Ezine add in section – April 2009
Ask ITSMA: How Do You Establish Credibility With Sales Prospects?
By Julie Schwartz, Senior Vice President, Research and Thought Leadership, ITSMA
Each month, ITSMA receives a number of queries through Ask ITSMA, a resource designed to give program clients 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.
What do you suggest I do to establish credibility with sales prospects?
Let’s start with establishing your company’s credibility at the personal level. Prospects are looking for account managers who are sincere, avoid hyperbole, and make a genuine effort to understand the prospect’s business and creatively apply technology and solutions to resolve business problems. In addition, account managers need to plan and structure their interactions so that each one adds value for the prospect. The guiding principle here is to make the goal of each interaction mutual discovery, not a hard sale.
In terms of establishing credibility for your company via marketing, prospects still value case studies above all else. One of the vehicles that CIOs say most catches their attention is when a vendor and customer present together at a seminar/conference (and are willing to stay and answer questions together after the presentation). Hearing the customer live is very powerful, as is the fact that he or she is willing to be seen together on stage with a provider. That implies a strong bond and a trusting relationship between the customer and the provider.
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Upcoming ITSMA Events
To view all events, please go to http://www.itsma.com/aspfiles/events/calendar.asp.
Creating Marketing Programs and Content That Sales Will Actually Use
Breakfast and lunch briefings
April 2, 2009
12:00 – 2:00 pm PT, Santa Clara, CA
http://www.itsma.com/Events/event_desc/09LB03N10.htm
April 15, 2009
7:30 – 9:30 am ET, Newton, MA
http://www.itsma.com/Events/event_desc/09BB04N12.htm
April 29, 2009
7:30 – 9:30 am ET, Vienna, VA
http://www.itsma.com/Events/event_desc/09BB04N13.htm
Join ITSMA’s Jeff Sands as he offers best practices and case studies describing ways in which marketing can provide sales with highly targeted content and programs that can be used to move prospects closer to selecting you as their preferred solution provider. You will learn how to help sales choose the accounts in which they have the greatest likelihood of success and how to get prospects to engage in conversations with sales earlier in the buying process.
Increasing Growth in Target Accounts: A Practical Approach to Account-Based Marketing
Workshop
29 April 2009
London, UK
http://www.itsma.com/Events/event_desc/09WS04E15.htm
As the economic turmoil intensifies, more and more companies are increasing investments in marketing and sales programs that target individual accounts and prospects. In this one-day workshop, you will learn how to identify the most appropriate criteria to select the best accounts for your program, determine an appropriate funding model, create an ABM Governance model to effectively manage your program, and design your ABM workshops to create your integrated ABM sales and marketing campaign plans.
Recent ITSMA Research
Services Marketing Budgets and Benchmarks: 2009 Budget Allocations and Trends
This research is free to anyone from participating companies
http://www.itsma.com/research/abstracts/B020.htm
In a tough economy, companies do more than make cuts; they make choices. A down economy affords the opportunity to fine-tune marketing initiatives by reallocating the budget to invest in high potential programs and eliminate those that deliver subpar results. This research provides detailed data on services marketing budgets, budget allocations, and marketing priorities from a range of companies across the technology and consulting industries.
Marketing Analytics
This research is free to anyone from participating companies
http://www.itsma.com/research/abstracts/SV4436.htm
ITSMA’s analytics survey revealed that it is critical that marketing improve its ability to analyze data to inform decisions, predict buyer behavior, and forecast trends. Included in the report are best practices for analytics gleaned from the results and from ITSMA research.
Recent ITSMA Thought Leadership
Generating Revenue in Tough Times: Better Thinking, Better Tactics
http://www.itsma.com/research/abstracts/OLB090225.htm
Lead generation and nurturing have emerged as the most important priority for business-to-business marketers. But in some cases, nearly 40–50% of leads passed to sales from marketing aren’t accepted as actionable for the next stage of the sales engagement. To hear strategies and tactics for converting leads to revenue, join Jeff Sands and Kathy Macchi for this Web Briefing.
What You Need to Know About Marketing Analytics
http://www.itsma.com/research/abstracts/olb081216.htm
It’s critical that marketing improve its ability to analyze data to inform decisions, predict buyer behavior, and forecast trends. This requires a foundation of quality data, collaboration between marketing and finance, and a willingness to experiment before making big commitments to programs and campaigns. In this Online Briefing, ITSMA’s Chris Koch, analytics guru Pat LaPointe of MarketingNPV, and Samir Bagga, Vice President, Global Marketing & Communications for professional services company Satyam, reveal highlights from ITSMA’s survey on marketing analytics and provide insights and best practices in marketing analytics.
