Marketing and sales are essential aspects of any business; marketing manages the customer experience, while sales focuses on the customer relationship. In today's quickly changing world, marketing and sales have had to adapt to virtual selling, social media communication, digital marketing, and more. Nevertheless, some things have remained the same, including the need for consistent branding, the focus on the customer, and the collaboration between marketing and sales. This text looks at these issues in depth. Written for marketing and sales professionals and students, Seamless offers expert opinion, academic theory, real-world experience, and practical advice with explanatory graphics and "Dos and Don'ts" lists to educate and guide readers through the marketing, sales, and account management process to business success. Chapter 1 begins with a discussion of target markets, their nature, and their business potential. Traditional primary market research still plays an essential role, as does the internet, in obtaining data for actionable market intelligence. Assessing needs of market segments and understanding their strategic fit with a company's business plan can help a company select their target market no matter the size of the organization. The salesman's curse is also discussed-that is, the need for precision prospecting in order to find the potential customers worth spending time on. How to make use of segmentation to capture an organization's market is explored, along with how to focus the marketing and sales process effectively. If companies underestimate early marketing and sales work, they will eventually hit several obstacles, including hours of wasted effort and the need to revise their marketing and sales strategy.

Marketing and sales are essential aspects of any business; marketing manages the customer experience, while sales focuses on the customer relationship. In today's quickly changing world, marketing and sales have had to adapt to virtual selling, social media communication, digital marketing, and more. Nevertheless, some things have remained the same, including the need for consistent branding, the focus on the customer, and the collaboration between marketing and sales. This text looks at these issues in depth. Written for marketing and sales professionals and students, Seamless offers expert opinion, academic theory, real-world experience, and practical advice with explanatory graphics and "Dos and Don'ts" lists to educate and guide readers through the marketing, sales, and account management process to business success. Chapter 2 focuses on the need for an organization to establish their brand and a competitive position before they attack target businesses in their market segment. Marketing and sales efforts must be preceded by fixing the company's brand image in the prospective customer's mind. Establishing the brand and positioning is the next step in developing the marketing and sales process. Once that is done, companies can begin a highly focused and effective marketing and sales approach. Upstream marketing is explored, and while it takes time, effort, and expertise, it has many benefits. Several practical suggestions on branding, positioning, and communication in general are offered.

Marketing and sales are essential aspects of any business; marketing manages the customer experience, while sales focuses on the customer relationship. In today's quickly changing world, marketing and sales have had to adapt to virtual selling, social media communication, digital marketing, and more. Nevertheless, some things have remained the same, including the need for consistent branding, the focus on the customer, and the collaboration between marketing and sales. This text looks at these issues in depth. Written for marketing and sales professionals and students, Seamless offers expert opinion, academic theory, real-world experience, and practical advice with explanatory graphics and "Dos and Don'ts" lists to educate and guide readers through the marketing, sales, and account management process to business success. Chapter 3 shifts the focus from the marketing team to the sales team. Once specific market segments and target businesses within those segments are identified, sales teams can work with marketing teams to investigate and understand potential customers' business dynamics, how they buy, and whom the company is competing with to get the business. By exploring the market further, identifying specific target prospects, and taking the time to understand competitors, organizations will create and establish a healthy and realistic sales pipeline and reduce the length of their sales cycle. Straightforward tips on prospect analysis and qualification, competitive analysis, and competitive strategy are all provided.

Marketing and sales are essential aspects of any business; marketing manages the customer experience, while sales focuses on the customer relationship. In today's quickly changing world, marketing and sales have had to adapt to virtual selling, social media communication, digital marketing, and more. Nevertheless, some things have remained the same, including the need for consistent branding, the focus on the customer, and the collaboration between marketing and sales. This text looks at these issues in depth. Written for marketing and sales professionals and students, Seamless offers expert opinion, academic theory, real-world experience, and practical advice with explanatory graphics and "Dos and Don'ts" lists to educate and guide readers through the marketing, sales, and account management process to business success. Chapter 4 discusses how to inform, influence, motivate, and sell, which are core to marketing and sales. It examines how to move the prospect identified and analyzed in the previous chapter's work, from awareness, through positive opinion, to consideration, leading on to trial or evaluation and to the point of purchase. When these actions are executed effectively, they will lead to successful sales.

Marketing and sales are essential aspects of any business; marketing manages the customer experience, while sales focuses on the customer relationship. In today's quickly changing world, marketing and sales have had to adapt to virtual selling, social media communication, digital marketing, and more. Nevertheless, some things have remained the same, including the need for consistent branding, the focus on the customer, and the collaboration between marketing and sales. This text looks at these issues in depth. Written for marketing and sales professionals and students, Seamless offers expert opinion, academic theory, real-world experience, and practical advice with explanatory graphics and "Dos and Don'ts" lists to educate and guide readers through the marketing, sales, and account management process to business success. Chapter 5 considers how and when to put together the sales proposal or tender and what it might contain. The salesperson must make the case to be the right supplier, in the most professional possible. Many salespeople, under constant pressure to reach quotas, undervalue this communication to the prospective buyer. This chapter examines the importance of value-based selling (VBS), getting the timing right in this part of the sales process, and how to present the proposal to the target audience. Experienced businesspeople will discuss the lessons they learned in the field, and the chapter offers some insights on how to approach this vital part of the sales process.

Marketing and sales are essential aspects of any business; marketing manages the customer experience, while sales focuses on the customer relationship. In today's quickly changing world, marketing and sales have had to adapt to virtual selling, social media communication, digital marketing, and more. Nevertheless, some things have remained the same, including the need for consistent branding, the focus on the customer, and the collaboration between marketing and sales. This text looks at these issues in depth. Written for marketing and sales professionals and students, Seamless offers expert opinion, academic theory, real-world experience, and practical advice with explanatory graphics and "Dos and Don'ts" lists to educate and guide readers through the marketing, sales, and account management process to business success. Chapter 6 examines how to turn the prospect's awareness into a positive opinion, with sufficient confidence in you, your company, and your solution to give you the order. This is the stage at which many potential complex B2B sales are lost. Managing the customer's detailed assessment of what you are selling is an essential skill that will serve you well and lead to more closed deals. Every potential sale will differ at this stage; so an adaptable, personalized, and tightly managed process is needed. Professional and experienced managers of the sales process will comment on their relevant lessons learned in the field and the chapter draws some conclusions on the most effective approach.

Marketing and sales are essential aspects of any business; marketing manages the customer experience, while sales focuses on the customer relationship. In today's quickly changing world, marketing and sales have had to adapt to virtual selling, social media communication, digital marketing, and more. Nevertheless, some things have remained the same, including the need for consistent branding, the focus on the customer, and the collaboration between marketing and sales. This text looks at these issues in depth. Written for marketing and sales professionals and students, Seamless offers expert opinion, academic theory, real-world experience, and practical advice with explanatory graphics and "Dos and Don'ts" lists to educate and guide readers through the marketing, sales, and account management process to business success. Chapter 7 examines the art of helping your new customer to hit the road running. It's easy to close the sale and lose attention to helping the customer realize all of the business benefits that you sold to them. Whatever your product or service offering, a smooth transition into the customer's existing systems by properly managing the installation process is essential to avoid buyer remorse, customer support problems, and any early damage to a new relationship for which you have long-term ambitions. We'll also examine the importance of successful implementation by the user.

Marketing and sales are essential aspects of any business; marketing manages the customer experience, while sales focuses on the customer relationship. In today's quickly changing world, marketing and sales have had to adapt to virtual selling, social media communication, digital marketing, and more. Nevertheless, some things have remained the same, including the need for consistent branding, the focus on the customer, and the collaboration between marketing and sales. This text looks at these issues in depth. Written for marketing and sales professionals and students, Seamless offers expert opinion, academic theory, real-world experience, and practical advice with explanatory graphics and "Dos and Don'ts" lists to educate and guide readers through the marketing, sales, and account management process to business success. Chapter 8 introduces the roles of the SAM-strategic account manager or KAM-key account manager, who will produce highly profitable repeat sales. It looks at becoming embedded as a strategic partner, assessing and realizing future sales opportunities, gaining enthusiastic endorsements and referrals, and fending off the competition by providing a great customer experience (CE). The benefits of these actions apply to organizations large and small. A major practitioner will discuss how they have had success in this area, and the chapter offers suggestions on how best to make it work.