Tweet

How Marketing Can Support Sales

Written by: John Brennan

Article Overview: When you put on your marketing hat, you have a lot to take care of. You have competitive positioning, brand strategy, distribution channels, messaging, pricing, corporate identity and a million details that go along with them. However, one way marketing can make a substantial difference is in supporting sales. You can improve the effectiveness of your marketing efforts, and win the hearts of sales people by following these simple strategies.

How Marketing Can Support Sales

1. Make sure that salespeople understand the world in which the target customer lives. They have to be conversant in the issues and able to ask informed questions.

2. Provide clear positioning points (no more than five) that are backed up with all of the detailed information necessary to defend each point. Field deliverables should be white papers, customer case studies, analyst reports and article reprints -- not canned slide presentations. Sales training sessions should focus on reinforcing the basic positioning, updating the details behind each point and practicing role-plays.

3. Keep salespeople current on competitive moves and how to position against them. Weekly updates are best to keep the content fresh and the field knowledge levels high.

4. Stay current by conducting joint calls with the sales force. Are the positioning points strong enough? What are the most common objections? What new trends or technology developments may change the entire landscape? Nothing beats being across the table from a customer.

Put marketing to work for sales and you win both ways. Your marketing will be efficient and effective, and your sales will get a boost to the next level!

Related Articles
  Those idiots in sales just don’t get it
  Formalizing The Sales Support Function
  Sales and Marketing - Yin and Yang, or Oil and Water?
  An open letter to my competition
  Measure your Sales Support Effectiveness

Article Tags: brand strategy, competitive positioning, distribution channels, marketing efforts



Related Forum Posts
Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional - Hi Evan, I am noticing that many of the posts in the Sales/Marketing section deal with online marketing, SEM and and SEO and Affiliates. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to separate that section into two; 1) Online Sales and Marketing; 2) Traditional Sales and Marketing
Re: Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional - [quote="ltrahan":31w9r2iz]Hi Evan, I am noticing that many of the posts in the Sales/Marketing section deal with online marketing, SEM and and SEO and Affiliates. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to separate that section into two; 1) Online Sales and Marketing; 2) Traditional Sales and Marketing[/quote:31w9r2iz] I second the request...
niche forum categories - I think Kevin just touched on the point that I was going make... and that is developing 'categories' that stick. Sales and Marketing may be too broad for example. However I can almost guarantee you that you would see many more sign-ups if you tailored a category to 'internet marketing' for newbies. I've seen this work on other forums, however, [i:1i903wkn]it can get a little frantic[/i:1i903wkn]... Fine tuning the categories, or expanding the scope should be effective. I think a lot of IM folks are surfing right on by because they're not finding what they're looking for here... Just a few thoughts: Better Blogging Developing Info Products Internet Marketing Presentation Skills More How to's Another point is... a lot of people don't know that they can benefit from participating in forums. The signature links to their site - if they have one - can / should be motivation enough to get more involved. The more internet savvy members that have signatures seem to stick around more... Don't you think?
Different Hats - CEO Sales & Marketing & Leadership Development Company Strategic Vision 10 Alliances & Growth Strategies 10 Hiring & Managing People 8 Mentoring 8-9 Strategic Planning for Clients 10 Execution of Marketing Campaigns 9-10 (i have great people who do the nitty gritty) Financial Management 9 Bookkeeping 3 (outsourced as I really hate the fine details like GST0 Administrative Follow Up 6-7 (again have great staff) Writing & Publishing 9 (getting better all the time!) Speaking 10 (so I have been told) Self Promotion 9-10 Web development & Promotion 6-7 (learning more and have brought on players who are 10+) Babysitting Employees (1 - wont do it, that's why I work so hard to hire and motivate the people I have) Great topic Kevin!! Jude
Any ideas for potential partner sites? - Hi Everyone, I was wondering if any of you have any ideas on "potential partner sites" for our specific forum categories? For instance, is there a leading "Women Entrepreneur" or "Sales/Marketing" site you know of that doesn't have an existing online community of its own? This could be a great way to help us attract more traffic. Thanks


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Quick Tips on Buying a Business

Email Marketing Made Easy #11 - Avoiding Spam

B2B PR – Planning for Success

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.