According to the American Marketing Association (AMA), “Up to 90% of collateral created by marketing is never used by sales.” That is an astounding statistic which should be a wakeup call to those of us in Product Marketing that we need to be doing something different. Most of the time, sales doesn’t use our tools because the tools are ineffective, and the reasons for this include: • Too many companies create a standard checklist of marketing and sales tools based upon what someone used in a past company, without any consideration as to what is really needed in this company. • Too much content is about the company and their products with little discussion about the buyers and users and what they need. In this webinar, you’ll learn: • A process for discovering and defining what sales & marketing tools are required for your target markets. • How to develop content that resonates with your target audiences. • How to use your marketing and sales tools to create alignment with the sales team.

1. How to Create Effective Sales &
Marketing Tools That Actually Get
Used By Sales and Prospects!
Tom Evans
CompellingPM
@compellingpm
Copyright 2013. The Lûcrum Group, Inc.
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2. How Bad Is Marketing Collateral?
• From 50 to 90% of marketing collateral does
not get used by sales! (AMA)
• Salespeople (B2B) spend 30 hours/month
searching for and creating their own selling
materials (AMA)
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3. Is It Really That Bad?
• “My marketing department produced some nice
looking stuff but it mostly had nothing to do with
what I needed to close deals.” (Anonymous)
• “Customers are familiar with the traditional
collateral material that salespeople send out or
leave behind after a visit. And guess what?
Everyone hates it. Marketing people hate to bang
it out, and salespeople hate to use it.” (Customer
Centric Selling)
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4. Why is Collateral So Bad?
• (Product) Marketing sits in ivory tower and
“creates a promotional potpourri … of sweet
smelling stuff” that is appealing to them.
• They never ask sales what they need.
• They don’t understand the buying process.
• Product Marketing is separated from the real
sales discussions.
• We replicate what we did elsewhere.
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5. Improving Collateral
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6. Starting Point to Improve Collateral
• Change from telling our story to telling our
prospects/customer stories.
• Develop a deep understanding of our
customers
• Ask sales team and channel partners what
they need
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7. Deep Understanding of Customers
• Who they are
– Personas
• Why they buy
– Problems they want to solve
• How they buy
– What is their buying process
– Where do they look
June 21 Webinar
http://www.aipmm.com/aipmm_webinars/2013/05/how-to-develop-a-deepunderstanding-of-your-target-markets---the-starting-point-for-great-product-ma.php
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8. How Do You Learn This Detail
• Speak to customers
• Discover as part of Win-loss analysis
• Participate in sales calls and observe the
process (all phases)
• Discover as part of market validation process
• Insights from Executives, Sales Team,
Customer Support, Professional Services
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9. Determine What Sales Channel Needs
• What types of problems do you encounter
during the sales process?
• What questions do prospects ask?
• What objections do you hear?
• What kinds of tools will make you more
effective?
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10. Understanding Buying Process
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11. Generic Buying Process
Recognize Problem/Need
Information Search
Evaluation of Alternatives
Purchase Decision
Post-purchase Behavior
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12. Discovering the Buying Process
•
•
•
•
•
•
What are the typical phases of the buying process?
Who are the typical buyers & influencers?
Who is involved at each phase?
What are their main concerns at each phase?
What are they doing at each phase?
What are the typical barriers to moving ahead?
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13. Help Buyers Through Buying Process
• Top of the funnel (lead generation &
awareness)
– Move suspects to leads & leads to prospects.
• Bottom of funnel (sales).
– Helps sales convert prospects to sales.
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14. How to Help Buyers?
• Buyers want content that helps:
– Educate them,
– Improves their decision-making capabilities,
– Increases their confidence level in their final
purchase decision.
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15. Basic Questions From Buyers
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•
•
•
Do I have a problem?
How do I solve this problem?
Who can help me solve this problem?
How can I be sure your company is the right
decision?
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16. Do I Have a Problem?
• What are their competitors doing?
• How do I determine if I have a problem?
• What’s it costing me to have this problem?
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17. How & Who to Solve My Problem
•
•
•
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What options exist to solve this problem?
How do the options compare?
What are good decision criteria?
What is the total cost of ownership?
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18. How Can I Be Sure?
• Are others successfully solving this problem?
• How can I be sure this works for me?
• How is your product better than your
competitors and by how much will it impact
my bottom line?
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19. Shifting Buyer Concerns
Customer Centric Selling by Michael Bosworth, based on research by Neil Rackham
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20. Successful Collateral
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21. Develop Tools/Collateral
• Answers questions
• Specific to each buying persona
• For each phase of buying process
• Keep concise, relevant, focused and in buyers
terms!
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22. Train Sales to Use Collateral
• 41% of sales people don’t know which
collateral to use, when to use and how to use
it. (IDC)
• Teach them:
– The intended buyer persona
– Which stage of buying process to use it
– Key messages for each stage & buyer persona
• Demonstrate in actual sales process
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23. Summary
• Deeply understand our customers
• Write to each target buyer persona
• Write collateral in the buyer’s terms that
answers their questions
• Train sales how to use the tools
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24. My Next Webinar
Nothing Happens Until Someone Sells Something:
Best Practices for Enabling Your Sales Channel to
Effectively Sell Your Products!
Friday, Nov 1, 2013
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25. Upcoming Training
• Optimal Product Management & Product Marketing
– Oct 14 – 16 (Dallas)
– Dec 9 – 11 (Austin)
• AIPMM Certifications
– Oct 21 – 22 (CPM – Minneapolis)
– Nov 5 – 6 (CPM – Austin)
– Nov 7 – 8 (CPMM – Austin)
More dates/locations - www.280group.com
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26. Free 1 Hour PM/PMM Consult
•
•
•
•
First ten to submit information on form
http://compellingpm.com/freeonehour/
Please include background on topic or issue
Must include company info (no Gmail)
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27. Thank You!
Tom Evans
CompellingPM
tevans@compellingpm.com
@compellingpm
www.compellingpm.com
Copyright 2013. The Lûcrum Group, Inc.
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