Sure, you’re likely aware that aligning your sales and marketing teams is best practice in the world of inbound selling. A Service Level Agreement (SLA) that defines KPIs and sets expectations for both sides is considered the most effective approach. But creating an SLA and changing lingering negative perceptions between the two teams might be a big ask of your company – how can you prove that doing so is going to yield results that make it worth it?
When you’re researching marketing ideas for your company, you’ll likely come across loads of advice that doesn’t apply to your business model. Most marketing advice is aimed at companies that sell directly to consumers, which usually isn’t relevant to B2B marketing. When you’re a business selling to other businesses, you have a whole new set of rules to follow. Here are some of the best B2B marketing strategy trends that will help your sales shoot through the roof. (more…)
You already know content is king, but what’s not always so clear is who’s reading the content. In particular, many content creators in the B2B world assume that targeting younger readers — including millennials — is a waste of time because those readers are not making the purchasing decisions. But it turns out this is no longer true. While you’ve been busy coming up with a content strategy, millennials have been getting older and replacing their post-college entry-level positions with middle management roles that have a pretty big influence on their company. Here’s what this means for your B2B content efforts. (more…)
So you’ve defined your buyer personas, but you’re having trouble finding them in real life. See how to successfully align your marketing and sales to find those elusive customers by mapping out the buyer’s journey with a content map. (more…)
While it’s natural for people to think in terms of yearly objectives, it’s not the best way to handle marketing. That’s because one of the worst things that can happen to a company’s marketing plan is that it becomes irrelevant. In the modern marketing landscape, a 12-month marketing plan is too slow to develop. (more…)
Among the key challenges faced by sales and marketing executives shifting toward an inbound selling approach are how to align these departments, quantify successes, and optimize processes for the future.
An important element of this approach is goal-setting — without objectives, how do those in sales and marketing departments know what to work toward? Shared terminology, goals and incentives leads to more effective smarketing. (more…)
Tony Robbins once said, “Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.” Without a concrete plan in place, it’s difficult to track progress. Setting marketing objectives early on will help you and your company improve.
Cold calling can be stilted and awkward, and is largely ineffective.
Bury your high-pressure sales tactics and your unrefined contact lists, because cold calling is dead.
Though it lived an impactful life and is considered the defining voice of a generation of relentless salesmen, cold calling’s death comes as no surprise for those who knew it best. Its practices and habits are unsustainable in contemporary business, a world in which advising is valued over pushing. (more…)
If you’ve ever struggled to connect with a prospect, you’re not alone. Every salesperson has made mistakes on the phone and probably lost a potential client or two by doing something stupid.
The SmarkLabs team had a little bit of fun with some nightmare scenarios. Check out the video to see if any of these phone flubs are familiar, or just to have a laugh on us. (more…)
For years, the HubSpot Certification and the Inbound Certification served as core training for those new to HubSpot, teaching the principles and practices of inbound marketing as well as how to use its marketing automation and CRM platform. Now, there are even more resources available. (more…)
![[VIDEO] Why SMART Goals Fuel Smarketing Success](https://smarklabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/VIDEO-Why-SMART-Goals-Fuel-Smarketing-Success-e1523897660335.png)
