What do you sell?

Every business owner, sales rep, and marketing professional needs to ask this question on a regular basis.

The answer to this question is typically different than the actual products, services, or solutions you sell. Essentially, you don’t sell a product, you sell results.

As you grow your dealership’s Managed IT Services business you need to look like a credible source of IT services. In our recent webinar (How To Position Your Dealership For Success In Managed IT Services) we talked about the importance of passing the IT grunt test. Simple put, if a cave man came to your website, they should get the sense that you provide IT service.

Why do sales people win? Until recently, the primary points of differentiation for companies have been based on two factors:

• We provide great products
• We back them up with great service

While that may be true, the challenge is that these provide little differentiation in a marketplace where the great product you sell can be sourced from dozens of vendors online. And while great service is rare, the reality is that there are many companies that provide great service.

In order to win sales, we need to differentiate ourselves. How do we do that? We have to bring value beyond the product and service. 

The Great Sales Push Back

The effectiveness of our inbound services has recently been questioned by one of our client’s sales team. They had concerns about the “high” price tag of our inbound marketing services and lack of direct ROI. And they had an excellent point, just not in the way you might think.  

I got an email today from a client with a great question. It came from a webinar about content marketing. This client wanted to see about how she could create a smooth flow of information between marketing and sales. I wasn’t sure what she meant at first, so I dig a little deeper and got to the bottom of it. It’s end of year and 90% of our client’s marketing teams have reached out for guidance on their 2017 marketing and sales budgets. This one question in particular struck me as outside the box… she was looking for a way to actually show her dealer owner that the sales team needed to be a greater part of her inbound marketing initiatives in order to generate more inbound leads. This is the actual reply. Note #3… in every inbound marketing workshop I hold with our copier dealer clients, I tell them that the sales team MUST BCC the marketing team on their email replies to customers and prospects who have asked a question. Why? Because it turns into a great blog post. So here you go - the answer to:

How can I create a smooth flow of information between marketing and sales at my office technology dealership?

You can’t just hand us the keys to your inbound marketing efforts for your copier dealership and expect success.

We need you.

Of course, we need to talk about goals, sales hand offs, high level strategy, and more; but I want to talk today about content. We need access to the industry expertise and customer knowledge you and your co-workers have between their ears – all that they know about the multifunction printers, network connectivity, document management services, and so on that you provide to your customers.

I’m good at writing – better than most, worse than some. I’m even better at cutting through the clutter to identify what SHOULD be written about. What I sometimes lack is the in-depth knowledge of your industry.I joke that I know enough about technology to be dangerous. And that’s true.

West Palm Beach, FL, October 13, 2015 – Today, Convergo announced that it has achieved Gold Partner status as a HubSpot Certified Agency Partner as of September 1, 2015.

LISTEN NOW.

When it comes to successful client relationships, it's all about meeting in the middle. You've got to give a little to get a little. This time on The Funnel - A Sales and Marketing Podcast, John and Lindsay discuss the perfect recipe for successful, healthy client relationships. Not unlike a marraiage, this recipe contains communication, respect and trust - none of this master-servant stuff. Each party is an expert in their field and brings something valuable to the table.The success of a client relationship depends on a two-way street.

We’ve had a few recent experiences – both personally and vicariously through conversations with colleagues around the industry – that have been . . . let’s just go with frustrating because this is a family publication.

The following is mostly a stream of consciousness, a cri de coeur, about some elements that lead to successful partnerships.

This is so obvious that it’s almost painful to write, but: we succeed when you succeed.