A Client For Life is a Dying Breed

I'm charged with boosting revenue for my company through the sales and marketing of our product - whether it's a service, solution or software. Here's the thing. It's not like a few years ago, where you can call up a few people, pitch them on the phone and sell within a few months. There was a lot less competition in the industry and more trust between client and provider. Competition is greater than it’s ever been and it’s a constant struggle to clearly differentiate and create a USP for my product as everyone is cloning each others ideas and re-packaging as their own. Our customers are inundated with selection, which means they have to be savvy when purchasing. They want to research, compare, trial and benchmark against what all their peers are using. They want a conversation, not a presentation. Across the board they have less money to spend but have more requirements, so it's key for me to not only come up with solutions that do more for less, but also to build a relationship - and maintain it, so that I’m constantly front of mind when an RFP does eventually come up. Nowadays, a ‘client for life’ is a rare breed in my industry. I'm also tasked with engaging potential new clients – which is tough because gone are the days of ‘in your face’ selling. The customer is now trained to shut down responsively to anything overtly ‘salesy’. Now, it's all about pull marketing, content strategies, thought leadership, word of mouth, placement and positioning – not just one or two of these things, but a combination of all. The customer funnel has doubled in cycle length and there’s more scrutiny over the quality of leads I generate than ever before, since we all know a high number of leads can only get you so far without the conversion. Where does that leave me? I need to invest my marketing and sales budget on channels I know will deliver the tangible results I can put on paper and the long-term relationship-building I know will convert into revenue later. I need to be able to meet 300 people in the industry so that I can generate potential leads for later, but be able to weed through the mass to find the 5 people who are in a buying position for right now. I need to have access to my existing clients to ensure they aren’t being wooed by my competitor, which means I need to go wherever my competitors are. I need a lot of things, but like my customers, budget is tight and I’m being charged to do all of the above. So really, what options out there are right for me? [inlinead]

A Client For Life is a Dying Breed

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