Feature Articles

New strategies to integrate marketing and sales processes were a key part of the discussion at the 2009 Sales 2.0 Knowledge Share Conference, held in San Francisco last week. Facing extended sales cycles and being forced to do more with less in the current climate, leading speakers from the event focused on sales-driven marketing goals and closed-loop metrics which help both marketing and sales progress leads to opportunities to closed business.  

While attendance at the event in previous years has been dominated by sales executives, organizers estimated marketing titles made up approximately 30% of this year’s attendees, as sessions including Marketing For Sales Success provided insights into how marketers are using the latest tools and processes to drive sales results.

Regardless of how good a company is at customer service or how superior their products and solutions are to their competitors, every company has lost customers and prospects along the way. However, in the current economic climate, there may be no better time to reach out and market to those customers/prospects that have either defected or opted for a competitive solution.
 
With a limited number of active buyers, win-back strategies are becoming a bigger part of sales & marketing strategies.