In business to business markets, I am often asked which is best to focus on, advertising or personal (relationship) selling.
Before I answer the question, let’s look at what functions each perform and then draw a conclusion.
Assuming your enterprise has a direct sales force, it performs many functions such as; relationships, promoting your company, finding customers, [...]

Like everything else in this world, there are often multiple choices that can be made. Selecting a sales channel is no different. I have listed below the more popular sales channels and a very high level advantage and disadvantage of each.
Channel                                                      Chief Advantage                        Chief Disadvantage
Direct Sales Force                                  Account Control                                   Can be expensive
     If you have complex products [...]

Recommendations for sales people on how to use LinkedIn to generate sales.

As a marketing consultant, it is critical that we be aware of changing trends, market disruptions and technological impacts so that we can integrate them into the potential messages, value propositions and benefits of our marketing campaigns. The 2010 MIT Sloan CIO Symposium that I attended is a good example of some of the changes [...]

A post suggesting that Internet disintermediation will cause the traditional field sales person to be replaced by telemarketers.

A post showing how the Internet has the potential to replace the telemarketing function.

 
The most common response I hear when I ask a sales person how he or she did for the quarter or the year; is something about their quota. i.e., “I made quota” or “I’m at 70% of quota, but with two big deals hanging fire.”  While quota should always be part of a performance evaluation, [...]

Suggestions for the CMO on using April data to forecast the year, using the information derived to make mid-course corrections, if needed.

Using the decision making process of mothers to illustrate the shift in power from seller to buyer. A shift that is also occurring in the B2B world.

A guest post by Bob McKee, highlighting the Pros and Cons of selling to the Government through the GSA.