Sales and Marketing Alignment
Get your revenue-generating teams working together
Customers don’t buy drill bits;
they buy holes.
Ironically, these simple concepts are one of the primary reasons firms never reach their growth potential. Instead, they either waste an inordinate amount of time and money in business development or they hang out an industry “shingle” and call it a day.
“What do you mean you don’t want a titanium drill bit?!
“The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well that the product or service fits him and sells itself.
Peter Drucker
My Point of View
Human beings are full of fears and complex motivational drivers.
While a firm’s solution may deliver value, most firms don’t have their arms around what value the client actually sees in a solution or why she buys it. We all define value and values differently. If we are not mindful, we get caught in the trap of thinking that everyone sees the world as we do.
Taking the time to identify what is beneath those apparent needs creates growth opportunities, differentiates firms, increases marketing ROI, and improves sales effectiveness.
Top performing firms understand whom they are serving, including their clients’ priorities.
The rest just dabble.
Prudent Pedal’s Value
I shake up the status quo and challenge long-held assumptions about what clients value and buy. Using our proprietary Issues to Solution Matrix™, I break apart solutions and rebuild them with client teams, so clients see value and differentiation. I make solutions stronger, so marketing and selling are more effective and reaching their full growth potential.
Now I understand why our market segments, our solutions, and why our earlier approach attacking our markets was losing us money! (response to Issues to Solution Matrix™ final results presentation)
Looking for increased marketing effectiveness, more leads, and sustainable revenue growth?
The Issue-to-Solution Matrix™ helps firms understand what makes their clients tick, how a solution meets clients’ needs, and what benefits drive differentiate value.
Our Thinking on Sales and Marketing
How to Eliminate the Pain of CRM in Your Firm
Recently, I was in a meeting of senior accounting marketers. As we were discussing challenges, ALL were bemoaning the use of—or the lack of the use of—their firm’s CRM system. I heard complaints like: “It’s like pulling teeth to get our partners to use it. “ “It’s too...
Are you squandering your business development investment?: A Muzeview podcast interview with Chris Aitken and Jeff McKay
Firms focused solely on lead generation risk squandering their marketing investment and sub-optimizing their business development efforts. Paul Gladen, President & CEO of Muzeview, leads a thoughtful discussion with Chris Aitken of Muzeview and Jeff McKay of...
Understanding the Buying Cycle: It’s not WHY Clients Buy, but HOW?
Professional services firms spend tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of dollars trying to understand WHY clients choose to work with the firms that they do. Let me give you a gift and save you the money. Every market research study I have seen (and I...