Transitioning From Traditional to Relationship Marketing
“Sales organizations of tomorrow will need to be fundamentally different from those of today”-Geoffrey Eitland, VP of Sales, Staples, Inc.
Most organizations love to be pro-active and think of themselves as “go-getters”. A sales team can be a crucial part of any Sales Organization. Someone has to fill the funnel. Marketing works to make the sales effort more successful.
Approaching Prospects with Sales Teams or traditional marketing practices is deeply rooted in our history and may take a transition period to acquire new tactics.
If you are a local or regional based enterprise, this model may continue to work. People do have an affinity for working with someone they can reach out and touch and whom they can find if there is a problem.
But if your base is national or global, everyone has parity. There are certain distribution advantages to location, but after that everyone has parity when it comes to Access to Decision Makers.
Decision makers have something in common these days. They have time pressure. The time pressure is probably caused by a thinner staff, pressure on revenues and profits, increased competition on price and efficiency, and too much information on how to solve their problems.
In this position, Executives do not need another sales pitch. They want someone with knowledge they can trust who will do the right thing. People who pitch Executives come at them with their own agenda. Executives want someone who knows the firm’s Agenda. After three sentences, many Traditional pitches are through.
You can position yourself as a “Pitcher” or as a “Listener”. Surveys show that decision makers are seeking their own answers when the problem they need to solve becomes a priority. This is when information is needed and a Trusted Provider of that information.
How can your organization become that Trusted Provider? Make information available that will display your expertise, knowledge, and willingness to be a partner, before presenting your one solution covers all agenda.
This is the first transition you have to make to move from Traditional to Relationship Marketing.
Technology and Relationship Marketing
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