Tips for Fine Tuning Your B2B Strategy - Issue #1

Smart business leaders continually update their portfolio of ideas for elevating some aspect of their business to the next level. At the right time, they implement the right idea(s) that eliminate status quo thinking within their firm. Does your portfolio include each of the following “smart tactic” categories? From the many ideas available, I offer one new idea for you to consider in each category.

1. Always be looking for ways to improve the customer experience . Take an inventory of all of your touch points [pre-sale thru post-sale]. Rank them in order of customer impact. Diligently upgrade them one at a time.
   
2. Continuously innovate . Add recurring revenue sources to your product mix [maintenance, certifications, support, licenses, training, upgrades, etc.]
   
3. Apply intuitive sales competencies for reducing buyer risk instead of lowering your price. Create a unique value proposition as the essence of your executive summary for each sales proposal.
   
4. Implement account-based marketing tactics in order to generate repeat business, new applications and referrals. Stay in touch with past customers with an effort based on the A, B, C rating you apply to each. I coach my clients to develop Most Valuable Customers[MVCs].
   
5. Indirect marketing tactics will optimize lead generation. Be discovered by company personas who are attracted to the specific brand UVPs that you have created for them. I target two personas.
   
6. Partner with complementary vendors who enable you to offer total solutions to customers. Solidify the partner relationships by developing them into a bidirectional referral source.
   
7. A strong business acumen sets your employees apart from competitors. Translate income statement and balance sheet basics to the needs you’ve researched for accounts and contacts.
   
8. Predict success . Monitor leading indicators in real time [ lead generation and sales funnel health].
   
9. Improve success . Learn from lagging indicators [close rate, loss analysis, deal size, sales cycle length, average discount, # products per deal and the # of leads required to find a winnable opportunity].

What's Your Opinion?

Have you’ve tried any of these ideas? Did they produce significant results? Would you be willing to share other ideas that have worked successfully for your business?