Revenue: It Keeps you Awake at Night, Doesn’t It?

It is 3:06 a.m. again. You awaken to check your e-mail hoping to receive good news about a deal. This deal is different because your sponsor is someone with whom you have done business in the past. This time, however, your sponsor is not returning your calls. Your business depends on this deal to close, because without it, the company will not hit its goals. You ask yourself why your deals are so important. You ask yourself why do so many deals get pushed to next quarter. You feel so ineffective.

According to CEB, 57% of buying decisions are made prior to a customer’s first contact with a supplier. The old method of selling based upon relationships is gone. Customers can obtain a tremendous amount of information about a product or industry without the help of a sales representative. By the time the customer speaks with a supplier, they have most of the information they need to make an informed decision. You feel ineffective because the power is in the hands of the customer.

The business needs to get in front of the customer earlier in their buying process. First, find out where your buyers go to discuss complex topics and get the business integrated into those conversations. Those buyers should be enticed to your website whereby they are nurtured with the right message at each stage of their research process. Website stickiness is important. Once those prospects exhibit buying signs, they should be introduced to an inside sales person to further qualify and close. We call this process a Revenue Chain.

Other components of a properly implemented revenue chain include value messaging, value propositions, digital assets and social media. Value messaging is a process by which sales people are better able to articulate the value proposition of the product at each stage of the customer buying process. Value propositions are how your organization is explicitly driving benefit to your customers. Digital assets are the creation of content specific to each stage of the buyer journey and at each touch point in the waterfall metrics. Social media presence is one of the more powerful tools for any marketer. It involves using social media in a way that highlights the brand and the core competencies of the organization.

Don’t let revenue keep you awake at night. Get your business to implement a world class revenue chain!

For more information about Heritage Ventures and how we share in your risk, please contact either Cameron Ackbury Cameron@HeritageVentures.com or Chris Wheeler ChrisWheeler@HeritageVentures.com.