An integrated B2B sales and marketing process - part one of four

Sometimes it seems as though most people think that marketing is all about advertising while anything to do with specific customers is up to the salespeople. In reality of course, marketing (whether we mean the concept or an actual function in an organisation) can play a significant role throughout the entire sales process.

 

In this series of four articles, I want to share a sales and marketing process with you. More importantly, I’ll discuss some activities around each step that I have found to be successful when working with clients.

 

Here in part one, I will introduce the process, before moving on to look at each of the steps in more detail in parts two, three and four.

 

The first five steps of the process are all about qualifying: the business of working out who we really want to sell to, and then finding those ideal customers. In a very small company the sales person might do all of this activity, while in large ones the marketing function is likely to be involved. Whatever the case, and whatever the tools and techniques used, some fundamental steps are required:

 

Step one: DEVELOP your list of prospects

This usually involves first creating a list of companies, and then the individuals within those companies that you would like to do business with. Thinking in terms of sectors often helps you to build target lists.

 

Step two: PRIORITISE your list

Turn your big list into a short list of the prospects you most want to target. Unless you have unlimited resources in terms of money and time you will have to prioritise: remember the slogan ‘do less better’.

 

Step three: ORGANISE meetings

A vital objective is to get in front of the buyers.

 

Step four: IDENTIFY key information about the prospects

Later on in this series I’ll look at a needs/money/today model for information gathering.

 

Step five: do a SANITY check

After the excitement of chasing the prospect, it's always good to sit back and reflect on whether the deal stacks up.

 

Now that the lengthy but essential qualifiying process is complete, it's time for the all-important final step:

 

Step six: the CLOSING

This is about making sure that the ‘qualified’ people buy from you.

 

Look out for parts two and three where I’ll cover each of the first five steps in more detail, followed by a look at step six in part four.