Harvard Business Review

MARCH 7, 2017

A similar sequence has happened with B2B buying. By 2012, our research shows, nearly 60% of a typical B2B purchasing decision — researching solutions, ranking options, benchmarking pricing, and so on — was happening before the buyer even had a conversation with a supplier. Related Video. The 8 Types of Salespeople.

B2B 10

B2B Travel CIO Benchmarking 10

LDRLB

NOVEMBER 2, 2011

Here’s how the Fortis B2B team define themselves: Natural gas is our business. After that, you migrate to tactics – which battles to wage, when, how and with what resources. Thankfully, Fortis Inc. acquired this misguided company. Competitive advantage is strategy’s ultimate purpose.

Strategy 100

Strategy Competitive Advantage B2B Seminar 100

LDRLB

NOVEMBER 2, 2011

Here’s how the Fortis B2B team define themselves: Natural gas is our business. After that, you migrate to tactics – which battles to wage, when, how and with what resources. Thankfully, Fortis Inc. acquired this misguided company. Competitive advantage is strategy’s ultimate purpose.

Strategy 74

Strategy Competitive Advantage B2B Seminar 74

Strategy Driven

APRIL 18, 2019

While some time-tested tactics will still get you results in 2019, others could actually ruin your efforts and have you all the way back to square one. Conversely, only 39% of B2B marketers said that they had one. Content marketing is constantly changing, and you have to readjust your strategies if you want to stay on top of the game.

Content 50

Content Marketing How To Audience 50

CEO Blog

DECEMBER 31, 2010

I would consider it a must read for anyone selling big ticket products particularly in a B2B environment. That tactic only gives your competitors an edge because the customer is likely in the middle of the buying process. It is a good book. Well written. From a review on Hotelinteractives site: 1.

Blog 190

Blog CEO Leadership Comparison 190

Strategy Driven

OCTOBER 31, 2019

Cold calling is a difficult tactic to master when looking to drum up business as it can be seen to may as a harsh way of selling. When dealing with b2b clients, it is important to keep this as professional as possible as this is likely to be a long-term investment and even the potential of repeat business for a product or service.

B2B 10

B2B Long-term Tactics Media 10

Strategy Driven

AUGUST 30, 2019

Serving Customers Better: Whether it’s disposable consumer goods or high-end B2B services, every business wants to give its customers what they want. Accurate demand forecasting helps to improve customer satisfaction by ensuring that supply matches demand as closely as possible.

Efficiency 59

Efficiency Disaggregation B2B Uncertainty 59

Strategy Driven

JUNE 9, 2014

The only people who don’t know that are other sales trainers, recently released old-world sales tactics books that are still trying to convey old messages, and several million salespeople still trying to cold call, pitch the product, overcome objections, and close the sale. The old way of selling is dead.

Customer Loyalty 63

Customer Loyalty B2C Reputation CRM 63

Strategy Driven

JULY 22, 2018

This may seem reasonable for small business websites or blogs, but when it comes to B2B systems and e-commerce platforms, these errors could lead to huge losses. The customer decides to create a B2B web platform from scratch. You just finished reading Four Risks to Avoid During B2B Web Development ! Solution: Take your time.

B2B 64

B2B Development Wilde Project 64

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 23, 2018

They pursued a variety of tactics before the recession that were designed to fortify the firm when the downturn hit – moves both within sales and beyond like adding a low-cost channel to serve small accounts or simplifying the product assortment. Almost all B2B companies could do better on pricing. Raise the game in pricing.

Team 11

Team Price B2B Tools 11

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. Often, the best way for B2B companies to satisfy the multitude of business customers is to focus on the needs of their customers' customers.

B2B 15

B2B Airlines Travel Stage-Gate 15

Strategy Driven

JULY 20, 2020

In fact, nearly 61% of B2B marketers put the blame on lack of resources , including staff, funding, and time, as the toughest challenge to successful lead generation. Outbound strategies usually include tactics such as door-to-door sales, cold emailing, and pay-per-click advertising. Reach out to your leads.

Tips 84

Tips Webinar Tactics Content 84

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 6, 2015

Every B2B and B2C company should employ hurdle discount tactics such as couponing, price matches, rebates, and periodic sales to serve customers who wouldn’t otherwise purchase there. Depending on the level of competition, hurdles can be used as a defensive or offensive pricing tactic.

Discount 8

Discount Retail Price B2C 8

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 17, 2012

P.S.: You'll Make More Money Too (B2B situations). But times have changed and so must your tactics. Pointing out that rivals also are raising prices makes your actions seem fairer to consumers, especially if your price increase is lower than the references that you highlight. Thus, if wholesale prices go up, retail prices do too.

Price 13

Price Retail Press Release Banking 13

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 20, 2018

If you’re B2B, the train is parked in the station, but it’s leaving soon. All of these examples are B2C. If your business is B2C, the train is about to leave the station. You’ve got to get 90% of the friction out of your model. ” Today, that advice feels out of date.

B2C 14

B2C Energy Marketing Efficiency 14

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 5, 2015

This use metric has a positive and significant effect on both outcomes even after controlling for marketing analytics spending, product vs. service, and B2C vs. B2B. The table below shows the usage rates across various strategic and tactical areas of marketing, and highlights how there’s plenty of room for improvement.

Marketing 8

Marketing ROI Metrics B2C 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 12, 2012

A number of companies, B2C and B2B alike, now realize the potential benefits of monitoring conversation flows from social networks. Even after the rise of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, the combination of clunky tools and executives' low social-media literacy hampered companies from extracting valuable insights. HBR Insight Center.

Media 16

Media How To B2C SWOT 16

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 9, 2014

On the most effective sales teams, particularly B2B, the individual no longer reigns supreme. Because sales reps are more directly networked with their colleagues through technology, they more easily aggregate skills, knowledge, and experience to uncover new opportunities and to debate tactics for generating business.

Team 11

Team Metrics Compliance Attrition 11

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. For its background check solution, Checkr wasn’t getting the results it wanted from traditional sales and marketing tactics as it expanded into new market segments. The results?

Creativity 14

Creativity Marketing Agility Budgeting 14

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 17, 2014

Sure, there is always a great deal of tactical design execution work in any large business, but keeping designers solely in the trenches as a service function erodes much of the value they can bring to a company. Most of the time equipment, control panels, and software in their industrial B2B divisions are still designed by engineers.

Supply Chain 8

Supply Chain Software B2B Brand 8

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 30, 2015

Other tactics, such as trade shows, offered high engagement, but low reach. The Content Marketing Institute reports that although the majority of B2B and B2C marketers have some kind of content marketing program, less than 40% find those efforts effective. Until fairly recently, the options for marketers were relatively limited.

Content 8

Content Marketing Metrics B2C 8

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 7, 2016

Also take note of their verbal tactics — when they use silence, how they pose questions, and how they intervene. Seek ways to incorporate their strategies and tactics into your leadership repertoire. . “It’s helpful to be exposed to many different styles.” ” Be bold in your body language.

How To 8

How To Case Study Tactics Goal 8

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 5, 2015

The AIDA model and its variants are the basis for sales funnels at many B2B firms. In fact, B2B buyers report that, compared to other sources of information, these interactions are the most influential in their decision making process: The source considered the least influential is social media. Don’t believe the hype.

B2B 8

B2B AIDA AIDAS Disintermediation 8

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 6, 2013

In addition, most of the very large firms in China are content to compete as B2B players where the value of branding is not obvious. Despite the success of these tactics, it is unlikely that Chinese firms will employ these practices on a significant scale in the near future.

Brand 8

Brand Globalization Brand Management Long-term 8

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 16, 2015

This was a clever use of social media, but not the only launch tactic. Use visual social media to give people an inside look at a B2B company. General Electric does an exceptional job breaking this mold as a B2B company, using Instagram as a window into the science behind some of GE’s most cutting-edge technology.

Media 8

Media Tactics Productivity Products 8

Miles Anthony Smith

NOVEMBER 7, 2019

TopRank Marketing TopRank Marketing has been doing innovative and impactful work with interactive content and B2B influencers for huge brands like SAP, Dell, LinkedIn, 3M, and Oracle for over 18 years. A deep understanding of ABM in B2B is its super-power. If you want your B2B content to be great, invite your community to participate.

Marketing 105

Marketing Content Audience Brand 105

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 4, 2017

It’s common for leaders of sales teams to focus almost exclusively on short-term tactics and current operations while failing to think and act in a way that supports the longer-term needs of their businesses — and it’s hard to fault them. Splunk , a San Francisco-based B2B software firm, is a case in point.

Long-term 8

Long-term Short-term Team Succession 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 4, 2017

It’s common for leaders of sales teams to focus almost exclusively on short-term tactics and current operations while failing to think and act in a way that supports the longer-term needs of their businesses — and it’s hard to fault them. Splunk , a San Francisco-based B2B software firm, is a case in point.

Long-term 8

Long-term Short-term Team Succession 8

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 19, 2016

For instance, one of our B2B clients raised prices by 15-20% following a currency depreciation. The second reason why MNCs are struggling in this period of currency volatility is because pricing is often considered a technical and tactical issue, rather than a strategic one. That can have disastrous consequences.

Price 8

Price Globalization Depreciation Marketing 8

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 20, 2016

In the B2B world, it’s all about lead generation: getting people to hand over their email addresses and phone numbers so that you can spam and telemarket them into submission, where “submission” means actually buying your product. Which is exactly why I think Lyons is right to pillory these kinds of practices.

Cost 8

Cost Marketing Content Media 8