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For many, it’s budgeting season as companies work through their strategic plans for the coming year. This means something different in every B2B industrial company we surveyed:

How are your peers in the industry reacting to the market conditions this year? We recently conducted a survey on sales and marketing mid-year results and their approach to budgeting and planning for the coming year.

The pandemic forced most organizations to adapt and add additional sales, marketing, and service tactics to meet the needs of a remote world. Coming out of the pandemic, we are operating in a hybrid environment where employees and customers expect “all of the above”—all the digital, remote, and in-person options available in highly personalized combinations. The customer drives these combinations, and it is important to remember that omnichannel is customer-centric, not business-centric.

In a world of ever-shorter attention spans and the scarcity of labor, gamification can offer a way to attract, engage, and motivate your team. Gamification uses game elements in a non-gaming context, a concept that has been helping companies to improve employee engagement and outcomes.

Mergers and acquisitions present challenges to even the most seasoned leadership teams. Executing a strong and organized communications plan—one that delivers the right messages to the right constituents at the right time—can help a merger or acquisition go smoothly and establish unity and profitability. Yet, despite the best-laid plans, change management is always hard and you’re sure to encounter challenges along the way.

Utilizing all of the resources in your existing toolset is imperative for your company’s day-to-day success and growth. In the Lunch and Learn, Maximizing Your Toolset Series, Launch Team’s Account Manager Alex Ormond talks about how you can align your team and processes in a remote work environment. Alex walks through the best ways to get the most out of your existing toolset while arming you with actionable next steps to apply these best practices. 

Can your company relate to one or many of these scenarios? If so, read on!

• We have a tool, but no one uses it.
• We have tools that seem to be working, but no measurement of ROI.
• We have 5 tools, but I think we could consolidate.
• We want to do more, but we haven’t committed to spending the money on a tool to help.

In our planning and strategy sessions we always center the conversation around data-driven decision making. So, we decided to dig up 20 sales stats to help you build your sales plan in 2020. Want to talk to an expert about hitting your sales goals in the new year? Contact us for a free consultation.

The New Sales Process & The End of the Test Drive

Sales, at its worst, is exemplified by the stereotypical used car sales process. The high pressure, lack of pricing transparency, the awkward test drive, peering under the hood pretending you know what you’re looking for, and the hand-offs from department to department... it’s a game no one seems to enjoy.

Developing a marketing plan that sustains steady, consistent growth is imperative for your organization's success. Building a strategy that yields double digit revenue growth every year requires putting the customer first, and building around their specific needs. In the webinar Marketing and Sales Models for Sustainable Growth, Launch Team’s President Michele Nichols talks about how a company can achieve this goal by focusing on the customer first, with a data driven, educational mindset at the core of their marketing efforts. Michele also touches upon how customer behavior is changing and how companies should be adapting to support them.

Imagine a salesperson—what comes to mind? We all likely picture the cliché car salesman who is pushy, "all-knowing", always closing, and solely commission driven. We may even suspect that this is appropriate behavior for a salesperson. Now consider the last time you purchased a car. How much research did you do before interacting with sales? What did you want from that salesperson? Did you care most about the expertise to answer your questions or the willingness to move at your pace?

Although expertise is necessary for a salesperson's success, the strongest next gen salespeople understand where the customer is in the buyer's journey and how to help them continue on that journey. Customers have changed and it is important that your organization keeps up with new buyer needs—whether that means engaging the help of a sales consultant, integrating new sales technologies, or revamping the sales process all together. 

Client relationships are an incredibly valuable resource for businesses of any size, and the holidays are a perfect time to reach out with warm wishes to all of your contacts. But wrangling a huge mailing list can get overwhelming during a hectic yearend. So what’s the best way to check off your holiday “nice” list? Channel your inner St. Nick and get it all done in a wink using a full-featured CRM like Salesforce!