According to the American Marketing Association (AMA), "Up to 90% of collateral created by marketing is never used by sales." That is an astounding statistic which should be a wakeup call to those of us in Product Marketing that we need to be doing something different. Most of the time, sales doesn't use our tools because the tools are ineffective, and the reasons for this include:
- Too many companies create a standard checklist of marketing and sales tools based upon what someone used in a past company, without any consideration as to what is really needed in this company.
- Too much content is about the company and their products with little discussion about the buyers and users and what they need.
About the Speaker:
Tom Evans is Principal at CompellingPM and is an internationally recognized authority in product management, global marketing, business partnerships and entrepreneurship. In his extensive experience, he has helped start-ups through Fortune 500 companies create and launch winning products and has led business development efforts in the US and global markets.
Upcoming Events
Reserve your seat for the next AIPMM webinar. Visit: http://aipmm.com/aipmm_webinars/.
Want To Certify Your Team?
If you have a product team of 10 or more that you want to certify, visit: http://bit.ly/1bzjUYB.
About AIPMM
The AIPMM is the hub of all things product management. It is where product professionals go for answers. With members in over 65 countries, it is the worldwide certifying body of product team professionals.
It is the world's largest professional organization of product managers, brand managers, product marketing managers and other product team professionals who are responsible for guiding their organizations, or clients, through a constantly changing business landscape.
AIPMM's certification programs are internationally recognized because they allow product professionals to demonstrate their expertise and provide corporate members an assurance that their product management and marketing teams are operating at a high competency level.
Visit http://www.aipmm.com.
Upcoming Webinars: http://aipmm.com/aipmm_webinars/
Subscribe: http://www.aipmm.com/subscribe
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/aipmm
Membership: http://www.aipmm.com/join.php
Certification: http://aipmm.com/html/certification
Articles: http://www.aipmm.com/html/newsletter/article.ph
8. How to Create Effective Sales &
Marketing Tools That Actually Get
Used By Sales and Prospects!
Tom Evans
CompellingPM
@compellingpm
Copyright 2013. The Lûcrum Group, Inc. 8
9. How Bad Is Marketing Collateral?
• From 50 to 90% of marketing collateral does
not get used by sales! (AMA)
• Salespeople (B2B) spend 30 hours/month
searching for and creating their own selling
materials (AMA)
Copyright 2013. The Lûcrum Group, Inc. 10
10. Is It Really That Bad?
• “My marketing department produced some nice
looking stuff but it mostly had nothing to do with
what I needed to close deals.” (Anonymous)
• “Customers are familiar with the traditional
collateral material that salespeople send out or
leave behind after a visit. And guess what?
Everyone hates it. Marketing people hate to bang
it out, and salespeople hate to use it.” (Customer
Centric Selling)
Copyright 2013. The Lûcrum Group, Inc. 11
11. Why is Collateral So Bad?
• (Product) Marketing sits in ivory tower and
“creates a promotional potpourri … of sweet
smelling stuff” that is appealing to them.
• They never ask sales what they need.
• They don’t understand the buying process.
• Product Marketing is separated from the real
sales discussions.
• We replicate what we did elsewhere.
Copyright 2013. The Lûcrum Group, Inc. 12
13. Starting Point to Improve Collateral
• Change from telling our story to telling our
prospects/customer stories.
• Develop a deep understanding of our
customers
• Ask sales team and channel partners what
they need
Copyright 2013. The Lûcrum Group, Inc. 15
14. Deep Understanding of Customers
• Who they are
– Personas
• Why they buy
– Problems they want to solve
• How they buy
– What is their buying process
– Where do they look
Copyright 2013. The Lûcrum Group, Inc. 16
June 21 Webinar
http://www.aipmm.com/aipmm_webinars/2013/05/how-to-develop-a-deep-
understanding-of-your-target-markets---the-starting-point-for-great-product-ma.php
15. How Do You Learn This Detail
• Speak to customers
• Discover as part of Win-loss analysis
• Participate in sales calls and observe the
process (all phases)
• Discover as part of market validation process
• Insights from Executives, Sales Team,
Customer Support, Professional Services
Copyright 2013. The Lûcrum Group, Inc. 17
16. Determine What Sales Channel Needs
• What types of problems do you encounter
during the sales process?
• What questions do prospects ask?
• What objections do you hear?
• What kinds of tools will make you more
effective?
Copyright 2013. The Lûcrum Group, Inc. 18
18. Generic Buying Process
Recognize Problem/Need
Information Search
Evaluation of Alternatives
Purchase Decision
Post-purchase Behavior
Copyright 2013. The Lûcrum Group, Inc. 21
19. Discovering the Buying Process
• What are the typical phases of the buying process?
• Who are the typical buyers & influencers?
• Who is involved at each phase?
• What are their main concerns at each phase?
• What are they doing at each phase?
• What are the typical barriers to moving ahead?
Copyright 2013. The Lûcrum Group, Inc. 22
20. Help Buyers Through Buying Process
• Top of the funnel (lead generation &
awareness)
– Move suspects to leads & leads to prospects.
• Bottom of funnel (sales).
– Helps sales convert prospects to sales.
Copyright 2013. The Lûcrum Group, Inc. 23
21. How to Help Buyers?
• Buyers want content that helps:
– Educate them,
– Improves their decision-making capabilities,
– Increases their confidence level in their final
purchase decision.
Copyright 2013. The Lûcrum Group, Inc. 24
22. Basic Questions From Buyers
• Do I have a problem?
• How do I solve this problem?
• Who can help me solve this problem?
• How can I be sure your company is the right
decision?
Copyright 2013. The Lûcrum Group, Inc. 25
23. Do I Have a Problem?
• What are their competitors doing?
• How do I determine if I have a problem?
• What’s it costing me to have this problem?
Copyright 2013. The Lûcrum Group, Inc. 26
24. How & Who to Solve My Problem
• What options exist to solve this problem?
• How do the options compare?
• What are good decision criteria?
• What is the total cost of ownership?
Copyright 2013. The Lûcrum Group, Inc. 27
25. How Can I Be Sure?
• Are others successfully solving this problem?
• How can I be sure this works for me?
• How is your product better than your
competitors and by how much will it impact
my bottom line?
Copyright 2013. The Lûcrum Group, Inc. 28
26. Shifting Buyer Concerns
Copyright 2013. The Lûcrum Group, Inc. 29
Customer Centric Selling by Michael Bosworth, based on research by Neil Rackham
28. Develop Tools/Collateral
• Answers questions
• Specific to each buying persona
• For each phase of buying process
• Keep concise, relevant, focused and in buyers
terms!
Copyright 2013. The Lûcrum Group, Inc. 31
29. Train Sales to Use Collateral
• 41% of sales people don’t know which
collateral to use, when to use and how to use
it. (IDC)
• Teach them:
– The intended buyer persona
– Which stage of buying process to use it
– Key messages for each stage & buyer persona
• Demonstrate in actual sales process
Copyright 2013. The Lûcrum Group, Inc. 32
30. Summary
• Deeply understand our customers
• Write to each target buyer persona
• Write collateral in the buyer’s terms that
answers their questions
• Train sales how to use the tools
Copyright 2013. The Lûcrum Group, Inc. 33
31. My Next Webinar
Nothing Happens Until Someone Sells Something:
Best Practices for Enabling Your Sales Channel to
Effectively Sell Your Products!
Friday, Nov 1, 2013
Copyright 2013. The Lûcrum Group, Inc. 35
32. Upcoming Training
• Optimal Product Management & Product Marketing
– Oct 14 – 16 (Dallas)
– Dec 9 – 11 (Austin)
• AIPMM Certifications
– Oct 21 – 22 (CPM – Minneapolis)
– Nov 5 – 6 (CPM – Austin)
– Nov 7 – 8 (CPMM – Austin)
More dates/locations - www.280group.com
Copyright 2013. The Lûcrum Group, Inc. 36
33. Free 1 Hour PM/PMM Consult
• First ten to submit information on form
• http://compellingpm.com/freeonehour/
• Please include background on topic or issue
• Must include company info (no Gmail)
Copyright 2013. The Lûcrum Group, Inc. 37