Think of deal management as a tool that helps you get the right information to reach the desired outcome
What is deal management?
Deal management is a strategy that is used by companies to define deal parameters. These include customer history, product status, discount supplied and other operational constraints in the sales review process. It is used as a tool to maximize company margins, profits and revenues. Deal management software uses visual indicators to help increase the chance of up-selling and cross-selling.
As Alexander Graham Bell said, "Preparation is the key to success." Think of deal management as a tool that helps you get the right information to reach the desired outcome. It prepares sales reps to improve their sales pitch and performance, which ultimately leads to increased revenue.
[si_guide_block id="87369" title="Download our Premium Resource – AI and Machine Learning for marketing" description="The purpose of this guide is to cut through…
"Diamonds are forever but converted customers are even better" (unknown digital marketing guru). We couldn’t agree more, and marketing automation is the perfect tool for optimizing your conversion funnel. We invite you to read on to learn how to streamline your funnel with an automation tune-up.
As diamonds make their way from mine to shop, an assortment of professionals carefully tends to them, transforming "rocks" into luxurious jewels. Much in the same way, businesses strive to convert leads into valuable assets, i.e. customers, by nurturing them along their journey from awareness to conversion. Marketers call this a "conversion funnel", and marketing automation, such as that offered by leading email marketing platforms, is all about making the best funnels possible.
Yet, the automation of your conversion funnel has another far-reaching benefit. The process of building and configuring automated activities for your funnel forces you to frame your efforts in a strategic perspective, considering…
Here are some of the most effective strategies for social media lead generation for B2B businesses...
When most think of social media lead generation for B2B businesses, they think LinkedIn. However, as great as LinkedIn is at B2B lead generation, it’s not the only social platform that can get you great results.
In this blog post, we’re going to be covering tips for how to improve social media lead generation for B2B business.
Why use social media for lead generation?
Lead generation is an essential part of a healthy, thriving B2B business. And social media presents an amazing opportunity to find leads; with around 2.62 billion social media users worldwide in 2018 and that number expected to grow up to 3.02 billion in 3 years, it’s the biggest directory of potential leads that exists.
But it’s not just the sheer number of users that makes social media an attractive lead generation solution. Social media…
Marketing automation industry is currently valued at $1.65 billion, and the majority credit for this jump in value goes to the introduction of AI in marketing automation; more-so the AI-enabled chatbots that are taking marketing automation industry by storm
Here we will go over three significant reasons for why every brand should consider a chatbot while framing their marketing automation strategy.
The first breakthrough was the introduction of social media within marketing automation strategy. Marketers started using various tools and software to make the maximum out of their social media activities. Things took a more substantial leap when artificial intelligence made way into marketing automation strategy. The simple concept of making repetitive marketing tasks easy got a new lease of life with predictive analysis and personalized marketing. With AI, marketing automation became more human.
Fast-forward to present time; AI…
See the latest email marketing and automation statistics to help benchmark your current performance and plan improvements
We've recently updated our State of email marketing report, Email Marketing and Marketing Automation Excellence report 2018, in partnership with GetResponse. This year's report shares some interesting findings from an analysis based on over 500 respondents working in a senior position across B2C, B2B or both.
Use our findings to help benchmark your current performance and map digital improvements. Throughout the report, we highlight the features businesses should try and start implementing straight away, whilst exploring how current marketing automation is used in the industry. The report covers a range email marketing and automation results, challenges and use of features, including:
Investment in Email Marketing
Evaluation and tracking
Targeting
Communication strategy
Testing and optimization
Open and CTRs based on industry
Lead generation
Read our summary below, or download the full report today, for free.
[si_guide_block id="59002"…
We take a look at the power of personalization in retail. How it helps you deliver unique customer experiences and a boost to retail sales
Great customer experience is about putting the customer at the centre of everything you do. It’s about giving them what they want quickly and making them feel special in the process.
But when you’re faced with thousands of customers, it can be hard to put your best intentions into practice. Personalisation changes this.
Does personalization in retail matter?
Personalization tends to be seen as a buzzword. People tell you it’s important without sharing the facts. But there’s hard proof that personalization counts when it comes to sales.
Remember the ‘Share a Coke’ campaign with people’s names plastered across the packaging? This personal approach was credited with growing Coke’s sales for the first time in 10 years.
The research shows Coke’s experience isn’t an isolated one. 75% of consumers are…
Marketing is the lifeblood of business. After all, your product or service won’t promote itself!
There are many ways to market your products to your target market. Brands will use anything from storytelling to price in order to attract new customers. One of the most effective strategies is forging deep connections with your potential customers. This results in more engaged and longer lasting customer base.
[si_guide_block id="58833" title="Download FREE Resource – State of B2B marketing automation" description="CommuniGator and Smart Insights present the latest research in adoption of marketing automation within the B2B sector."/]
The downside is creating and maintaining these deep customer relationships become much more difficult as your business scales. Marketing to each customer on a 1:1 basis used to require building large teams who conduct labour-intensive duties.
That was until the invention of marketing automation.
What is marketing automation?
Marketing automation refers to the tactics and software used to automate marketing tasks.…
Benchmark your B2B lead gen activities against new research, which shows lead quality is the most prominent challenge for businesses
The State of B2B Lead Generation, a new report by Digital Doughnut, shines a light on the pain points of lead generation campaigns, helping to benchmark your activities in order to succeed.
Before taking a look at the performance of content types, it's vital to understand the maturity of your B2B lead gen campaigns.
1,042 marketers were asked to rate the maturity of different lead generation activities. 54% were confident in their capabilities stating that their content production and development was either "very advanced" or "quite advanced"."Very basic" activities include data verification and validation, measuring ROI and transferring data between CRMs.
The data shows that businesses still struggle with advanced lead gen activities. Not utilizing the opportunities available to you leads to…
How to generate better sales leads that lead to conversion
Many B2B sales organizations get bogged down with too many bad sales leads. Salespeople are often crying out for “more sales leads” but “more” is not always better! Instead of just indiscriminately dumping more and more leads into the top of your sales funnel, you need to think more carefully about what a “good” sales lead really looks like for your company. Too many “bad” sales leads are sometimes worse than having no sales leads at all – because they cause your sales team to waste time chasing after buyers who aren’t truly the right fit or who aren’t anywhere close to being ready to buy.
Here are a few common root causes of the "bad leads" problem, and how to address it:
1. Your website is too vague
Most B2B sales companies…
Chart of the Day: Email marketing techniques used
Automation platforms are a big commitment
Why do I say commitment? It's not just a product, it's a game changer, like a car or house. Would you buy a 5 bedroom house when you have no idea what you would use those rooms for? When you view the house, you start planning on what each room would look like. The same reasoning extends to marketing automation. You should have an idea of how you are going to use all the functionality.
While I'm on a roll with my housing metaphors, you wouldn't buy a 2 story house if you couldn't climb the stairs. Again, why invest in a marketing automation platform when you don't have a CRM or can't connect with Application Programming Interface (API).
What techniques are used with Automation platforms?
In the chart, we can see…
