Strategy

How to build a great business (from a good one)

Standing out from the crowd is tough when your competitors are also working towards the same end. Occasionally, though, a business that has been doing 'fine' suddenly starts doing better than fine. In fact, it goes from being good to great. For some, this success is temporary and they soon slink back into the pack. A select few make a significant shift and go on to achieve sustained greatness. How does a good business become a great one? Hot on the heels of his groundbreaking work with co-author Jerry Porras on the bestselling management book Built to READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Strategy|

Why top sales people focus on priorities – not needs

When I started my sales career, I was taught that I should focus on identifying my prospect’s needs. Later, when I started to work for companies that were selling into early-stage markets, I was taught that I should invest in creating needs that the prospect had not previously recognised they had. But I’ve learned that simply identifying or creating needs isn’t enough. Here’s why… You see, no matter how good you are at identifying needs that your prospects already have, or no matter how good you are at creating needs your prospects didn’t previously know they had, READ MORE ›

By Bob Apollo|Sales, Strategy, Velocity|

B2B buyer behaviour is shifting – How B2B Marketers must adapt

Even experienced B2B marketers are finding the rapid shift to online/digital/website/inbound marketing challenging. Buyer behaviour is rapidly shifting and B2B marketing campaigns need to adapt to catch up. There's no time to waste. Delay and your competitors will eat you alive! Even experienced B2B marketers are finding the rapid shift to online/digital/website/inbound marketing (pick your favourite acronym - we prefer Inbound!) challenging. Buyer behaviour is rapidly shifting and B2B marketing campaigns need to adapt to catch up. There is no time to waste. Delay and your competitors will eat you alive.Even experienced B2B marketers are finding the READ MORE ›

By Chris Fell|Strategy|

How to dominate a market

Many businesses do their b2b marketing strategy in the rear-vision mirror. That is, they slide into a space by accident, and then seek to justify their position with a retro-fitted "strategy"! Often, opportunities are uncovered in a random way, and the business is so grateful for the business that they stretch their strategy statement to accommodate this diversion, arguing that a larger market gives greater coverage. But is "coverage" necessarily good? Just how big is your ideal target market? The common fallacy is that "you can't say no to business". Any expanding business cannot afford to leave READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Strategy|

8 Ways to Make Your B2B Blog a Lead Generation Machine

Many organisations are still dubious about the effectiveness of blogging - mainly because many businesses don’t know how to do it effectively! Without a goal and a clear focus, the majority of your efforts are wasted. B2B marketers have one main goal: to generate leads. Blogging is one of the most powerful marketing tools available and can be used to fill the top of your sales funnel as well as to convert leads. Here are 8 top tips to help you achieve this: Filling Your Sales Funnel One of the primary goals of your blog should be READ MORE ›

By Chris Fell|Strategy|

How your B2B Marketing Strategy MUST change in 2013

So the annual marketing offsite has drawn to a close and the newly minted 2013 marketing strategy is being given its final polish before being released to an expectant management team back at HQ. ...and yet you have a growing sense of deja vu; you have been here before. You have a nasty feeling that when the team get back to the office after the holidays to the tsunami of emails, meetings and deadlines, that despite your best intentions, the alignment of your tactics to your strategy seems sadly absent. It's just more of the same tactics READ MORE ›

By Chris Fell|Strategy|

How to make your strategy more buyer-centric

All businesses strive to recognise the needs of buyers when developing strategies for sales success. Well, at least you should. You research met and unmet needs, teach your salespeople to understand business requirements and take pride in meeting those customer demands. How, though, can you more fully acknowledge buyers when shaping your strategy? Remember that businesses buy products and services, in essence, to solve problems. They may have too much of something that is undesirable, or too little of something that is good. The problem is the gap between where they are now and where they want READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Sales, Strategy|

Is marketing automation a powerful tool in B2B arenas?

The Pedowitz Group and The Lenskold Group recently set out to test how much marketing automation contributes to the effectiveness of marketing operations in the B2B arena. After surveying nearly 350 B2B marketing organizations, the study found that marketing automation, combined with ROI metrics such as lead acceptance rate and revenue per sale, made top-performing organizations more efficient and effective. According to the survey, the top segment of companies – 11% of all marketers surveyed – demonstrated distinct advantages in outgrowing competitors by adopting integrated marketing automation and using ROI metrics. Beyond that, the report found that, after deploying a marketing automation READ MORE ›

By Derek Singleton|Strategy, Tactics|

Define a B2B marketing strategy the team understands

In business, there is endless debate about 'strategy'. Yet the term is often confusing or misunderstood. In many businesses, strategy refers to anything ranging from business goals and target markets to specifics such as website management. A scattergun approach often ensues. There are broad business strategy considerations for any business before it develops a go-to-market strategy. Will you be a cost leader, will you gain an edge through differentiating yourself from rivals, or will you take a highly targeted line? Whatever you do, don't try to have a bet each way. Bring into play a consistent strategy READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Strategy|

How to play right

Strategy is about deciding what to do and what not to do. In the same vein, choosing how to play is inextricably linked with choosing where to play. For a business, it comes down to choice - that is, assessing which markets are attractive and which the business is best placed to target. Managers must then select the right strategies. In essence, this requires answers to just three questions: what are you going to sell? to whom are you going to sell it? through whom are you going to reach that market? How do you choose the READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Strategy|