Next Gen Engagement Tactics, Customer Intelligence Identified As Key Drivers For Accelerating Revenue
- Published in Feature Articles
As BtoB buyers demand a more engaging experience, sales and marketing executives are being challenged to leverage new tactics to deliver a competitive advantage at every touch point. According to Gartner Research, companies lose 10% of sales due to lack of insight into their target market.
A recent webinar titled “Sales 2.0 Tactics for 2011: Accelerate Revenue & Improve ROI,” brought the need to master customer information to the forefront, and advised marketers to make the customer a bigger part of the value chain.
“There are still a lot of companies stuck in 1.0 mode, they’re still cold calling, using the traditional sales funnel (not a lifecycle funnel) and dialing phone numbers sequentially,” said Gerhard Gschwandtner, Founder & CEO of Selling Power magazine.
This trend is reversing, however, as Gschwandtner pointed out that progressive companies are migrating to a more knowledge-based approach to selling. Rather than making critical decisions based on “hunches,” marketers are employing Sales 2.0 tactics to establish metrics for success.
Building on the buzz of the Cloud, Gschwandtner said by moving processes into the Cloud environment, marketers are viewing selling as more of an art and science, because “It’s all about delivering better results for the company and increasing customer value,” he said.
Reaping the Benefits of Sales 2.0
While he pointed out that there are now more than 1,000 Sales 2.0 applications available, Gschwandtner cautions marketers to map out a blueprint to document the efficiency of Sales 2.0 tactics. Enhanced technology can help to align the “people — process” theory with ultimate results.
Gschwandtner offered these five important Sales 2.0 trends:
- Business processes are going to move online into the Cloud, as the web has become a platform for every business process;
- There are over 1,000 apps within cloud, which will double in next couple of years;
- Business processes and social media are intersecting as the conversation economy is expanding rapidly. Mobile enables real time communication. “We’re approaching an era where we have a real time economy,” Gschwandtner said. “Salespeople need all the information at their fingertips to satisfy customers.”
- Organizations need to collaborate more effectively to co-create sales with the customer. Invite customers to have a role in processes by sharing ideas on how to serve them better and enhance product creation;
- Metrics must be in place to measure the customer experience and create a more customer-centric organization. “Map all touch points and then associate metrics with that, and use those metrics to improve how customers are served,” Gschwandtner said. “This helps to improve customer loyalty, increases profitability of company and is much less costly to sell more to an existing customer.”
To view an on-demand version of the webinar, click here.