Sales Velocity Partners
www.salesvelocitypartners.com
Sales Effectiveness Insights Organizations Are Falling Flat Selling to the B2B Executive Suite. It’s no secret that getting in front of senior executives takes quite an effort in today’s marketplace. An average CXO gets between 200-300 emails and about 75-100 calls a day … and over 50 requests per week asking him/her to consider new solutions for the enterprise. Roughly three-fourths of CXO’s accept less than one tenth of all requests for initial meetings … and sales cycles are one fourth longer now than in 2004 averaging almost 18 months.
There Are More People to sell to in today’s Organizations. The decision-making process is being pushed up to the C-Level. On average 8-10 people are involved in all enterprise-level decisions. You have less than a one-in-one hundred (1%) chance of getting a first meeting with a decisionmaker. Only one-in-twenty (5%) of executives even return phone calls … and less than one fourth of those executives even accept first meetings (.025). You may have to make well over 100 touches into an organization to identify and get through to the correct key decision-maker. The main ingredient for “Getting in the Door” is that your product or solution meets a current need for the prospect organization (almost 75%). The perceived value of your solution is not really important to your prospect … and falls far behind at only 5%.
Your Solution Needs To Have Proven Value. Ninety-one percent (91%) of those executives state that demonstrating you have done your homework is the key criteria for going forward and exploring a solution. You must also be able to demonstrate specific knowledge of your prospect’s industry and bring him new information that he considers valuable as it relates to the proposal you are asking him to consider. Prospecting organizations must earn the right to ask questions of a high-level audience by demonstrating that they have done their homework … their marketing and sales efforts must have grounding in the prospect’s business. Do you understand how your customer buys?
Meeting These Requirements in the Eyes of Your Prospects. Only six percent (6%) of all C-Level executives believe that this happens more than half the time. Selling features and benefits without focusing on needs, lack of an ability to demonstrate value, and lack of preparedness are all cited as common pitfalls. Ninety-two percent (92%) of all executives say that they experience salespeople who have not done their homework in regard to critical issues or needs of the prospect organization.
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Sales Velocity Partners
www.salesvelocitypartners.com
The Sales and Marketing Organization of the Future. Demand Creation is really the responsibility of marketing … they create the collateral, tools, and presentations for the sales team … who typically underutilizes and reinvents them because they believe that they don’t resonate with the marketplace. Today’s companies only possess the skills needed for Lead Management. A move is now required to go from Lead Management, Lead Creation and Lead Development. You have to integrate around the customer buying experience. The trouble is significant changes in the buying environment means that most buyers can no longer be dragged through the legacy buying cycle. Are you tired of getting unpredictable results?
Demand Creation Is Critical. Top companies are getting an eight percent (8%) response rate from marketing campaigns, and average companies are getting one percent (1%). Marketing only contributes between twenty-five percent (25 %) of all sales pipelines. A new model has evolved requiring greater coordination between sales and marketing. Developing the right partnerships with third-party organizations can make a significant impact on your demand creation efforts. Inside sales is now a vital part of most organizations lead development, revenue generation and client management operations … and a critical link between sales and marketing.
The Prospect’s View. Do you wonder how potential buyers view the approaches and tactics you use to entice them? Do you know how your customer’s buying cycle impacts the tactics they respond to? How does your content impact your appeal? What assumptions should you use to develop your end-to-end demand creation plan?
Should You Build … Or Should You Buy? Long viewed as administrative functions, sales and marketing operations are being extended to include driving effectiveness and getting results. This change requires new ideas, new skills and new profiles within the organization. Irrespective of size or industry, selling solutions are ‘top-ofmind’ for all B2B executives. Pursuit of these strategies requires significant change in thinking, organizational structure, hiring and out-sourcing.
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