Building Effective Marketing And Sales Strategies

I just read an outstanding article, How To Create An Effective Account-Based Sales Strategy In 5 Steps.

It’s quite an excellent article, netting out the 5 Steps:

1. Define your ideal company profile.
2. Define your ideal buyer personas.
3. Build a sales process to match each buyer journey.
4. Provide content to match each stage for key personas.
5. Measure, learn, improve.

I finished this, applauding.  I might have added some items around focusing on what the customer values and value creation, but I’m certain that is implied in the steps outlined in this article.

But then I thought, aren’t these the steps of any effective marketing and sales strategy?  Aren’t we supposed to focus on our ideal customer profiles (enterprise, personas)?  Aren’t we supposed to have selling processes that are aligned to our customers’ buying processes (journey)?  Aren’t we supposed to have content that’s relevant to the customer–to each key persona and where they are in their buying journeys?  Aren’t we supposed to constantly measure, learn, improve?

The tips provided in the article are sound tips for everything we do in sales and marketing–whether we are selling to a brand new customer or one we’ve known for some time.  These lessons are relevant across all customer types–individuals, departments, groups, enterprises of all sizes.

Yes, there are some differences in account based marketing and sales programs–but more from context and past relationship.  The fundamentals of effective sales and marketing are the same for first time buyers, repeat customers, and accounts of all sizes.  The fundamentals of identifying and creating value for our customers, whether they are individuals, departments, small businesses or enterprises, are the same.

It’s ironic as we “discover” account based sales and marketing programs, that the things we think of as different, are really the same.  It causes one to pause to consider, “What if we did these things with every prospect, every customer, every organization we deal with?  Would the results of all our sales and marketing programs be different?”

I know you already know the answer to that question.  We know these principles are fundamental to any success.  The tough part is our continued focus and commitment to execute on these fundamentals.  But that’s what separates top performers from everyone else.  They already know this.