Tips for Fine Tuning Your B2B Strategy – Issue #3

Support Your B2B Strategy With a Portfolio of Smart Tactics

Leaders avoid status quo thinking.  They continuously apply ideas for elevating a feature of their business to the next level.  This issue offers new ideas for you to consider in nine "smart tactic categories".

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By John Bernardi

Marketing Masters Outperform Others

Marketing Masters Are Change Masters

Their Masterpiece is Marketing Excellence

If your company subscribes to the basic keys to success that apply to any marketing competency and have achieved novice, apprentice and practitioner competencies, you may aspire to join the guild whose masterpiece is marketing excellence.

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By John Bernardi

Apprentice Level Marketing Competency

Has Your Company Reached the Marketing Apprentice Level?

If you subscribe to the basic keys to success that apply to any marketing competency level and your company has achieved marketing novice competency, you are ready to design a marketing strategy that will support your long-term goals through tactics and objectives that evolve during the next 3 to 5 year time horizon.

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By John Bernardi

The Benefits Of Routine

A sales and marketing lifestyle means that you have quality time for building relationships with mavens and connectors, for content marketing, for helping team mates, and for taking the right actions to grow your business.  Routine enables your day-to-day basics to be performed well and on time so that you can allow your antenna to always be listening and your peripheral vision to always be watching.

An Effective Routine Will Enable You To Wisely Progress Towards Your Goals

Daily routines prevent knee jerk reactions and wasted time.  I produce my best results when I follow my routine in a heads down fashion.  But, I periodically look up to stay on track, adjust to new opportunities or threats, improve a process, acquire better tools and navigate unexpected surprises.

Routines Create Confidence, A Key To Success

A routine that spans goals, action plans and workdays builds self-confidence.  You become well rounded if it contains the right amount of time for work, passion, learning, and enjoyment.  You will become more friendly and interesting, and people will respect you for being consistent and dedicated.

How Much OF Your Time Is Freed Up By Routines?

Customer Facing Roles Need Powerful Routines

• CEO routines develop innovative and customer-centric cultures for achieving financial, customer and employee goals.
• Marketing routines ensure lead generation and nurturing to sales-ready status while existing segments are penetrated and new ones are developed through a well managed mix of products and services.
• Sales routines ensure that qualified opportunities are closed, while key accounts are nurtured and territories are developed.
• Call center routines enable you to delight customers and channel partners.

Routines Must Be Constantly Upgraded

As your routine becomes muscle memory, tweaking it with new ideas will enable you to rise to the next level.

By John Bernardi

Who Are You - Overhead Or Asset?

If you receive a salary and benefits, occupy office space, have a manager or file an expense report, you contribute to your company's overhead.

Have you committed to consistently add value that exceeds your expenses?  I believe that there are two sustainable ways to do this; namely, to innovate and to provide an excellent customer experience.

An excellent customer experience earns repeat business and referrals.  Innovation not only affects products and services but can also impact business efficiencies.

Each employee can become a valued resource by asking questions and probing the answers to learn what is feasible to help the business to meet its goals. So, develop the skills and motivate yourself to contribute on a consistent basis.  This habit will propel your career to its next level.

If you don't rise above your job description, be wary of the potential consequences since you are replaceable by another person or by an automated process.

By John Bernardi