Strategic revenue development is a function of assessing your company’s strengths and weaknesses; filling in the necessary gaps; and optimizing the alignment between core strengths, internal structures, people, products & services, and marketing strategy; followed by ongoing measurement and plan adjustments.

One of the 37 Foundational Questions (FQ) in our Revenue Development Action Plan, is:

“Describe what your company is in the business of:
Delivering… making… servicing… providing…”

In essence, we want to know there is clarity and alignment regarding products and services. In the B2B market, a sales team needs the support to ensure messages are aligned and services are delivered as promised. Though it may appear obvious, too often there are dozens of versions. Marketing takes the description one direction, sales another… and neither serve the customer well.

Every business owner and senior executive dreams about having a great company. And as an engineer, innovator, and business CEO Elon Musk said,

Great companies are built on great products.” (The same could be said about excellent services for service providers.)

Yet, there is something else that is essential to success, something that has a significant impact on revenue. That element is a great product or service description. A great product or service description is essential because every business must be able to articulate clearly and appealingly what it makes, delivers, services, or provides. Without that, how would a buyer find, understand, get excited about, or purchase what is being sold?

Plenty of marketing professionals will tell you that their team is often misaligned, misunderstood, or competing against the sales team at their organization. Unsurprisingly, many sales professionals echo this same sentiment. In fact, a 2019 survey commissioned by LeanData and Sales Hacker uncovered that more than a third of those surveyed (37%) do not believe that sales and marketing are properly aligned.

Most sales and business development teams understand that B2B audiences are less influenced by emotion, preferring value-driven content with hard data instead. According to a recent study, 73% of B2B buyers surveyed indicate that they have less time to devote to reading and research than they used to, which makes creating compelling content even more important. However, even with less time available, 60% of B2B buyers still want access to industry insights from thought leaders, opening the door to provide access to this critical audience.

With fewer opportunities available to reach decision-makers, you must demonstrate that you can exhibit thought leadership by increasing quality, demonstrating value, using the right voice, and making content easily accessible.

As stay home orders were instituted across the country businesses were forced to rapidly adapt to changing market conditions. Employees began working remotely and sales functions went virtual to meet business and consumer audiences where they were.

While some industries surged with revenue growth overnight, other industries abruptly saw these business operation changes create barriers to meeting revenue projections. Businesses that previously relied on face-to-face and in-person interactions to sell were left scratching their heads as they tried to figure out how they could leverage their strengths to conduct sales in a new way.

We are currently in a recession that is being felt across all industries. An April McKinsey & Company survey indicates, “Consumers are feeling the impact of COVID-19, with about 34 percent noting that either their income or ability to work has been negatively impacted.” Rising unemployment and consumer economic uncertainty are rippling through organizations in both B2B and B2C arenas.  

However, consumers and businesses are still spending. How and what they are consuming is changing. Those changes will likely stick around after the pandemic is over. The same survey indicates, “The next normal has started emerging, with consumers indicating that they will adopt long-term behavioral changes that will last beyond the current situation. Consumers who have switched to new brands or retailers largely intend to stick with them, with almost two-thirds of consumers indicating an intent to continue.”

Businesses are following suit – making purchasing changes based on supply chain availability and selling changes based on necessity. Additional survey data on B2B sales indicates that “Almost 90 percent of sales have moved to a video conferencing(VC)/phone/web sales model, and while some skepticism remains, more than half believe this is equally or more effective than sales models used before COVID-19.”

Do you know how to move forward in a restart? Ask yourself these questions:

• Do you know how to control your spending without thwarting growth?
• What will you do to preserve essential customer relationships?
• Are you equipped to find revenue in new ways?
• Do you understand where new revenue opportunities exist?
• Can you change your way of thinking to adapt?

In a recent webinar Paul Single, Managing Director at City National Rochdale, explained the forecasted economic curve as being shaped like a Nike swish – with a sudden drop-off and a slow but continuous upward swoop. While the economic rebound will almost certainly happen slowly, your business needs to be poised for revenue growth now to capitalize on opportunities as they arise.

Many of us are working from home these days. How is that going for you?

If you are like most people I have been talking to, you have likely settled in by now and have found your new normal working alongside partners, children, and/or pets. But that does not mean you are not guilty of committing a WFH (Work-From-Home) no-no. Maybe you made one of these mistakes already or maybe you are making one right now as you read this. But, hopefully, sharing my own experiences will help you to avoid making any more of them.

Recent events have significantly affected the economic climate over the past month. That’s undeniable.

Social distancing measures and stay home orders have been implemented for everyone’s wellbeing, which means that in-person functions like tradeshows, conferences, and networking events have been canceled. For B2B companies that rely on these face-to-face events to drive revenue, this creates an indisputable barrier.

So, what does that mean? Has a portion of your future business been permanently lost? Are there still deals out there to be made right now? How do you adopt a revenue growth management mindset during these unpredictable times? Are your organizational objectives for the year still attainable?

The world has changed, but the goal has not.

What do we do now? What is going to happen in the future? These “mid novel coronavirus” days we all have these questions, and some will use their very best insights to predict the future.

One crucial thing to take note of – while we haven’t been through this circumstance before, we have been through times of uncertainty, fear, and turmoil before. We have come through those times stronger and better for having had the experience. We’ll do it again this time.