I bet that many of you either work inside an organization or spend time pitching marketers who do. How’s that going? Spending time on both sides of the fence, membrane or wall — depending on how you see the divide these days — I can tell you that there is a lot of room for improvement. Let’s start by talking about the person inside.
With the shrinking of resources everywhere, the marketers inside organizations have found themselves having to do much more with much less …. and being under pressure to deliver on results without there being a very clear definition of what that means sometimes.
That’s a lot of pressure. Plus, there is often the need to educate colleagues from other areas of the organization about what marketing delivers and why it is an important function vis-à-vis sales, engineering or finance, which by and large continue to drive most B2B organizations — technically, culturally and politically.
Your starting point in pitching marketers inside organizations is the awareness that they need more than just a brochure or a new logo. When approached the right way, the conversation may lead to being selected as more than a vendor and becoming a partner. This of course assumes that you’ve done your part –
Essential Dos:
- Do your homework — learn more about the organization. Google it, data monitor it. Talk to people who can give you a first person account, not just a name. You are going to want to be considered after all.
- Think in terms of benefits …. if you were to buy your own services from the point of view of the marketer you are pitching, what is the key strength?
- Be persistent *and* patient …. it takes a lot of time to break through the noise today. It may also take time to find the right fit between what you offer and what is needed. Find ways to be helpful without becoming a nuisance.
– which leads to the Main Don’ts:
- Don’t be a nuisance …. – if you send a brochure about your company, that’s essentially a cold call. You compound it by calling a couple of days later to follow up on what amounts essentially to unsolicited mail.
- Invoking the power of higher authorities is the shortest path to the exit door …. – how does this grab you? “I was talking with your CFO the other day–” This is the equivalent to saying to someone you want to date that you were talking to their Dad, and therefore they should go out with you.
- Pressing people at networking events …. – people who represent service providers are often in the majority at professional associations’ events. Some of them may insist on pitching you every single time. If you haven’t read the very entertaining book He’s Not That Into You, you might take a look at the concept. Yes, I’ve seen you, I know what your company does, and I’ll call you when and if I need those services from you.
These are my main dos and don’ts.
I can tell you that the most successful at pitching me have been those companies and agencies that (1) had a core skill I needed at the moment; (2) where flexible and willing to work as part of the team, which means with other agencies and firms for me; (3) found ways to be useful above and beyond the call of duty (this is valid in any relationship).
I’m sure by now you are hitching to tell me your stories …. both from the agency/consultant side and from the corporate side.
What are your top dos and don’ts? Any story that could be the poster child for a do/don’t?
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Tags: business, Marketing, marketing_organization, Valeria_Maltoni
Valeria,
Here’s my first don’t: Unless you are big, don’t go after big (corporations).
Here’s my first do: Focus on small- to mid-sized businesses.
If my “do” intrigues anyone, download my free e-book, Selling to Small Businesses” at my web site: l-gsolutions.com. It is based on a well-received presentation that I most recently delivered in Dallas.
Valeria, I think your suggestions are right on, not just for selling to marketing folks, but when selling to anyone. I have seen too many salesfolk present a weakly customized version of the standard corporate “deck” and try to shoe-horn customers into their “solution.” Here are a few do’s that come to mind:
1. Understand that there are multiple players in a sale – buyers, users and influencers. Based on your homework, what matters to each?
2. Understand the culture of the organization or department you are dealing with – and respect it.
3. Shape the offer to what’s needed. E.g., do they know what they want and are looking for a supplier to execute fast and cheap, or are seeking input?
4. Looking across the buyer’s “experience chain,” where can you innovatively add positives and remove negatives?
4. Present your offer strong, but don’t be arrogant. Tell the truth. Keep it relevant.
5. Think long term customer impact, not just contract signature!
Lewis — I know this is a hot button for you, and rightly so. Understanding where you fit goes a long way to weighing the equation in your favor. One quick takeaway from your eBook you’d like to share?
Greg — I do like your approach to multiple buyers, we’ve talked about it before. Ah, respect as not only a word. I hope everyone is reading your list… there’s some great stuff here.
Further incentive — let’s see if we can all come up with something to add for a “Top #” list of does and don’ts that I can give away at a later date?
I have a small comment with regards to Lewis’ first don’t: I don’t think this should be taken as a rule. I work in an agency and we are not ‘big’ but we mostly work with ‘big’.
I think that the 3 points made at the end by Valeria show that the ’small’ can be better adadpted to work with the ‘bigs’: 1) the smalls tend to specialize more, 2) they are used to working, and are more willing to work, in a team with other agencies; and 3)smaller businesses know the value of one project, and will be go the extra mile to gain the repeat business.
Wendy:
Welcome to the conversation and thank you for your contribution. You’ve guessed it, I tend to work with a team of smaller companies that are very specialized. The first item on my list: be a good listener.
I’ve taken a peak at your site — very compelling and focused. What is your best entry point in a large organization? Are there more than one?
Valeria,
Thanks for asking: Here is the theme of the e-book:
“Whether we are selling to small businesses or large, the “who” must come before the “what”. At the end of the day, we get the job because of who we are, not because of what we claim about our products and services.”
This is a good list for starters, Valeria. When pitching, I try to put myself into the mind of the person I’m targeting. That might help you determine when’s the best time to call them. It might also help figure why they’d be interested in whgat you have to sell. If you can’t come up with a good answer to that last one,perhaps you shouldn’t bother pitching them to begin with.
This is a good list for starters, Valeria. When pitching, I try to put myself into the mind of the person I’m targeting. That might help you determine when’s the best time to call them. It might also help figure why they’d be interested in what you have to sell. If you can’t come up with a good answer to that last one,perhaps you shouldn’t bother pitching them to begin with.
Lewis:
Thank you. I would love to hear more from people about how they find a point of contact inside organizations. Word of mouth is certainly more powerful than sales pitch. If we focus on the latter, what worked?
David:
Do you find that experience (and possibly mistakes, both yours and other people’s) help you make that determination?
I like the finding the angle. What you’re pitching is essentially a story of how you’re a good fit, or how you can help, etc.
# 1 DO: Be likable. At the end of the day, all things being equal, people buy from who they like.
I get sales calls every day like everyone else. Since my expertise is Enterprise Lead Generation I can’t help but judge these all too often poor souls.
My Other List of Dos:
-Do research my site and know what they heck I do. I can’t tell you how many times sales people call and have no idea what my company does.
- Do be ready to offer some advice or information that might be helpful. No I am not talking about your glorious white paper. If you can’t bend what you know to my need by taking the time to understand my company then go away– Yesterday I spent almost 45 minutes on a cold call with someone who was giving me great advice on a topic I had little experience in. I plan on giving them my business.
My Don’ts
- Don’t ask for next steps without at least a minimal understanding of my need.
- Don’t read from a script! WE CAN ALL TELL!
Tim:
Thank you for joining the conversation.
You have an interesting blog and manage to bring to life issues we all deal with in concrete ways.
I empathize with the research piece. One of the most FAQs is what is your address? Huh?
Yes, be a good listener — notice how nobody asks if you have time? And wear the adviser hat.
I laughed at your last “don’t”. Got a call today from a nice young lady who was so reading from a script, it was painful.
Valeria: find (or create) a “warm hand-off.” People buy from people they know and like. If you and I have a mutual friend (I think we have several, actually), and that person comes to me and connects us, the game is yours to lose.
In this age of LinkedIn, it is unusual to come up completely empty (at least in my space).
As a small business, I agree with Lewis that you can’t ’sell’ to large companies. But, while my company is small, our clients are large. Go figure! The difference is our clients have come to us (either they are people we know or people who know people we know).
So, a big DO: make sure that your network, your community is strong. Keep in touch with colleagues. Be nice. Be smart. If you’re a small business (in my case marketing consultant), having loyal friends, colleagues and clients will make those sales for you. It truly has been the only way that we’ve grown our business.
You do learn from mistakes. When I’m doing a pr pitch on something new, I try,if possible, on a smaller media target. When doing a new biz pitch, you might try first on s smaller, less important target so you can learn and if you mess up, not much harm is done.
Stephen — thank you for joining in. Yes, these days networking is a lot easier. I am amazed at how few people I know ask me to connect them, when I am a natural connector
Have you found LinkedIn’s feature useful to promote/introduce people you would recommend?
Suzanne — and I have been a client in a large organization going to smaller and specialized businesses. Thank you for emphasizing the network and keeping up with it. Any tools and advice you could share with small business owners? I met the founder of iRobot at the Wharton Leadership forum last year, BTW.
David — great tip! Do risk, keep it small. Absolutely. I have not heard a good story of a big “don’t”. Marketers might be nice people after all
In regards to Stephen’s point regarding a “warm hand-off”, this approach has proven to be my most effective “do’s”.
I’m in the posititon of “selling” enterprise lead management systems to financial institutions. As a small company we target large and small, but have proven to be quite succesful with some of the largest financial insitutions in the world, such as Citigroup, Citizens Bank, etc.
I attribute my success to the relationships I have established with our strategic partners that work directly with those institutions. Not only was I directly referred to the right person in a huge company (daunting task in and of itself), but get that oh-so valuable warm hand-off.
Now for the next and just as important “do”: Understand the biggest problems facing whatever client your going after and be ready to deliver some amazing, convincing, vialbe solutions to those problems. Also, be ready to solidify your solutions with quantitative proof.
P.S. My first blog post – exciting! I only hope I offered some decent feedback/input! =)
Valeria:
Thanks for you interest and comments on our site.
For us to get an entry point in an organisation, we invest heavily in networking. We have a core few people who contribute regularly at organised industry lunches and discussion groups (online and offline). We also share the learnings on a weekly basis internally, which lets us learn from each others experiences and often highlights connections that we have in common.
We also really believe in good customer service, and our reputation (after securing the crucial project) has allowed us to develop our network within the big organisations.
I hope this gives you a small insight into the entry points, and thanks for being so welcoming.
Ryan:
Thank you so much for offering such good advice and for joining the conversation. And for the first time! Welcome to the experience. I am honored.
I agree with you, it is so hard to find out who does what inside large organizations. I’m hearing it again: relationships and value add with a dash of active listening.
Wendy:
It sounds like you are really focusing on the key activities, internally and externally:
- networking (shared experience)
- knowledge sharing (building connections)
- follow through (customer service)
Question for everyone — what have been your greatest obstacles? Why?
Obstacle #1 – Keep the momentum going!
You leave a presentation hitting a grand slam; knowing you’ve won the account. This brings a sigh of releif as if the pressure is off, but this truly isn’t the case. The “power of persistance” is just as important here even though you have a verbal commitment to move forward. I’ve expeirenced it a few times when I thought forsure the deal was sold; only to loose it when I allowed the momentum to stall.
Obstacle #2 – Getting buy-in from all departments
If your solution has an effect across multiple departments (ie. Marketing, Finance, Operations, etc.) then it’s key that you take into consideration each department. The approval from one department doesn’t equait to a done deal. Often times I convince marketing of my primary value prop, and then get stymied by finance. In a few expeirences, I was fortunate enough to get all decision makers from all departments in one single meeting. While a blessing, it was a hefty task preparing the presentation around everyone, not just one single department.
Obstacle #3 – Patience
I’m sure many will grin at this obstacle as it’s so common, specifically to large organizations. The deal is sold and now you get to go through legal, followed by security (ethical hacks in the web based software world) and so on. It takes at least 4 months to see anything come to fruition.
Quick side note – thank you very much for the warm welcome, Valeria. I’m intrigued by your knowledge and your captivating writing style. Where does one learn to write like you? =)
I, like most everyone, get a ton of sales calls. The worst are people who leave their number and nothing else. Also the worst are people who insist on a meeting before providing information. I like to ask for information via mail or email before I set a meeting.
The best sales call I got was this week: The guy left a voice mail with his name, company name and a short, but in-depth description of his product and said if I was interested to send an email to an address he gave me. He did not ask for a meeting, he did not ask that I call for his email address. Needless to say, I appreciated this kind of sales call and sent him an email and I promptly received one back with the information promised.
Ryan:
A solid list for sure. I find that most providers do not have a solid follow through.
Do put together a list of next steps. Build permission assets at every step by setting expectations with the client and then communicating how you’ve met that plus next step, etc.
I recently posted a review of a book on politics at my blog. The truth is group decisions are worst made in a group. It takes more work, yet it pays off to identify the different stakeholders and developing relationships with them.
Patience is huge. Sometimes I am stuck on internal approval processes.
On your side note: thank you! I learned English as a second language and later in life as part of linguistics studies. And I am passionate about communications as well as semiotics/anthropology.
Thank you for sharing so much from your experience.
Katie:
Welcome to the conversation and thank you for sharing an example of a good sales call.
I do hope some of those sales professionals are reading. There is a lot of good information in the comments.
Isn’t it nice when people know how to set the stage for another contact? And that was good psychology as well — leave it to the prospect to decide if and when.
BTW — the First Weber network looks well put together from what I could glean.
Question for everyone that came up today: does anyone capture a running list of potential vendors and partners when the call and approach is right? In other words, I may not need you now, yet I will keep your information on file as you were so appropriate in your approach.
He’s Not That Into You as Their Not That Into You! Great idea!
This article was passed on to me by a coworker because I have been reading a lot about marketing lately. Our company has a new project on performance marketing for the enterprise. The project is designed to help CMO’s and VP marketing understand the rapidly changing landscape. The internet has changed marketing forever. Web 2.0, rich media, SEO, viral marketing, blogging and user-generated content can only accelerate the speed at which reputations and brands are built and destroyed.
While I have always sold in to the marketing department, I’m now selling a marketing strategy and solutions to marketer. It’s a bit more interesting this way.
I am not really a marketer although we all market ourselves every day. I am a seasoned sales executive who has been selling integrated marketing solutions to senior executives for 10 years. Mid level Marketers are not very strategic thinkers so I usually approach CEO’s or CMO’s to open dialogue. In many cases they refer down the chain which is fine. All I’m looking for is the CMO’s strategic buy in and an introduction.
Experience has shown me most mid level marketers play things safe and do what they need to do just to keep there jobs. Marketing careers tend to be short. What has been challenging for me is developing the long term relationship with marketers because of the turnover. I realize there’s this “un-measurable” aspect to branding & marketing. Are sales measured by marketing? Did the marketer have a real impact on the bottom line? What’s the ROI, Who knows? There is this stigma attached to marketing which is slowly changing with performance based marketing.
At the ends of the day people buy because of emotions period. You found some personal pain
(Consciously or subconsciously) and a way to relieve it. Find a solution to their pain and you have a sale.
Jeff — welcome to the conversation. Yes, we should borrow from successful communications concepts. Glad you enjoyed.
Howard — do you find that the relationships can carry over other jobs? For example, because I am really good at working on mature brands and taking them to the next level, often the company I work at realizes its exit strategy through its sale. When I join another company, I do not forget the people who helped me succeed.
Other posts have alluded to the fact that the use of any type of assumptive close at any point in the process is ineffective and is actually counter-productive.
Being persistent without being a nuissance was mentioned earlier; that is a tricky balance but very important.
I also work for a small advertising agency. Networking through my local chamber of commerce is my best source of information on new marketing directors and others who may be in the market for our services. Unfortunately, another county that I want to target has at least 20 different small chamber of commerece offices.
Jason –
Welcome to the conversation and thank you for sharing your dilemma with us. Have you thought of making yourself known to agency brokers?
There may be people or organizations in your business community who act as matchmakers for agencies.
One curiosity about your site — any reason why it’s not html? You want to be found, right? Why not make the site work for you with searchable keywords? It looks like it’s images.
Just reading some very interesting experiences. I have a small PR Agency that handles some few big clients in Nigeria. Amazingly we have each time been approached by these clients. Because we are small we go the extra mile to add value. We make sure that we offer services that our big competitors would not. I think word of mouth and networking has helped us greatly.