Competitively pursuing large, complex accounts is perhaps the greatest challenge for selling teams. To keep treasured clients and gain new ones, one needs a system to win business with profitable enterprise clients, serve them effectively and grow the relationships over time. The only enterprise selling system based on the proprietary Sandler Selling System methodology created … [More]
Marketing: Live from Mesa Chamber
“Mesa Morning Live” is far from your typical chamber networking event, although it does include a mix-and-mingle, breakfast and a few table presenters. But the core of this successful program that the Mesa Chamber of Commerce puts together every month is informative entertainment that’s professionally produced and broadcast live (and archived on YouTube) for the benefit of … [More]
Beyond the Sales Process
The average executive spends less than 5 percent of his time engaged in the buying of products and services. This means that in this post-recession business environment, sales professionals who focus solely on the moment of the sale have made a fatal miscalculation. Featuring instructional case studies from companies that include Hilton Worldwide, Merck and Siemens, this … [More]
Advocate Marketing
This book shows CMOs, business development leaders, customer success professionals and sales executives exactly how to leverage this powerful approach. Barbara Thomas helps readers make the business case, outlines the strategic requirements, and presents powerful best practices and case studies. Learn from the experience of recognized leaders in advocacy marketing, from Intel … [More]
Outside Help
There are plenty of reasons why nonprofit organizations seek the expertise of consulting firms. They may face financial uncertainty, a major fundraising campaign, an extended project or leadership changes that would benefit from a third party’s professional insight. Additionally, they may seek counsel during program or organizational expansion to help identify and align new … [More]
Coaching for Fundraising Success
Though they possess innate fundraising instincts and a passion for their nonprofit missions, Kristin Priscella and Annet Ruiter admit they weren’t necessarily born fundraisers. Priscella, Arizona Science Center’s chief operating officer for external affairs, started within her organization in a marketing capacity. Ruiter, vice president of external affairs for Planned … [More]
Multicultural Marketing and a Changing Mainstream
Without doubt, the multicultural market in the United States is an increasingly powerful consumer. Research by Geoscape, the leader in business intelligence across the multicultural market, shows Hispanics currently represent 18 percent of American households but were responsible for nearly half of the growth in consumer spending from 2013 to 2014. Between Asian-American and … [More]
The Marketing Plan Handbook
Marketing expert Robert W. Bly cuts through the clutter of short-lived marketing techniques and trendy gimmicks to reveal the critical steps a businessperson needs to cross over from business owner to marketplace competitor. Dishing bite-sized lessons, supported by in-chapter exercises and end-of-chapter actions, Bly coaches the reader in creating an effective marketing plan … [More]
The Value of Professional Interim Management
Nonprofits that have lost a leader — to retirement, a career move, or even termination — often feel an urgency to find an immediate replacement. This is, in many cases, a misguided strategy, says Linda Lyman, nonprofit consultant and retired president and CEO of New Pathways for Youth. “For a board that is feeling pressured to hire immediately, interim managers can provide a … [More]
The Challenger Customer
Picture your ideal customer: collegial, eager to meet with you, and ready to champion your products across the organization. It turns out that’s the last person you should be pitching. The need to understand how customers make their decisions, especially when it comes to selling large-scale, business-to-business solutions, drove the author team behind The Challenger Sale to … [More]
The Importance of Market Research
It’s no secret that corporations reap great dividends by conducting market research. They use facts and figures and focus-group results to develop products, explore new markets, test messaging and establish brand positioning. Nonprofits, however, haven’t typically been as quick to embrace market research, often relying instead on tradition, assumption, staff experience and … [More]
Louder than Words
There has never been a better time to build an audience around one’s idea or product. But with so many people and companies clamoring for attention, it’s also more challenging than ever to do work that deeply resonates with the marketplace and creates true and lasting impact. According to Todd Henry, the key to standing apart from the noise is to find one’s unique voice. Those … [More]
Customer Loyalty: Gauge It as a Growth Predictor
Sure, your company has satisfied customers. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t be in business (at least not for long). But here’s a question few companies ask: How loyal are they? Will they recommend your products and services to others? Will they stick with you through thick and thin? Or will they run at the first sign of a price increase or some other change that rubs them the wrong … [More]
Do You Have a Noble Purpose? Or Do You Just Sell Stuff?
If someone asked your employees, “What’s the purpose of your business?” how would they answer? If the majority of your people believe that the primary purpose of your business is to make money, you’re on the road to mediocrity. It sounds harsh, but it’s true. Consider Monster.com. Monster was originally founded on the belief that helping people find jobs was a noble … [More]
Mixing the Perfect Sales Cocktail
Sales can be complicated! Even career sales professionals find being a good salesperson can be frustrating and complex. Different factors contribute to sales complexity: being able to find the right lucrative opportunity, having access to the right resources, selling the right product or service that appeals to businesses and consumers, developing effective lead generating … [More]
Top 5 Marketing Strategies for Success
Marketing options are wide and varied, offering more opportunities than ever before for companies to connect with their customers. Everything is on the Internet, and this has dramatically changed the landscape for business. Even small companies in Arizona are selling internationally, observes Matt Silverman, vice president and managing director of R&R Partners’ Phoenix … [More]
Who Are You – What’s Your Brand?
As a professional recruiting and staffing executive, I am amazed at how few business owners and corporate executives have consciously built their personal brand. Perhaps they don’t think of themselves as a brand, but in the competitive business marketplace, they can ill afford not to do so. The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines a brand as a “name, term, sign, … [More]
The Reputation Economy
Your reputation defines how people see you and what they will do for you. And today, thanks to rapid advances in digital technology, anyone can access huge troves of information about you at any time. In a world where technology allows companies and individuals alike to not only gather all this data but also aggregate it and analyze it with frightening speed, accuracy and … [More]
