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Guest post by: Neil Mahoney Become an Author

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HQ & MarComm are very good at seeing the forest, but not the trees. They are very effective at developing top-notch presentations that tell the general sales story.

Sales, on the other hand, sees the trees -- the details that are important to the individual prospect.

Therefore, every coroprate-prepared sales presentation must include an area where the salesperson can personalize the sales message for the individual prospects -- "Hit Their Hot Buttons."

As was said earlier, not all prospects operate on the same timetable. Follow-up procedures and programs are needed to supplement sales force activities, and maintain prospect awareness and interest.

It is essential that Sales and MarComm work together as a team with coordinated programs that make the overall sales effort truly effective.

Such coordinated programs are rare, as this study of 722 US business execs shows:

1. Almost sixty percent said their companies convert less than ten percent of their leads to sales.

2. Another sixty percent said company revenues could be increased by fifteen percent or more.

3. 53% said their company had no formal process for qualifying and validating new-business opportunities.

4. Only half the execs thought Sales & MarComm worked well together on projects that required teamwork.

5. A mere 7% said the two groups (Sales & MarComm) teamed effectively on new-business development.

It's essential that senior management knows and remembers two very important points:

A. Prospect Development is not a short-term process -- most prospects who inquire don't become buyers until several months later.

B. Effective Prospect Development programs are needed to effectively deal with this unavoidable fact.

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