DriveYourSucce$$

Price What the Market Will Bear, Not What You Think Customers Should Pay

How does your company go about pricing a product or service? For example, do you simply define your costs and add a markup, or do you first assess what the current pricing is in the market, the potential for sales and then determine whether or not you have a competitive offering based on your existing cost structure?

Answering these two aforementioned questions points to the importance of knowing what the market will bear and not simply pricing a product or service based on what you think your customers should pay.

Oversimplify Marketing and Suffer Consequences: Only Marketing-Savvy Companies Win the Day

Have you ever noticed how some companies oversimplify marketing? These are the enterprises that see marketing merely as a support role for sales and not a sales-driven, lead-generating, business development tool that increases revenue, grows market share and positions the company as the market’s only choice.

Instead of using everything marketing has to offer, these companies simply go day-to-day wondering aloud why their competition continually beats them to the punch.

Five Killer Cold-Calling Mistakes Every B2B Salesperson Makes and How to Avoid Them

There are all kinds of companies promising an end to cold-calling. However, regardless of what they promise, at some point you have to pick up that phone and make that all-important first call. Will you establish immediate rapport with your prospect by focusing on your company’s unique value proposition? Or will you make one of the following five killer cold-calling mistakes that will all but sink the opportunity and end the call? Answering these questions comes down to making sure you avoid the most common cold-calling mistakes salespeople make.

Five B2B Sales and Marketing Strategies for Walking Trade Shows

A number of companies can’t afford to attend trade shows. Instead of paying for a booth, and having to cover all the associated costs of hotels and travel, several companies simply choose to walk the show.

Ultimately, it allows more of your team to attend the show, while giving everyone an opportunity to cover more ground, see more prospects and appeal to a wider audience. However, there are some “dos and don’ts” when walking a trade show as an attendee. Here are five business-to-business (B2B) sales and marketing strategies that maximize your opportunities as trade show attendees.

Rogue Sales Operators: When You Give Your Salespeople no Choice but to Operate Alone

Coworkers might describe them as arrogant. As a business owner, you might describe them as difficult or unwilling to accept authority. No matter how many times you tell them how to sell, or how they should approach their sales responsibilities, they continue to buck the trend and chart their own path. They go against the grain.

Yet, despite their intransigence, they continue to raise the bar on performance. In fact, these salespeople just happen to be your strongest contributors. So, why is it that they refuse to listen? More importantly, why do they continue to produce despite their unwillingness to follow what you consider to be conventional wisdom?

Business Development Rule: Don’t Think Globally Until You Dominate Locally

Don’t misinterpret the above title. The intention isn’t to imply that focusing on international markets isn’t important. Instead, it’s to say that a company shouldn't pursue overseas markets to the detriment of its local market.

Ultimately, it's less about how to pursue overseas customers and more about when to pursue those customers. Do you do that now, when so many opportunities remain in your own backyard, or should you just plow ahead and hope for the best?

Choosing the Right Distributor, Dealer or Sales Rep for Your Products

Are you looking for a distribution channel to market that will reduce your costs of sales, increase your profitability, and most importantly, grow your company’s market share? Companies that use distributors are ones who need to penetrate different markets and geographies. However, far too many companies fail to achieve their desired results. As such, here is a list of some critical rules to live by when choosing your next product representative.

Constantly Updating Customer References: Your B2B Brand Champions Make a Difference

Imagine the following scenario: You perform a cold call and get a customer interested in your product. In turn, they ask to speak to a customer that is able to provide a reliable reference on just how solid your product offering is. You give that customer your best reference. You provide them with a name, a phone number and some background information about how long this individual has been using your product. Unfortunately, on your follow up call, you learn that your reference no longer works there and the individual who replaced him ended up giving your product a less than stellar review. Now, the order is most certainly lost.

Five B2B Customer Management Strategies That Increase Profit & Grow Business

The best salespeople not only close the first order, but they continually grow the customer’s account until they become the primary vendor of choice: That position gives them the right of last refusal on quotations. The goal is to become the customer’s most trusted adviser, the one salesperson the customer always turns to for guidance and support. So, here are five critical B2B customer management strategies that increase profit, help you become that all-important incumbent supplier and position your company for the long-term.

10 Simple Solutions for Selling to Uncreditworthy Customers

Nothing is worse for a salesperson than to have an opportunity to close a sale and not be able to simply because the customer doesn’t qualify for credit. However, selling to uncreditworthy customers need not be a painful process.

There are some simple solutions that can help you get that new relationship off on the right foot. It’s merely a question of matching up the solution to the new customer you’re pursuing. Don't let your customer's credit problems stop you from winning business.