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B2B Salespeople Need to Act More Like Travel Agents

Harvard Business

According to the travel and leisure marketing firm MMGY, the use of travel agents increased by 50% from 2014 to 2015. A similar sequence has happened with B2B buying. See More Videos > See More Videos > Surely B2B purchasing hasn’t become that bad. A marketing automation company creates bespoke presentations.

B2B 119
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4 Ways to Improve Your Content Marketing

Harvard Business

In the past decade, content marketing has become a widely established practice. Companies have hired writers and Chief Content Officers to run departments, create blogs and other materials, and, in the process, some have assured sales people that content marketing can mean the end of cold calling. HBR Staff/Chris Minerva/Getty Images.

Marketing 133
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How B2B Software Vendors Can Help Their Customers Benchmark

Harvard Business

Mainstream software companies are beginning to hold “ data mirrors ” up to their customers, allowing scoring and benchmarking of their customers’ strategies. One of its business units, Fieldglass, provides insights and benchmarks to customers on external workforce management.

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How Advanced Analytics Is Changing B2B Selling

Harvard Business

From targeted online advertising to more precise recommendation engines, consumer markets are bursting with innovation around machine learning and advanced analytics. A growing number of B2B companies are using data and analytics to add services that bring new elements of value to customers, and in some cases new sources of revenue.

B2B 72
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2020 Database Strategies and Contact Acquisition Survey Report

47% of marketers said they have a database management strategy in place, but there is room for significant improvement. Marketing and sales teams are feeling pressured to deliver authentic messaging to buyers at every point of their customer journey. New tactics to acquire data to reach marketing goals.

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What Sales Teams Should Do to Prepare for the Next Recession

Harvard Business

Our recent benchmarking of nearly 900 B2B companies underscores the importance of these tools. Digital tools can also open new go-to-market approaches. They rely on backward-looking sales data and broad-brush reports to calculate overall market size and gauge how many reps they need and where to assign them.

Sales 130
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A Look into Microsoft’s Data-Driven Approach to Improving Sales

Harvard Business

Microsoft, where we work, is no exception, and B2B sales is one of the areas where we are seeing the most value. We found that customer satisfaction is directly correlated with customer collaboration time (email and meetings) across all Microsoft roles and teams engaging with customers, including product engineering and marketing teams.

Sales 71