muddying their value proposition. Communication Marketing Strategy'

Bottom-up 8

Bottom-up Press Release Sample Decentralization 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 17, 2018

Microsoft, where we work, is no exception, and B2B sales is one of the areas where we are seeing the most value. We found that customer satisfaction is directly correlated with customer collaboration time (email and meetings) across all Microsoft roles and teams engaging with customers, including product engineering and marketing teams.

Analysis 8

Analysis B2B Engineering Learning-by-Doing 8

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 1, 2016

In B2B contexts, for example, rep performance in similar territories often varies by 300% between top and bottom quintiles, and in retail stores selling productivity typically varies by a factor of three to four. It’s also a tough talent market, especially in sales. A recent survey of 159 SaaS firms with at least $2.5

CRM 8

CRM B2B Price Budgeting 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 4, 2017

Splunk , a San Francisco-based B2B software firm, is a case in point. But the real constraint remains management’s commitment to establishing, communicating, and keeping up-to-date a clear hiring process. forecast accuracy, messages to relevant market segments, and other categories.

Long-term 8

Long-term Short-term Team Succession 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 4, 2017

Splunk , a San Francisco-based B2B software firm, is a case in point. But the real constraint remains management’s commitment to establishing, communicating, and keeping up-to-date a clear hiring process. forecast accuracy, messages to relevant market segments, and other categories.

Long-term 8

Long-term Short-term Team Succession 8

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 14, 2016

As of February 2016, the top 10 unicorns for market capitalization are: Uber, Xiaomi, Airbnb, Palantir, Meituan-Dianping, Snapchat, Didi Kuaidi, Flipkart, and SpaceX. This laser-like focus implies a commitment from the top management team and prevents the risk of scattering managerial attention among different strategic challenges.

Company 8

Company Succession Analysis Entrepreneur 8