Sales and marketing teams, left to their own devices, do not speak the same language. They think they do, but they don’t. Sales teams speak the language of prospects, appointments, commitments, and closed deals. Marketing teams speak the language of exposure, brand awareness, impressions, and reach. Language conditions the way people think, act, and make decisions. It shapes the way people view the world, sometimes in ways that are subtle. It’s for this reason that two people can have a …
read moreToo often, our enthusiasm to simply close the sale clouds our perspective. Not only are we leaving money on the proverbial table, but we are leaving something far more important on it. Opportunity! When we sell collaboratively, we roll up our sleeves and get a little dirt under our finger nails. We ask both the finite and the broad –sweeping questions. We probe. We reflect. We engage. In the end, we, as sales professionals, position ourselves as the
read moreWe are moving toward a part-time, short-term, outsourced, telecommuting, job-sharing, telepresence, IMing, text you later workforce. How in the world are marketers going to reinforce brand sentiment when the very people representing the brand are spread out from anywhere in the world? And just what are the implications for the companies behind the brands?
read moreSegmentation based solely on demographics is harder than it used to be, and it’s not about to get any easier. There are a number of reasons for this, including the cultural shift away from “we” thinking toward “me” thinking that has driven the trend toward hyper-personalized products. However, there is a far simpler reason . . . the proverbial John Doe is dead.
read moreEvery marketer knows the drill. People born in different eras have different values. You may think that you already took generational demographics into account when creating your marketing plan. You used Facebook and Twitter. You created YouTube ads and made sure they were less than 30 seconds long. You used 50% post-consumer recycled packaging materials. You made sure to use Millennial language; you even threw in an emoticon and the phrase “LOL.” Shouldn’t that have covered all of the bases? …
read more
