Your prospect puts off purchasing your offering for "between six to nine months from now". But, how are you to know when exactly in that period of time they will make a purchase decision? What if they do so before, or say in between months six & seven? You would have lost out on the sale. This post provides sales leaders with one strategy to deal with this challenge. P.S. This post was earlier titled 'How to Beat Your Sales Competition to the Discussion Table. I changed it at the insistence of a friend who felt that the earlier title was not an accurate description of the post)

1. Why
Content Marketing
needs to be an
integral part
of every
Sales Leader’s Strategy
www.jersonjames.com

3. You want to sell,
but your prospect
puts off making
a purchase

4. Your prospect says that
they might consider
buying your offering, or changing
over from their existing vendor

5. The trouble is: you have no way of
knowing if it will be
month six, seven,
eight or nine
when they finally decide to
make the change

6. What if they decide
to change over
before?
Or,
in between
months six and seven?

7. You would have
missed the boat!

8. And no, you
cannot keep bugging
your prospect with calls
every week, enquiring whether they
have decided to buy
(Hey, would you like some
salesperson bugging you
similarly?)

9. thought as much…

11. … this is just one
of many pain points or
challenges that your prospect
is currently faced with

12. Is your prospect
going to address
all of these
on priority?

13. Definitely
Not!

14. ...one, or at
best, a few
of these pain areas

16. trying to
fix a problem
involves a whole lot of
commitments
(and hassle)

17. Your prospect would need to commit
scarce material,
human and financial
resources
towards working on projects
chosen…
(not to mention time, energy
and attention)

18. Needless to say, but
preference
in the allocation of these
resources will be given…
…to projects addressing those issues that
your prospect considers to
‘burning’...
be

19. Everything else
will be relegated
to

20. So, how do you ensure that you
do not lose
out… …when the
prospect
finally
decides to
buy?

22. Among other tools*,
you need to use the
power
of…
… content marketing
to help you
* In addition to a highly skilled sales force, an effective CRM, etc.,

23. Blogs & newsletters
that contain
insights &
information
that help
your prospects do
their job better… …need to be part of your
sales strategy

24. As long as
these ‘lead’ the
prospect to
your USP’S*
(this is smart content * If this doesn’t happen, then
marketing) your insights will not
translate into any worthwhile
business for you… Instead,
you would have provided free
advice to your customers, and
perhaps business to your
competitors…

25. (What helps is…
…ensuring variety
media
in
formats used

27. 1.thought leader.
It establishes your firm as a
It also builds your firm’s
credibility

28. 2. you
It helps
remain
top-of-mind
with your prospects
Consequently…

29. …when they are ready
to tackle the area of
pain that a product
or service like which
your offering
addresses…
…they will call you

30. 3. to ask
the right
It earns you the
all those consultative
questions
(when you finally get to the
discussion table)

31. Remember the time when
you wanted to sell,
but your prospect
didn't want to buy ?

32. Remember, we said
that you need to
‘be around’
when your prospect
finally decides to buy
?

33. Content marketing
helps put you
before your
prospect
when they are indeed
ready to buy

35. Content marketing is not
the same thing as
blowing your
own trumpet
(about how ‘innovative’,
‘cutting edge’, etc.,
you are)

36. It is
providing insights
& information…
that your prospect can use

37. Your content
should not
seek to
push you
or your products
directly

38. However, it should
contain
the insight or methodology
that you are suggesting

39. Your insights &
the proof of concept
will position
you
(not your competition) as the
go-to provider
of the product or service
that you offer

41. …content marketing
by itself will not
win you the
sale
(Evolved selling skills are a
non-negotiable)

42. But, it will get
get you to the
discussion table
when the prospect finally
decides to buy

43. Something that you
might have
missed out on,
without such a strategy
(Because the odds of you being around
when they finally decide to take the
plunge, are pretty slim at best)

46. Is content marketing an integral part of
your sales process? Does your business
have a content marketing strategy at all?
-----------------
How well are your salespeople using your content
marketing output in their sales activities
(to engage with their customers)?
-----------------
How can they use it better?

47. Did you find the presentation useful?
Then, please do Please leave your
share it
& comments below.
We’d love to hear
from you…

48. For more resources on sales effectiveness, please visit
www.jersonjames.com
Sales Advisory Sales Capability Creation
Mumbai, India
jerson@jersonjames.com

49. Image Attribution
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