Sales and Marketers,
Sales Collateral materials will continue to be needed and required in the business to business (B2B) industry market even in today's economy.
Here are 5 Varieties of Sales Collateral materials, to name a few:
1. Brochures. Should communicate the unique selling proposition and explain the benefits of the core product and solution offerings.
2. Data Sheets. Along with brochures, can match company and products together to provide details on the core offerings.
3. Technology Buyers Guide. This is a small magazine-like brochure to help educate the buyer on what they need to know to evaluate the system, product, or service offerings for a more influenced buying decision. Some of these are known as “Fudd Busters” designed to eliminate competitor's competition materials they have passed to the prospect about your client.
4. Sales kits. PowerPoint presentations, Brochures, Handouts, “Fudd Busters”, Proposals, Contracts, Statement of Work documents, etc.
5. New Client Welcome kit. Used after a sale to thank the buyer, provide additional information like service and support contacts, suppliers, offers to encourage referrals, fill out satisfaction surveys, etc.
These are just a few. As the economy continues to improve and businesses begin their marketing and sales campaigns, more and more of these materials will be required and used. These are your Sales collateral materials that some if not most businesses cannot afford to be without. Especially in the business to business (B2B) market.
What do you think? Let me know. Comments are welcomed.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Sales Collaterals in B2B
Sales and Marketers,
As you know, Sales Collaterals are required in business to business even in today's economy.
Marketing departments need to create sales aids to get the product(s) name and information out to other businesses within the market segment the company sells into. These are sales collateral items such as company and product profile sheets, product briefs, technology adoption papers, ROI case studies and calculations, white papers, success stories, etc. These items are needed more and more as the topics vary frequently.
Sales collaterals are materials used by sales representatives (reps) that call on other businesses. These materials are also used to pass out at trade shows and sales events.
Having the right sales materials to promote a product or service can often make or break a sales deal. Buyers want to get the information they need, but it has to catch their attention, influence their decision, and motivate them to make the purchase.
The right combination of collateral materials is to support the sales cycle and efforts while providing product features and benefits to the buyer, special offers, and projecting a confidence in the company and product for their purchase decisions.
Product handouts consisting of 2-10, 8 ½ x 11”, pages are sales collaterals in high demand. These are handouts with company information, graphic images, and content description of the product or products. A graphics artist is required depending on the layout and images desired.
Sales collateral can also help educate the marketplace or in-house sales teams. These materials help develop sales and marketing tools and promote competition. For example: “Fudd Busters”, documentation that provides competitive materials to show the company and product's superiority over their competitors, can drive sales quickly.
Enterprise management solutions have become increasingly complex, not only in product design, but within a more competitive, converging IT marketplace. IT users have a wide choice of products and services that all claim to be the best solution.
That is basically what Sales Collaterals are and why they are needed. Come back and check out my next blog where I'll list the 5 Varieties of sales collateral materials familiar in the Business to Business industry market.
Got a comment? Let us know.
As you know, Sales Collaterals are required in business to business even in today's economy.
Marketing departments need to create sales aids to get the product(s) name and information out to other businesses within the market segment the company sells into. These are sales collateral items such as company and product profile sheets, product briefs, technology adoption papers, ROI case studies and calculations, white papers, success stories, etc. These items are needed more and more as the topics vary frequently.
Sales collaterals are materials used by sales representatives (reps) that call on other businesses. These materials are also used to pass out at trade shows and sales events.
Having the right sales materials to promote a product or service can often make or break a sales deal. Buyers want to get the information they need, but it has to catch their attention, influence their decision, and motivate them to make the purchase.
The right combination of collateral materials is to support the sales cycle and efforts while providing product features and benefits to the buyer, special offers, and projecting a confidence in the company and product for their purchase decisions.
Product handouts consisting of 2-10, 8 ½ x 11”, pages are sales collaterals in high demand. These are handouts with company information, graphic images, and content description of the product or products. A graphics artist is required depending on the layout and images desired.
Sales collateral can also help educate the marketplace or in-house sales teams. These materials help develop sales and marketing tools and promote competition. For example: “Fudd Busters”, documentation that provides competitive materials to show the company and product's superiority over their competitors, can drive sales quickly.
Enterprise management solutions have become increasingly complex, not only in product design, but within a more competitive, converging IT marketplace. IT users have a wide choice of products and services that all claim to be the best solution.
That is basically what Sales Collaterals are and why they are needed. Come back and check out my next blog where I'll list the 5 Varieties of sales collateral materials familiar in the Business to Business industry market.
Got a comment? Let us know.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
The use of Teleseminars in B2B
In my last Blog, I mentioned that Teleseminars, seminars done over the phone, are useful in business-to-business (B2B) even in today's economy.
Teleseminars are faster, cheaper, and will reach many more audiences in just one session. It is a lot more effective than getting a group of people in a room, expect them to sit still, and listen to a speaker like at a seminar event in an office or business center.
Plus you can record and use them over and over again. Here are some good uses that Teleseminars provide to your company's marketing activities.
Teleseminars are great for:
So for the next marketing event that is listed above, try using teleseminars to make it happen. If you are not sure how to set one up, contact your phone and bridge line carrier. They offer these services and provide instructions and how-to's.
Can you provide more tips on Teleseminars? Let us know. Your comments are welcomed.
Teleseminars are faster, cheaper, and will reach many more audiences in just one session. It is a lot more effective than getting a group of people in a room, expect them to sit still, and listen to a speaker like at a seminar event in an office or business center.
Plus you can record and use them over and over again. Here are some good uses that Teleseminars provide to your company's marketing activities.
Teleseminars are great for:
- Free introduction of a new product or service.
- Interviewing an expert about a product or to create one.
- Introducing a partner's product to the client's customers.
- Introducing the client's product to their partners.
- Doing internal training to the company engineers or sales force.
- Providing a training session to prospects for a fee.
- Providing a series of training sessions to prospects for a fee.
So for the next marketing event that is listed above, try using teleseminars to make it happen. If you are not sure how to set one up, contact your phone and bridge line carrier. They offer these services and provide instructions and how-to's.
Can you provide more tips on Teleseminars? Let us know. Your comments are welcomed.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Teleseminars in B2B
Hey gang,
Sales and marketing teams produce programs and promotions to get the sales messages out to prospected buyers. This is still a requirement even in today's economy.
Face to face seminars and sales meetings in convention centers and hotels were the normal sales event that made this happen. Now companies are using the phone (teleseminars) and internet (webinars) to get the sales messages out in the business-to-business (B2B) market. This is not something new to the sales and marketing teams. But these programs have become more economical as these events can be recorded and used over and over again to the company's advantage.
Teleseminars, or teleconferences, are events that are broadcast over voice bridge lines and accessed by a telephone. It is reached through the bridge line where many participants from all locations dial in and provide an access code in order to hear the conference or seminar live. It is generally recorded and available for dial-in access to hear the seminar at a later time for those participants not able to attend the live session.
Teleseminars are often used to get the sales messages out to a larger audience versus in person; face to face to one group, or hosting a seminar event in one location. This makes it available for persons not in the location the seminar is being presented. This also provides flexibility to the presenter as they can produce the seminar from their desk and have the seminar recorded. These recordings can become saleable items or provided as giveaways at company sales events.
They can last from 30 minutes to several hours long. The format can be question and answer type seminars with two or more speakers involved, or 1 speaker going through a session on a particular product or subject that interests the audience.
They are educational and provide “how-to” sessions with small to large audiences local or worldwide.
They're useful to organizations that seek to outgrow their competition through seminars but cannot afford to go to different locations each week conducting these.
They're useful for professional training and skill building sessions that may take several days to weeks of classes. You can train many people located throughout the world with week long training sessions. This can be internal training events as well.
Teleseminars are more faster, cheaper, and will reach many more audiences in just one session. It is a lot more effective than getting a group of people in a room, expect them to sit still, and listen to a speaker like at a seminar event in an office or business center.
For your next sales event, think about using the phone and do a teleseminar. This is a marketing event that you can use over and over again, time after time.
There you go. Tell us what you do in conducting your own teleseminars. Your comments are welcomed.
Sales and marketing teams produce programs and promotions to get the sales messages out to prospected buyers. This is still a requirement even in today's economy.
Face to face seminars and sales meetings in convention centers and hotels were the normal sales event that made this happen. Now companies are using the phone (teleseminars) and internet (webinars) to get the sales messages out in the business-to-business (B2B) market. This is not something new to the sales and marketing teams. But these programs have become more economical as these events can be recorded and used over and over again to the company's advantage.
Teleseminars, or teleconferences, are events that are broadcast over voice bridge lines and accessed by a telephone. It is reached through the bridge line where many participants from all locations dial in and provide an access code in order to hear the conference or seminar live. It is generally recorded and available for dial-in access to hear the seminar at a later time for those participants not able to attend the live session.
Teleseminars are often used to get the sales messages out to a larger audience versus in person; face to face to one group, or hosting a seminar event in one location. This makes it available for persons not in the location the seminar is being presented. This also provides flexibility to the presenter as they can produce the seminar from their desk and have the seminar recorded. These recordings can become saleable items or provided as giveaways at company sales events.
They can last from 30 minutes to several hours long. The format can be question and answer type seminars with two or more speakers involved, or 1 speaker going through a session on a particular product or subject that interests the audience.
They are educational and provide “how-to” sessions with small to large audiences local or worldwide.
They're useful to organizations that seek to outgrow their competition through seminars but cannot afford to go to different locations each week conducting these.
They're useful for professional training and skill building sessions that may take several days to weeks of classes. You can train many people located throughout the world with week long training sessions. This can be internal training events as well.
Teleseminars are more faster, cheaper, and will reach many more audiences in just one session. It is a lot more effective than getting a group of people in a room, expect them to sit still, and listen to a speaker like at a seminar event in an office or business center.
For your next sales event, think about using the phone and do a teleseminar. This is a marketing event that you can use over and over again, time after time.
There you go. Tell us what you do in conducting your own teleseminars. Your comments are welcomed.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Profits in Partnering in B2B
Hey gang,
Lets talk about making more sales and generating revenue with partners.
There are huge advantages to using partners in your business, especially in today's economy. The typical business to business (B2B) solution selling methods and techniques that were used in the past do not work as they once did. Budgets are tight, sales cycles are longer, and the business buyer is reluctant to bring in new products or services that are presented by a single vendor.
Your traditional decision maker has lost a lot of their purchasing power. This means you will have to change your sales and lead generation methods to make the deals. How do you do that?
Build your partner base with more qualified sales generating activities and use these partners to help promote your products, services, and brands. The trend in this economy is referrals and referral based marketing that will get you in front of the business buyers who are in the position to purchase.
Strategic alliances are quickly becoming a valuable feature of the corporate landscape. By creating partnerships, your company can quickly gain product development capabilities and marketing expertise without a tremendous amount of effort or cost.
Partners who use and rely on your products and services to enhance and grow their own business will become an extension to your sales and brand awareness. Make your partners happy and they will build and grow your business rapidly as they build their own sales and revenue streams.
Successful use of partners will also help your company grow and generate revenue in places and territories you currently are not engaged or have a presence in.
Look into creating valued partners and watch them help grow your business as well as theirs. Click here to get my e-book on the tips and steps to Profits in Partnering in B2B .
Let me know what you think. Your comments are welcomed.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Steps to writing good White Papers
Hey gang,
Here are 5 Steps to writing a good white paper :
1. Focus on the target reader, not the company. A white paper primarily presents the company's perspective on an issue or technology. Do not focus too much on the company, but the target audience who will read the paper. Present useful information that keeps the reader interested and meets their concerns. Does it solve a problem for the reader and how?
2. Make it clear, precise, and engaging. Keep it simple. Convey in the paper why the reader should be interested. Overly long sentences, convoluted syntax, and complex words can make the paper seem incoherent and academic. Write direct and simple, and you'll create a white paper that is engaging and understandable.
3. Do not load it up with technical jargon. Some marketers feel the paper will not be effective without the latest trendy and technical words. Too much jargon can be confusing, can miss the meaning of the topic and key message of the paper, and make it appear like another sales pitch, turning readers away.
4. Know your audience. Do not try to make one paper be all things to all people. Business executives have different concerns about a product purchase than the IT staff or end user. Sometimes, a separate white paper is needed to meet these audience's objectives and better support the sales process. Within the paper, use of subheads and sidebars can isolate and address the different audience's concerns.
5. Make it accurate and error free. Errors of facts or omissions can cause legal problems. The information must be accurate and have proof to back it up. Forgetting a statement, a feature, or making claims of a benefit without proper proof can be a costly mistake. Have the engineers, sales, and marketing departments check over the white paper thoroughly before distribution.
Try these steps and I bet your white papers will be good and well received.
Don't think so? Then let me know. Comments are welcomed.
Stop back by for more B2B Marketing Communications steps and tips. Thanks.
Here are 5 Steps to writing a good white paper :
1. Focus on the target reader, not the company. A white paper primarily presents the company's perspective on an issue or technology. Do not focus too much on the company, but the target audience who will read the paper. Present useful information that keeps the reader interested and meets their concerns. Does it solve a problem for the reader and how?
2. Make it clear, precise, and engaging. Keep it simple. Convey in the paper why the reader should be interested. Overly long sentences, convoluted syntax, and complex words can make the paper seem incoherent and academic. Write direct and simple, and you'll create a white paper that is engaging and understandable.
3. Do not load it up with technical jargon. Some marketers feel the paper will not be effective without the latest trendy and technical words. Too much jargon can be confusing, can miss the meaning of the topic and key message of the paper, and make it appear like another sales pitch, turning readers away.
4. Know your audience. Do not try to make one paper be all things to all people. Business executives have different concerns about a product purchase than the IT staff or end user. Sometimes, a separate white paper is needed to meet these audience's objectives and better support the sales process. Within the paper, use of subheads and sidebars can isolate and address the different audience's concerns.
5. Make it accurate and error free. Errors of facts or omissions can cause legal problems. The information must be accurate and have proof to back it up. Forgetting a statement, a feature, or making claims of a benefit without proper proof can be a costly mistake. Have the engineers, sales, and marketing departments check over the white paper thoroughly before distribution.
Try these steps and I bet your white papers will be good and well received.
Don't think so? Then let me know. Comments are welcomed.
Stop back by for more B2B Marketing Communications steps and tips. Thanks.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
White Papers in B2B
Hey Gang,
Businesses are using White Papers now more than ever.
White Papers are electronic books (e-books), technical reports, or large Subject Matter Expert (SME) articles that describe a product and service.
The use of technical white papers as a marketing tool has grown tremendously in the last few years—not only for selling information technology (IT) and other High Tech industry offerings, but also to promote a wide range of products and services beyond computer hardware, software, and high tech devices.
A company with a product in any high tech sector or business can take advantage of a white paper.
White papers are one of the leading sources of sales lead generation.
White papers require all information related to the product's description, performance, and purpose. For example:
Three categories of content that should be included in a white paper are:
1. Content that directly enhances the effectiveness of the white paper in achieving the marketing objective.
2. Useful tips or how-to information.
3. Content that compares the various options for solving the problem and steers the reader towards the product.
Do not add too much content to a white paper. If it is too large, the reader will put it aside. Leave out interesting but irrelevant information.
Effective white papers contain between 3,000 to 4,000 words. If the paper is less than 2,000 words, it may be best suited as an article, not a white paper.
White papers are generally written on non-glossy paper in a report type format and contain very few graphic images if any. They include the name of the product, the name of the company, its logo and contact information.
Businesses use copywriters to work with their technical and engineering departments to gather information for these white papers. They also work with the marketing and sales departments for input and distribution.
For more information including steps to writing effective White Papers, keep checking out my Blog or go to my websites.
Let me know what you think. Your Comments are welcomed.
Businesses are using White Papers now more than ever.
White Papers are electronic books (e-books), technical reports, or large Subject Matter Expert (SME) articles that describe a product and service.
The use of technical white papers as a marketing tool has grown tremendously in the last few years—not only for selling information technology (IT) and other High Tech industry offerings, but also to promote a wide range of products and services beyond computer hardware, software, and high tech devices.
A company with a product in any high tech sector or business can take advantage of a white paper.
White papers are one of the leading sources of sales lead generation.
White papers require all information related to the product's description, performance, and purpose. For example:
- What are the product's features and benefits?
- How well did it perform under load?
- What were the performance and benchmark numbers achieved?
- What does the product do? What problems does it solve? What is its purpose in the industry market?, etc.
Three categories of content that should be included in a white paper are:
1. Content that directly enhances the effectiveness of the white paper in achieving the marketing objective.
2. Useful tips or how-to information.
3. Content that compares the various options for solving the problem and steers the reader towards the product.
Do not add too much content to a white paper. If it is too large, the reader will put it aside. Leave out interesting but irrelevant information.
Effective white papers contain between 3,000 to 4,000 words. If the paper is less than 2,000 words, it may be best suited as an article, not a white paper.
White papers are generally written on non-glossy paper in a report type format and contain very few graphic images if any. They include the name of the product, the name of the company, its logo and contact information.
Businesses use copywriters to work with their technical and engineering departments to gather information for these white papers. They also work with the marketing and sales departments for input and distribution.
For more information including steps to writing effective White Papers, keep checking out my Blog or go to my websites.
Let me know what you think. Your Comments are welcomed.
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