There's Brass In Muck

Met a chap called Steve with the grand-sounding title of Head Of Strategy.  We got to talking about all the ‘menial’ jobs that marketing should do for sales, but don’t, simply because they think that they’re beneath them.

In reality, they are not menial, but they do suffer when something more ‘sexy’ comes along.  The kinds of things this particular discussion included were providing relevant, succinct and timely competitor intelligence that was more than offering a mere ‘folder’ crammed full of anything they’d managed to get their hands on.

Steve was delighted he could find a service that ensured such a job would actually get done and started to talk about how he thought people that made a lot of money often did so because they took on the tasks perceived as ‘menial’ by everyone else.  And look who’s sneering now….

There’s a great analogy here with B2B solution selling in general. How often is it that you can tip the balance of a bid in your favour by taking away a lot of the hassle of delivery or implementation from the buyer, in a way no other vendor considers?  In my experience, sellers don’t talk enough about the sheer detail of what happens once the order’s signed, and promising to do the dirty work is a great way to go.