How To Get In More Key Accounts

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Andrew Shedden

How To Get In More Key AccountsThose of you attempting to improve the results of your industrial marketing realize the intense frustration there is in attempting to reach prospects. It may seem like these crazy-busy prospects are ignoring you because, truth be told, they are. Very few prospects actually answer the phone and more often they let it roll over to voicemail. They then quickly and brutally delete any message that is not of immediate interest.

Even worse, try to get an email read. First it has to get past the server spam filter, then through the spam filter on the prospect’s email client. If you get through these hoops you next need to get your email read. Then you need to get your email acted upon. It’s enough to make you want to pack in any form of industrial marketing and go join the circus.

So is there a way to get the attention of a higher percentage of key accounts? The answer is yes but it isn’t an easy thing to get accomplished. Simply customize your version of the following and you will find yourself getting in the door of your key accounts more often.
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Industrial Marketing And Focus

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Andrew Shedden

Many of my industrial marketing consulting clients offer a wide range of products. While this is obviously an excellent way to cover the market it does pose some risks. The major risk is the fatal mistake of trying to serve all needs of all markets all the time.

When I mention this risk to my industrial marketing clients many of them will say things like “Walmart seems to be doing just fine.” While Walmart and other large retailers do have vast product lines (and seem to be making a dollar or two), there are some significant differences between retail and industrial sales transactions.

A couple of obvious differences (there are many more than this) immediately spring to mind. First, the majority of items retailers sell are low cost transaction based purchases which do not have complex buying processes with multiple buyers. Second, purchasing decisions like ROI seldom apply to a high percentage of retail purchases.

The following are three ways being everything to everyone dramatically decreases the effectiveness of your industrial marketing.
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Selling Success And Alignment

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Andrew Shedden

There are innumerable ways to total destroy the remotest chance of industrial marketing success. Uplifting thought, I would say. In this two part blog you will discover the critical importance of aligning every aspect of your selling process to improving your odds of successfully selling more of your prospects.

Just for fun (because I am always such a fun fellow) let’s assume you are a salesperson and, wonder of wonders, you have a qualified sales lead calling your company and asking to speak with a salesperson who just happens to be you. Does life get any better than this? Well my advice is to not go buy that new car you have wanted for so long as there are many ways you can destroy the value from an inbound lead.

From the first call to the purchase order there are several points where a poorly aligned selling process will lead to disaster. Here are the chief culprits.
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Everything You Need To Know About Selling

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Andrew Shedden

Everything You Need To Know About SellingIf you want to power up your industrial marketing your salespeople need to have serious selling skills. While your manufacturing company may vary, I am often dismayed in my industrial marketing consulting work by how poorly the selling function is handled. Manufacturers spend enormous amounts of money and do back-flips in order to generate sales leads, hand these hard-earned leads to salespeople, and, magically, salespeople try to sell these leads like it’s still 1975.

Now before you think I am down on all salespeople or even the sales profession as a whole please read the following. The vast majority of salespeople are hard-working dedicated professionals who are obsessed with improving the condition of their prospects.

But then there are the minority of salespeople who persist in the belief that the road to sales success come from blathering on and on about their products and being selfish. It is to these primitive salespeople I address the following screed.
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