The obsession of every sales manager (and vendors too) is to generate leads. Call center services are sub-contracted for this purpose, when large structures are not assembled in house to make the so-called “cold calls” (calls over a cold mailing to try to find opportunities for sales). But the lead raised the immediate question that arises is: is it hot, we will attack now?
To answer these questions we must work to prospect for each of these opportunities, through phone calls and visits from sales, before deciding whether it really put resources and efforts to try to turn the opportunity into a successful sale. We call this qualification opportunities. Vendors usually hate the qualification and prefer to jump headlong into the sales process, without considering the consequences. This is often costly for the company …
In fact, companies that work with long-cycle sales, consultative sales type (more common in B2B), sometimes mixed with the process of marketing the sales process.
Marketing has two primary functions:
1. Mapping the market, or help the company understands (and select target) markets you want to act.
2. Communicate their messages to those markets.
The Marketing Communication, or MARCOM, aims to reset the biggest gaps between our perception of value proposition and what the market picks up. That is, MARCOM shall not normally communicate products, or brands, but the values associated with them (Positioning).
With regard to understand the market, the mapping work is fundamental and precedes any effort to generate leads. Leads are “potential sales opportunities, not yet qualified.” Obviously, you need to generate leads for companies interested in our value proposition and it is necessary to know them better (and this is the goal of mapping).
If prior to the qualification has been done a Mapping Market, we know more precisely where the best opportunities, which pains & needs of potential customers, which competitors’ positioning and how the value of our brand is perceived by the customer. All this information makes the job easier qualification and aim more palatable by the sellers.
Mapping markets is a function of marketing more important as preparing the ground for sales. The typical functions of sales, such as lead generation, lead qualification, technical sales, financial sales and contract negotiation, become more effective in the mapping function. Good integration between these processes depends (in part) the success of a company’s business.
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Posted in Market, Marketing, Sales Strategy | 
Tags: business, Company's, Financial sales, market, marketing, opportunities, sales