Consumer, SME and Enterprise selling
As can be seen from Fig 1 below, the biggest difference between Consumer; SMB and Enterprise selling is the varying impacts of sales and marketing on the successful outcome of any sales process.
In a classis consumer sales scenario, the demand for the product or offering is built up through advertising, PR, point of sale material, promotional offers and other classic consumer advertising/brand building methods. Why? Because at the actual point of sale there is no control possible over the final route to buy the consumer may select, so in essence, all the selling is carried out through pre-programming of the consumer's perception of the Brand and the specific offering attached to that Brand. Hence the old adage that price paid is directly related to Brand Value created. This is why consumers pay more for Sony products than JVC, even though they are frequently the same product off the same production line, packaged differently.
All buying is related to Brand perception however, it is simply that as the complexity of the sale increases and in parallel the need for direct engagement with any given client by sales increases, the responsibility for the creation of the Brand perception shifts from Marketing to Sales.
The biggest problem facing most organisations is that the senior management do not fully understand this and hence, the appropriate philosophy and understanding is not driven through the organisation into the sales team.
In Enterprise selling, the outcome is virtually always dependant on the capability of the lead sales person to create a stronger Brand perception in the minds of all the key individuals in the customer than their competitors.
The higher the investment any given sales process demands, the more the responsibility for success or failure is on the lead individual in the sale. The lower the investment in any given sale, the bigger the role the corporate image and Brand can play.
This is why having the best individuals is critical path for organisations that sell into the Enterprise space.
Related downloads:
SUCCESSFUL EXECUTIVE SELLING
lies at the core of ICDL's thinking.
Differentiation from an ever growing band of global competitors can no longer be achieved through better positioning of product, service or solution, so your approach to selling has to change [+]
ICDL'S RecruitSMART PROGRAM
ensures successful recruitment of fully trained and capable Executive level sales people.
If Executive level selling is key to successfully differentiating your company and growing EBIT, yet sales people of this calibre are rare - how can I achieve success? [+]