ITSMA Newsletter Add-Ins 2009-10-07
ITSMA Featured Research: Help Salespeople Stop Wasting Their Time
Salespeople spend, on average, nearly 25% of their time doing things that don’t ring the register, such as lead generation and tracking, planning and account management, presentation development, and customer research. Marketers can and should take some of these duties from salespeople. With more face time to deliver relevant, compelling content, sales can build stronger relationships and ultimately close more deals.
This data is from ITSMA’s recent Sales Enablement member survey. Julie Schwartz will present more findings from this survey at ITSMA’s Annual Conference on October 27 and 28 in Boston, MA. For more information on the event, click here: http://www.itsma.com/events/marketing-returns/
Ask ITSMA: How Long Should Thought Leadership White Papers Be?
By Dave Munn, President and CEO, ITSMA
Each month, ITSMA receives a number of queries through Ask ITSMA, a resource designed to give members a quick and easy way to get insight on important services and solutions marketing questions they face. In this column, we will publish some of our favorite questions, along with excerpts from our replies.
Thought leadership shouldn’t be confused with a brochure. You need a strong point of view, research to back up that point of view, and case examples of your idea in action. I’ve never seen good thought leadership come in at fewer than 1,000 words. (Case studies—which are not thought leadership—are a different story. I do think they should be relatively brief because they represent one company’s story rather than a multiclient, research-based big idea).
But it’s more important to focus on formatting rather than word length. Most readers skim rather than read. Therefore, the formatting should tell a story, offer facts and statistics, and outline calls to action. It should offer some of the same value to readers that they would get if they actually sat down and read the piece from beginning to end. Here are some examples:
- Design colorful informational graphics
- Write headlines that instruct and inform
- Summarize the story with subheads
- Highlight your thinkers with callouts (or pull quotes)
- Break up the text with bullet lists (like the one you’re reading)
- Surround the story with short, self-explanatory sidebars
- Sell the big ideas with a key points summary
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| Do you have a sales or marketing question? Visit Ask ITSMA to access our experience, insight, and research results. |
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Upcoming ITSMA Events
To view all events, please go here.
Getting Closer to Customers: Winning Strategies for Engaging Senior Executives
Online Briefing
October 13, 2009
8:00 a.m. Pacific – 11:00 a.m. Eastern – 16:00 London (Duration: One hour)
(Free for ITSMA members)
Relationship-building programs for senior executives at key accounts can no longer be one-off or hospitality activities but must be part of a portfolio of client engagement designed to progressively develop and nurture long-term relationships. Join ITSMA’s Julie Schwartz and Katie Espinola as they get at the heart of how to improve relationships with senior executives at your most important accounts by:
- Picking the programs and activities most effective in deepening relationships with senior executives
- Improving coordination across the range of relationship-oriented programs to ensure maximum overall effectiveness
- Capturing the attention of busy senior executives with the right incentives
- Working with sales to maximize relationship growth
Get more information and register
ITSMA 16th Annual Marketing Conference
Marketing Returns: Surviving and Thriving
October 27 and 28, 2009
Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel
Join us to hear how industry leaders are pragmatically making the most of reduced resources in this weakened economy. New ideas, tactics, and strategic risk taking will be highlighted throughout the program by marketing leaders who know how to survive and thrive. Keynote speakers include Larry Weber, Chairman, Digital Influence Group, and David Carl Edelman, Partner, Marketing and Sales Practice, McKinsey & Company. We will also have leading B2B marketers from IBM, Wipro, CA, and Oracle as well as top marketing coaches and speakers. Attendees can also sign up for 1:1 Meetings with an ITSMA expert or associate during the conference.
Get more information and register
Recent ITSMA Thought Leadership
Understanding Changing Buyer Behavior: Marketing Programs and Tactics That Work Today
ITSMA’s annual How Customers Choose 2009 Survey has found that it’s more important than ever for marketers to align their tactics to the buying processes of customers. Marketers can create demand by developing idea- and trend-based thought leadership that helps clients discover and respond to the most important business issues they face during the epiphany stage of the buying process. Specific survey data shows how marketers are responding to the current economic recession.
How to Create a Thought Leadership Network
Marketers can’t do thought leadership on their own. What’s missing is an engine for developing the ideas and points of views that then feed into marketing’s dissemination supply chain. In this ITSMA Tool, we offer a model for creating that thought leadership content engine.
The “Marketing” Enterprise of the Future
The implications of IBM’s latest Global CEO Study and its Enterprise of the Future rewrite the rules of marketing. In this ITSMA Viewpoint, IBM’s David Wong discusses these key traits and provides examples of how IBM applies this thinking to its marketing.
Improving Sales Effectiveness Through Guided Conversations: Xerox Global Services Tour
By guiding salespeople through the selling process, Xerox’s XGS Tour tool helps top salespeople close business faster while giving less experienced salespeople the foundation they need to raise their game to the same level as these top performers. This ITSMA Case Study explains how Xerox developed, launched, and promoted adoption of the XGS Tour.
