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Becoming the Buyer Expert in Your Company
Blog / For Sales Pros / Jul 12, 2018 / Posted by David Meerman Scott / 4000

Becoming the Buyer Expert in Your Company

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In my days as vice president of marketing at several technology companies, I distinctly remember how difficult it was for my team of marketing professionals to command the respect of the salespeople in the company. No matter how much product knowledge we had, that wasn’t enough. We were finally successful in doing so, but only by becoming the company experts on our buyers.

The salespeople didn’t care about the brochures we produced or the websites we built. They rarely commented on the email newsletter or the trade shows we spoke at. But by effectively understanding and defining our buyer personas, we shortened the sales cycle for the reps who followed our strategies. Only then did the salespeople offer respect and kudos.

But most sales teams and marketing teams continue to operate out of alignment. The marketers and salespeople question the others’ skills and their commitment to the job. They fight over the quality of the leads. I remember hearing of a sales team that snidely referred to the marketing department as the “T-shirt department” because they said all the marketers had accomplished was the production of T-shirts imprinted with the company logo. Others call the marketing department the “branding police.”

Marketers, in turn, complain about how the materials they produce fail to be used by the salespeople. They bitch and moan because the sales leads they generate are left untouched, claiming that sales staffers are too lazy to pick up the telephone.

Think about your own organization’s last launch event. Were the salespeople hanging on every word as the marketers described the features of the latest product, service, or product marketing plans? If you’re like most people I speak with (if they are honest), the salespeople were bored, probably poking at their smartphones instead of paying attention.

But, if you delivered a talk to the salespeople about each of your important buyer personas, that would get their attention!

Buyer Personas: The foundation of sales and marketing strategy

Here are some recent blog posts I’ve written to get you going with the idea of buyer personas:

About Author

David Meerman Scott He’s a sales and marketing strategist who has spoken on all seven continents and in 40 countries to most respected firms, organizations and associations.David is author of ten books - three are international bestsellers – and is best known for “The New Rules of Marketing & PR”.

Author's Publications on Amazon

In failing to provide visitors with great information content, most of today's Web sites are missing a golden opportunity to create loyal customers-and leaving a fortune in new and repeat business on the table. According to Web marketing expert David Meerman Scott, too many marketers…
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The most powerful marketing force in the world isn't social media, email blasts, search ads, or even those 15 second commercials before a YouTube video. It's fandom. David Meerman Scott and his daughter Reiko are very different - one is a baby boomer business strategist,…
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In July 1969, ninety-four percent of American televisions were tuned to coverage of Apollo 11's mission to the moon. How did space exploration, once the purview of rocket scientists, reach a larger audience than My Three Sons? Why did a government program whose standard operating…
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Launch effective real-time communications to win in today's always-on world Gone are the days when you could plan out your marketing and public relations programs well in advance and release them on your timetable. "Real-time" means news breaks over minutes, not days. It means companies…
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The international bestseller—now in a new edition When it comes to marketing, anything goes in the Digital Age, right? Well, not quite. While marketing and public relations tactics do seem to change overnight, every smart businessperson knows that it takes a lot more than the…
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The essential roadmap for the new realities of selling when buyers are in charge Sales and service are being radically redefined by the biggest communications revolution in human history. Today buyers are in charge! There is no more 'selling'—there is only buying. When potential customers…
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