Harvard Business

NOVEMBER 8, 2016

Outbound B2B sales are becoming less and less effective. In fact, a recent survey found that connecting with a prospect now takes 18 or more phone calls, callback rates are below 1%, and only 24% of outbound sales emails are ever opened. Why are more and more buyers avoiding salespeople during the buying process?

B2B 66

B2B Sales Media Guidelines 66

Harvard Business

FEBRUARY 6, 2024

Early user programs are critical to the success of products. But B2B companies often are disappointed with their results. They can have a significant impact on the success of a new product launch. They can have a significant impact on the success of a new product launch.

B2B 76

B2B Productivity Company Sales 76

LSA Global

MAY 8, 2023

The cross-selling strategy was part of a strategic sales initiative to grow globally while achieving economies of scale across markets, regions, products, services, and suppliers.

Sales 36

Sales Industry Leadership Company 36

LSA Global

NOVEMBER 16, 2022

Product-Oriented versus Customer-Oriented Experienced sales managers know that their team’s sales presentations should orient their messages toward the customer rather than the product. Yet research shows that salespeople regularly stumble headlong into a product-oriented approach when making sales presentations.

Sales 36

Sales B2B Research Productivity 36

Women in Consulting

APRIL 10, 2014

So why is there so much bad B2B marketing content out there? B2B companies are just as able to develop creative, fun, people-focused content as their consumer-oriented counterparts. Stories that illustrate how your products and services have made a difference for customers are a huge sales advantage. Marketers know this.

B2B 127

B2B Marketing Examples Sports 127

Harvard Business

SEPTEMBER 12, 2016

Decision making at big B2B companies is often skewed by anecdote and myth: A worried report from the most vocal salesperson about a competitor’s latest move; a customer complaint that happened to be fielded by a senior executive. That’s complicated at any B2B business. Vincent Tsui for HBR.

B2B 28

B2B Sales Data Automotive 28

Harvard Business

MARCH 14, 2018

The cartoon of business-to-business (B2B) buyers depicts gray-haired executives and purchasing agents in meetings, on the phone and lunching with their vendors. But along with fax machines and long golf games, these features of B2B life have all but disappeared due to the astonishing change in technology over the past two decades.

B2B 28

B2B Bain Research Study 28

LSA Global

APRIL 10, 2020

We define B2B social selling as the ongoing process of leveraging digital channels to find, engage, and connect with ideal target clients. High performing B2B social sellers build relationships on digital platforms and turn online connections into offline sales conversations and long-term customer relationships.

Sales 36

Sales B2B Metrics Case Study 36

Comatch

APRIL 3, 2023

1) Identify an appropriate platform Social media has revolutionized the way B2B buyers navigate their purchasing journey. In the past, sales representatives played a central role in providing information and building relationships with buyers. LinkedIn is the number one dark social channel for professionals and B2B purchases today.

Media 52

Media B2B Development Sales 52

Harvard Business

JUNE 7, 2018

It traced much of the cause to a mismatch between its sales incentives and pricing strategy. The manufacturer was compensating sales representatives based solely on how much revenue they generated. Like this manufacturer, many business-to-business (B2B) companies have a major opportunity to improve their standing on price.

B2B 37

B2B Survey Company Sales 37

Tsavo Neal

JULY 3, 2020

What is the role of SEO in B2B marketing? The role of SEO in B2B marketing is to drive traffic to your website. How do you “optimize” your B2B content? Write the best content: good B2B content is in-depth, easy to understand, actionable, and provides insights that improve the life of your prospective customer.

B2B 78

B2B Engineering Advertising Sales 78

Tom Spencer

NOVEMBER 3, 2018

Here are 7 e-commerce marketing techniques to boost your online sales. Although 82% of B2C and B2B companies use email marketing strategies, only 28% of consumers actually wish to receive promotional emails more often. Social media is also a great way to spread the word about new promotions and sales, driving more traffic to your site.

Sales 60

Sales Media Advertising B2C 60

Harvard Business

JANUARY 19, 2018

B2B, or the process of marketing and selling product and service offerings to business customers, is experiencing an intensified focus as the availability of new digital data that describes businesses grows. By helping B2B companies gather better data on their customers, AI will help them catch up with their B2C peers.

B2B 28

B2B B2C Sales Data 28

Harvard Business

NOVEMBER 20, 2018

I’ve been using the sales funnel for 28 years, my whole career. When I started my career, the most profitable application of force was in sales. Back in the 1990s, sales reps had a lot of information, while customers had relatively little. Sales reps leveraged that information gap to create a lot of trust.

Sales 49

Sales B2C Energy Efficiency 49

Consulting Matters

AUGUST 26, 2021

Your heart won't be in it, and your clients will know that you are trying to land them for the sale and not out of a heart of service. The Difference Between B2B and B2C Business Models. How you keep fear from controlling your destiny is not overcoming it or getting rid of it, but how you engage it compassionately and productively.

Consulting 317

Consulting B2C B2B ROI 317

Harvard Business

MAY 10, 2018

While there’s less buzz around business-to-business markets, these innovations are changing the game in B2B as well, even in old-line industries selling what might be considered commodity products. For a deep dive into the elements, see our related HBR article “ The B2B Elements of Value ”). Insight Center.

B2B 28

B2B Chemicals Engineering Data 28

Harvard Business

MAY 10, 2016

.” In the B2B world, though, the experience is very different. If you have a problem with your industrial cement mixer, you usually have only two options: read the manual or call your sales rep. These 1,000 customers had been assigned account managers, and sales people were keen to answer their questions and return their calls.

B2B 28

B2B B2C Transportation Software 28

Tom Spencer

APRIL 4, 2020

Professor Bernd Schmitt of Columbia Business School is credited with creating the concept of Customer Experience Management (CEM), which he defined as : the process of strategically managing a customer’s entire experience with a product or company. But isn’t that just the sales funnel by a different name? Every touch point is critical.

B2B 103

B2B Sales Productivity Analysis 103

LSA Global

JUNE 11, 2018

Missed Sales Opportunities. Heaven knows, with the increase in competition and expectations it’s hard enough to hit sales quotas on a regular basis. But it’s near impossible if you are guilty of some of the most common missed sales opportunities even the most seasoned solution sellers make. The Top 4 Missed Sales Opportunities.

Sales 34

Sales B2B Research Industry 34

Harvard Business

JUNE 1, 2018

A Fortune 250 B2B company spent a quarter of a million dollars trying to solve the wrong problem. A new product line had failed, and the company believed the problem was either poor product delivery times or lack of effort by the sales force. Over 150 B2B salespeople were involved in the research.

Sales 28

Sales Marketing B2B Case Interview 28

Harvard Business

NOVEMBER 23, 2018

In the 2001 recession, total sales for the S&P 500 declined by 9% from its pre-recession peak to its trough 18 months later—almost a year after the recession officially ended. We’ll focus here on what the sales organization should be doing now to prepare for the next recession, with an eye toward using new digital tools.

Sales 39

Sales B2B Tools Software 39

Business Consulting Agency

JANUARY 21, 2024

The Impact of Marketing Consulting on Results and ROI Improved Lead Generation: According to a report by Marketo, companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales-ready leads at a 33% lower cost. Digital Transformation for Growth: A tech startup struggling with digital marketing effectiveness sought the expertise of consultants.

ROI 52

ROI Marketing Consulting B2B 52

Harvard Business

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. The right sales incentive plan creates a double win. This made it easy to measure individual sales results.

Sales 41

Sales Metrics B2B Culture 41

Tom Spencer

SEPTEMBER 5, 2020

To succeed in sales, you must know your customer. One of the simplest distinctions in sales is that between B2C, which stands for business-to-customer, and B2B, which stands for business-to-business. Simply put, a B2C sale takes place when your business sells a product or service directly to an end consumer.

B2C 88

B2C B2B Sales Strategy 88

LSA Global

DECEMBER 27, 2017

Asking Good Sales Questions Matters. Afraid of Asking Basic or Challenging Sales Questions? Some B2B sellers avoid asking questions because they do not want to put their buyer in an embarrassing position or show their own potential ignorance. Two Tips for Asking Good Sales Questions. Why is your product rated so poorly?

Sales 34

Sales B2B Examples Financial 34

LSA Global

SEPTEMBER 12, 2017

What Are the Top Sales Techniques? As a sales leader, this is the question you should be asking…what are the traits and behaviors that distinguish top solution sellers from average producers? Once you have the answer and act upon it as you recruit, hire and develop your sales force, you can boost sales significantly.

Sales 34

Sales B2B Recruiting Recruitment 34

Harvard Business

JULY 8, 2016

Customer relationship management software revolutionized how companies manage their sales pipelines. It also allowed organizations to communicate and coordinate more effectively across large sales account teams. Now a new breed of software applications is reshaping sales force management. Insight Center.

Sales 31

Sales Software Tools Data 31

Consulting Matters

AUGUST 26, 2021

Your heart won't be in it, and your clients will know that you are trying to land them for the sale and not out of a heart of service. The Difference Between B2B and B2C Business Models. How you keep fear from controlling your destiny is not overcoming it or getting rid of it, but how you engage it compassionately and productively.

Consulting 156

Consulting B2C B2B ROI 156

Harvard Business

MARCH 10, 2017

Sales executives with even moderately large, distributed sales forces rely on data to help them understand which activities and behaviors lead to the best outcomes. Refining Sales Team Structure and Roles. At the highest level, Workplace Analytics can provide a factual foundation for decisions on sales structure and roles.

Sales 37

Sales Software Productivity Data 37

Tom Spencer

NOVEMBER 19, 2021

Business development consulting is about helping businesses grow sales and profits in order to achieve their strategic objectives. Business development consultants engage in ‘prospecting’ which involves searching for potential customers who are likely to be a good fit for the product or service being offered. Who are you?

Development 88

Development Consulting B2C B2B 88

Prudent Pedal

JANUARY 21, 2020

Buyer’s journey mapping has grown in importance for professional services firms as more firm solutions have become productized. Well-intentioned as it was, the result of all this “content” is confusion, indecision, exasperation, and, ironically, a slower sales cycle. So, you ask, how did we ruin buying cycle mapping?

B2B 52

B2B Sales Sports Marketing 52

Harvard Business

MAY 24, 2016

The odds are stacked against new products or services. We have diagnosed thousands of product failures over the last 30 years, and have found recurring patterns. Often new products are over-engineered with too many features, usually at too high a price. The problem with wildly successful products.

Productivity 30

Productivity Sales Development B2B 30

Jerry Fletcher

JUNE 27, 2020

We know from 17 years of research that Consultant Marketing is not like traditional product marketing. Has the mainstream idea of the customer dictating the marketing of the product impacted on Consulting? Make your questions ones that can guide you in selecting products, services and approaches. Yes and no. Does it sell?

Marketing 64

Marketing Consulting B2C B2B 64

Harvard Business

APRIL 26, 2016

For decades, Sales and Academia remained worlds apart and the business world did fine. But Sales is changing, Academia is out of touch, and this is bad for business and the academy. Sales was traditionally seen as a form of service work, with an emphasis primarily on developing moral character.

Sales 28

Sales Education Training Training 28

Harvard Business

DECEMBER 17, 2018

Companies are beginning to utilize their employees’ behavioral data — generally known as people analytics — to better understand and improve their sales operations , with strong results. Microsoft, where we work, is no exception, and B2B sales is one of the areas where we are seeing the most value.

Sales 28

Sales Data Enterprise Analysis 28