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Gianfagna Strategic Marketing / Blog  / CRM (Page 4)

New Sales Rep, Key Account: Top 10 Tips for B2B Success

Smart business-to-business (B2B) marketers work hard to create and keep great relationships with their clients. In my last post, I shared the story of how a new B2B sales rep nearly destroyed a 10-year client relationship with my marketing agency by making six crucial mistakes in the first meeting. But transitioning a legacy client to a new sales rep doesn’t have to be a sales minefield. When handled well, assigning a new rep to a key account can be an opportunity to increase the client’s satisfaction and boost sales. Here are 10 things...

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How NOT to Make a First Sales Call on a Long-Time Client

In business-to-business (B2B) marketing, the sales representative’s relationship with the customer drives sales and referrals. But when a trusted rep moves on and a new one is assigned to a long-time client, there’s potential for big trouble if the transition is handled poorly. Case in point: I recently met with a new sales rep from a company I’ve done business with for more than a decade. In less than 20 minutes, he managed to break six cardinal rules of effective customer relationship management and came very close to jeopardizing a long-term business...

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How Great Direct Mail Helps a Retailer Win Back Customers

Direct mail is often used to reactivate lapsed customers, but few direct marketers do it well. Instead of a powerful, personalized appeal that rekindles the relationship, they turn the customer off with a generic message, irrelevant content, and a “so what?” offer. But when a direct marketer gets it right, with a highly personalized, data-driven message, a compelling offer, and a warm invitation to re-engage, it’s a thing of marketing beauty. Here’s how a major women’s retailer – Chico’s – nailed it with their customer win-back direct mail campaign, and...

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The 7 Most Important Things to Do with a Sales Lead

Business-to-business (B2B) marketers often use such tactics as direct marketing, e-marketing, advertising, trade shows, and web marketing to generate sales leads. But a smart lead generation marketing strategy goes well beyond the creation of the marketing campaign. If your goal is to build a relationship with a business prospect, increase your sales conversion rate, and maximize the value of your sales resources, you need a careful plan for what happens after the lead comes in. Here are the seven steps you should take with a marketing-generated sales lead to achieve success....

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21 Tips for Power Networking: When the Product is You

If you break into a cold sweat at the thought of walking into a business networking event as a complete stranger, you’re not alone. Networking is essential to building and growing a business, especially for business-to-business (B2B) marketers who participate in professional associations and trade shows. But it takes skill and experience to feel confident in a networking situation, and it takes careful planning to capitalize on the value of networking for lead generation. Here’s what I’ve learned about personal marketing and successful networking at B2B events, and 21 tips you can use...

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7 Things Every Marketer Should Know About Their Best Customers

Are you hard at work on next year’s marketing strategy? If so, there’s a critical first step you should take for a more effective marketing plan: A thorough assessment of your best customers. If your company is like most, you have a core group of customers that drive a large percentage of your sales. Here are seven things you should know about your best customers in order to develop a smart marketing strategy. ...

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How Bad Direct Mail Can Sink a Customer Win-Back Strategy

Verizon says they want me back. But based on the direct mail package they just sent me, I don’t think they mean it. Reactivating lapsed customers is an important marketing strategy for every business. It’s easier to reengage a former customer than create a new one. If you’re using direct marketing to win former customers back, however, you’d better do it right. Here’s how a major marketer blew a customer win-back opportunity with poor direct mail, and five lessons for more effective win-back direct marketing. ...

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B2B Sales Communication: 5 Tips for 1-to-1 Success

Call it contact management, lead follow-up, or just good salesmanship: One-to-one communication from sales representatives to prospects is vital to a smart business-to-business marketing strategy. But how do you do it well? Here are five tips for creating a one-to-one sales communication plan that engages prospects in a dynamic sales dialogue with your company and converts leads to sales. ...

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How a Sloppy List Can Sabotage Your Email Marketing

Savvy direct marketers know that the list is the most important factor in the success of a direct marketing campaign. That’s why so much time and effort goes into keeping mailing list data current and complete. But too many direct marketers fail to pay this same kind of attention to the cleanliness of their email lists. Case in point: The Wall Street Journal. Here's how a major marketer's poor email list hygiene ruined their promotion, and five lessons you can apply to a smart marketing strategy....

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Turn Leads into Sales with a Smart Marketing Strategy

The phones are ringing, web traffic is up, and the sales manager is telling everyone you’re a marketing genius. Your business-to-business lead generation campaign is a success! But before you break out the bubbly, remember that getting prospects to express interest in a product or service can be the easy part of business-to-business marketing. Converting those leads to sales is often a lengthy and complex process. Here's how to build a smart marketing strategy that engages B-to-B prospects and gets them to say "yes." ...

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