When it comes to selling, the common perception is that one needs to get into a transaction; a space of ‘give and take’ for remuneration. While this concept can be easily formalised in a business that sells products but it comes to a service, one needs to examine other aspects of the spectrum as well.
Marketing is a skill in effecting a sale. The potency of a marketing strategy or campaign is as powerful as the volume of sales it generates. If the process does not generate a return on the investment (ROI), it is simply a facet of idle creativity of no value. It is like a beautiful painting which people will appreciate but not venture to buy, and even if they did, will pay a price that will be far below its potential value.
Fortunately, Agile enables a mindset that goes beyond the realms of creative thinking and innovation. It focuses on building capacities in earning revenue. Everything you do in an Agile environment, if done right, will generate an ROI.
So how does that work? Here are some quick tips for better prospects at marketing:
Tip #1
Make a Promise to your Customer: It’s all about people in Agile. And customers are just that. Good people! Keeping a client-centric approach in your marketing strategy is the first step towards a smart plan. Get to know what the customer wants, and if he isn’t sure of what he wants…great…. create a want that he will benefit from! Make him aware of his wants and show him access to realise it. Making a promise to your clients and clearly defining it in words signifies the intent with which you are approaching the sale.
Tip #2
Be Interested, Not Interesting: Your marketing pitch should not be about how good or competent you are, but should be more on how involved are you in benefiting the customer in getting what he needs. A smart team will always have an approach of ‘being interested’ in a customer than being ‘interesting to them’. It’s all about collaborating at the human level.
Tip #3
Listen with Intention: Essence of Agile is in the power of Listening. Listen to what the customer is asking for not from assumptions and prevailing perceptions but his world. Listen from his stance, do not allow your views colour what he is seeking. When engaging with a client, be intentional in the listening department!
Tip #4
Keep the Agenda out of the Context: Good teams rehearse a pitch before the client meeting, effective teams, create one right at that moment. Preconceived sales pitches and ideas are generated from a single dimension, which becomes the defacto agenda. The customer’s perception is not factored in and hence the sales are driven by the agenda. Keep the agenda out of the Context, let it be in content though. The context should be to give a great customer experience which he will want to engage in more and more. That should be the Genesis of the pitch, not the agenda to ‘make a sale’.
Tip #5
Do not look at the Score Board: Players in a game never look at the scoreboard. We all know what happens to a player who is more bothered looking at the score than his performance in the field. Keep playing the game unmindful of what the score is. Marketing is not about achieving sales figures and targets, it is about taking actions commensurate to the overall strategy of the business.
We at Leadership Tribe are purely customer-driven. We place ourselves last when it comes to offering our product and in the marketing pipeline. We know, our success is when our customers succeed, and that is our promise. We do not sell a service, instead, we are in the business of enabling technology. A technology to achieve high performance and excellence, which when effectively implemented, shall result in outcomes best suited to our customers. Join us in our Business Agility Program to understand the complete spectrum of Agile Marketing and Implementation and in the process make new connections and collaborations with like-minded individuals and organisations.
