Ben Paul
July 6, 2020
BD, Sales and Marketing insights round-ups
Welcome to our second round-up of great articles from across the globe. Thes articles provide in-depth insights into the world of BD and Marketing. We’ve picked content that provides you with something practical and tangible that you implement.
June, still saw many articles discussing how to win work and grow in the new normal. We saw lots of articles covering how individuals and firms can best adapt to the ‘new normal.’ However, the six articles we’ve featured below are not only relevant in the current climate. They are also things that any business should have been thinking about pre-COVID-19. So, read the articles below and use the BD and marketing insights provided. They will help grow your revenue through clever BD and marketing strategies.
Sales Professionals Tend To Their Relationship Garden, Are You? by Larry Levine, Selling from the Heart.
As keen gardeners, we are naturally drawn to this. The analogy is a good one, a garden that isn’t looked after and well-maintained will not flourish. The same applies to your client relationships. Larry’s quote that “Sales professionals fertilize their relationship garden while sales reps struggle to water their garden,” is very poignant. A great read. Even more relevant now as the importance of maintaining and building strong client relationships has never been higher.
Improving the Win Rate for Your Entire Organization, by Jeremy Brim, The bid toolkit.
With a likely increase in RFPs in the market post-lockdown, many of which are likely to be from government, all organisations will want to win more than their fair share. In fact, any organisation that has to tender for work, will want a high win rate, over a long period of time. The key to a great win rate is buy-in from the senior leaders in the business.
As Jeremy states, “We’ve found that the biggest determining factor in win rate and the growth trajectory of organizations that must tender for work is the behavior and commitment of their leadership.” A great article that anyone involved in bid management should read.
Outsourcing Marketing for Professional Services Firms, by Lee Frederiksen, Hinge
With increasing pressures for professional services firms on operational costs and budgets, the temptation and, in fact, need to outsource marketing services is higher than ever. Outsourcing also has many other benefits. As Lee Frederiksen articulates, “Today, the skills required to market a firm are vast and varied. And because many of them are driven by technology, they require a great deal of expertise to keep up with the pace of change. Many firms don’t want the headache of keeping on top of all this change. So, they turn to outside marketing firms to fill in the gaps, or even take the reins.”
Outsourcing isn’t the answer to everything, however, in the right circumstances, it really can help drive significant change. If you’re thinking of outsourcing, I’d recommend this article. The benefits to the smaller firms are obvious and in larger firms, it provides additional expertise when required to your in-house experts.
5 Ways Your Business Stands to Benefit From Offering a Free Product or Service, by Lucas Miller, Echelon Copy LLC
We’re not really fans of discounts or giving away things for free. However, there are some real benefits in using these 5 clever marketing tactics. They will help boost your brand and grow your business. Just don’t use them all at the same time!
Why You Need Evergreen Content, by SalesLeadgen.com
Writing content can take a great deal of time. So it’s important to get it right. On your blog or company website, you’ll need a mix of articles that capture the zeitgeist or relate to something that is timely e.g. a law or regulation change and others that stand the test of time. This article explains what evergreen content is, and why it is vital to your marketing and lead generation efforts. Us linking to this article here is also helping it in itself become evergreen content!
5 elements that make a story great during a crisis, by Annette Densham, Publicity Genies
More than ever it is important for businesses to have a compelling story and one that is both relevant and compassionate post COVID-19. Annette Densham, provides simple steps that help you to tell a compelling ‘hero’ story. Read this short article to get some simple and easy to implement tips.