Sales Archives - Page 16 of 16

The Evolving Role of Sales in the Modern Industrial Manufacturing Organization

If you’ve been in a sales position at an industrial manufacturer for any length of time, changes to your role have likely been the only constant throughout the years. The internet emerged and B2C e-commerce blew up. For a few years, B2B still operated the same as it always had. Faxes. Phone calls. Face-to-face meetings and trade shows. Then electronic catalogs started to pop up. Then, websites that played videos and had other sales collateral. Buying portals and EDI became standard operating procedures to make ordering easier. Before we knew it, [...]

The Evolving Role of Sales in the Modern Industrial Manufacturing OrganizationMatt Troy2021-11-17T10:57:53-06:00

What’s In Your Database?

Databases are only as good as their content. Yet, many times the contents of a database can be surprising. For some manufacturers the biggest surprise may be that highly valuable data is readily available in the form of warranty registrations, drop shipments, parts orders, customer service calls, technical support requests, online opt-ins, and many other sources of information that can be thought of as a ‘database.’ When using a database, pay close attention to its content. What's in it can be surprising as well. Here are some considerations: Composition. Manufacturers typically [...]

What’s In Your Database?Dan Roglin2021-11-17T10:58:36-06:00

Simplify Your Sales Message to Help Prospects Understand the Value of Your Offer

Hypothetically speaking, let’s say you’ve got fifteen minutes to talk to your biggest prospect next week at a conference in Atlanta. You’ve been hawking the buyer for eight months and you’ve finally got your meeting. You’ve narrowed down your entire portfolio to two major product lines you want to talk about. You’ve done your homework about where you need to be in order to be competitive on price and still hit your margin goal. Internal inventory and supply chain are good. You’ve got clearance to sell in up to $750k for [...]

Simplify Your Sales Message to Help Prospects Understand the Value of Your OfferMatt Troy2021-11-17T11:04:15-06:00

The Answer Is Yes. Amazon Will Disrupt Your Industry Too

A looming challenge for your distributors could be a rare chance to gain a competitive advantage for your brand. The Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, or frequency illusion, happens when something that you recently became aware of starts popping up everywhere. This happened to one of our clients following an annual planning session when we raised the topic of Amazon Business. Even before catching a flight out of Chicago he forwarded two news items supporting the idea that eventually every manufacturer will be impacted by the e-commerce juggernaut. All of a sudden Amazon Business [...]

The Answer Is Yes. Amazon Will Disrupt Your Industry TooNeil Ruffolo2021-11-22T16:39:59-06:00