Most B2B companies want their sales people calling higher in the organization because direct access to executives can wire deals in their favor and shorten sales cycles.  But why do many companies find it so difficult to get executive access?  It has a lot more to do with your value propositions than you think, and the remedy starts with Product Marketing.

Tactical Value Propositions Out, Leads from Users In

Product level messages are the root of the problem.  They’re tactical, fragmented across many products and typically speak to users.  Not that speaking to users is a bad thing, but tactical product messages never connect the dots to strategic initiatives executives care about.  They simply ignore executive needs or attempt to entice executives with weak claims tied to revenue and profitability.

Consequently, demand generation activities drive leads from users who are unsuccessful trying to sell tactical value to executives.   Typical product marketing teams train sales people to have product conversations with users about tactical needs.  It can lead to volumes of unqualified sales calls for unbudgeted projects, ill-advised product demos, wasted travel expenses and pipeline reports that are way off the mark.

Speak the Language of Decision Makers

If you want qualified inbound inquiries from executives your marketing campaigns have to offer content that’s valuable to executives.  Fluffy messages about growth and profitability aren’t enough.  Your marketing has to demonstrate thought leadership - an understanding of macro market dynamics and the biggest hurdles to growth and profitability in industries you’re targeting.  Relevance is paramount, especially if your products are a commodity.

Three Ways Product Marketing Can Improve Its Contribution

By definition, product marketing is structured along product lines so it’s no surprise marketing messages are product centric. The product alignment is also a problem because it sets an expectation with sales that product marketing managers possess the same level of product knowledge as product management.  Rarely is that the case.  So when sales people need product expertise they bypass product marketing and go directly to product management.  It can reduce product marketing to a team of tacticians that create presentations and brochures.  Are we having fun yet?  Some tips for improving the value of product marketing…

1. Develop Industry Expertise Within Product Marketing
   The organization can benefit tremendously by infusing industry expertise into product marketing because it’s the perfect complement to strong product knowledge in product management.  The combination of industry and product knowledge take the organization’s credibility and relevance factor to new heights because value propositions can communicated in the language of your target buyers and make a strong connection between strategic industry issues and the ways in which your products support those initiatives via tactical execution.  
2. Create Industry Positioning & Teach Sales How to Talk the Talk 
   Industry focus is the foundation for creating highly relevant positioning that communicates your organization’s strategic value and uses product capabilities across the portfolio as proof points.  The resulting messages connect strategic initiatives executives care about to the execution tactics users care about.  It covers all your bases and it’s a much easier story for sales people to internalize and articulate to both executives and users.  The end game is to give your sales people the credibility and confidence to have business conversations with executives that focus on strategic initiatives your organization can support.  Once executive motivations are understood it’s easy to use products and tactical value propositions to connect user needs to executive goals.
3. Promote Thought Leadership Instead of Products 
   Focus your marketing efforts on promoting your industry expertise and business savvy.  Buyers love it because it helps educate them or validates their thinking. Content that reflects paradigm shifts, new business practices, industry/technology trends and their influence on business practices and the like create a perception that your organization is a cut above those who do nothing more than hawk products and services in their own self interests. Consider how to make your buyers feel better or smarter and they’re more likely to buy from you.

The end game is to market in a manner that speaks to the issues of decision-makers to establish differentiation earlier in the sales cycle.  You’ll get more calls from executives and your sales people will have the confidence to carry on credible business conversations at that level.  Credibility of the sales person is still the number one factor that influences the outcome of the sale.

If your value propositions aren’t attracting decision makers, contact Proficientz to learn how our framework, training programs and consulting services can help you attract more executive decision makers early in the sales process.