This is an article that I published for TechLINKs magazine.
Every networking event I've attended recently (TAG Marketing, TAG CRM, CRMA, BMA, TechLINKS, Atlanta Interactive Marketing Alliance, Atlanta IT Alliance, etc.) and every marketing/sales publication I read is pointing toward validation of that statement. Selling Power magazine recently published a panel discussion where, in summary, the panel members talked about CRM "hitting its stride" and then, "what's next.”
Clearly, product/service differentiation can take an organization a long way. The next evolution, however, is to create competitive differentiation in the relationships your organization has with your client's/prospect's senior-level executives. If your organization has a legitimate chance of winning the deal, then relationship differentiation with top-level executives trumps any other type of differentiation. To develop this relationship differentiation we must have targeted alignment between the Sales & Marketing organizations where they are all focused on solving vertical-specific, role-specific challenges your client's senior executives are currently facing. The challenge, however, is accomplishing this in an efficient manner. We must not turn our sales team into business/ financial analysts, but in order to create differentiation your entire organization, as a whole, must be able to: .... (To be covered in the next part)
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