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We’ve all heard of the 80/20 rule, where 80% of your revenue is generated by 20% of your customers. Despite changes in the sales process and the lengthening of the sales cycle due to the digital age, the 80/20 principle has prevailed in most sales environments. More often than not, people are looking for a product or service that they can rely on for the long-term instead of learning a new tool or adjusting to a new account manager every couple years. Are you setting the stage for loyal customers or simple sales?

A large part of building customer loyalty is making them feel comfortable and educated during the sales stage. Even though most B2B customers only contact sales after 70% of a purchase decision has been made, the most defining moments of that sales cycle is when they sit down with their dedicated sales rep. Sure, there are going to be times when you will be tempted to rush the sale because you want the commission. But, what if you could create a brand advocate for life? How much recurring revenue would that be for you and your company?

One of the most important aspects of a sales representative’s job is lead qualification, and the primary way this is done is by asking questions. However, while a simple question might give you a lot of information, is it giving you the right information?

All successful organizations know that to enable sales and marketing they need to speak to each in order to have a comprehensive understanding of the sales landscape. One cannot survive without the other. But, we still see disconnects between sales and marketing teams every day. That is why we’ve identified the essential transactions of information that need to happen between sales and marketing:

For most sales organizations, when a sales representative gets in front of a potential customer, that is when they know they can close the deal X% of the time. Content marketing, like Slideshares, blog posts, articles, sales packets, videos, etc., can be viewed by the sales team as simply support material. But, in the modern sales environment, the right sales collateral can make or break the deal, such as using a digital sales aid.

We all know that people do business with people, not with businesses. And that is why it is so important for companies to place an importance on vetting their sales representatives before you hire them. Your sales team is only as good as how they are able to adapt and resonate with a customer. While you might have a need to make more sales now, waiting to find the right representatives can pay off a lot more later.

Here are the 3 defining attributes a good sales representative (and things to look for when hiring them):

One of the big struggles for sales organizations today is that the sales cycle continues to get longer because of the growing amount of options available to consumers. We’re overwhelmed with how many different companies are offering the same products. And if the sales cycle continues to lengthen, then revenue streams have the potential to decrease because sales aren’t being made as quickly as before. How can organizations combat this?

How can you get the most value from your creative and marketing partners?

Gartner, Inc. recently reported new research showing that 50% of CMO’s digital marketing is outsourced. (U.S. Digital Marketing Spending Survey, 2013) This represents a significant investment in outside resources. With average marketing spend sitting at just over 10% of revenues and marketing budgets forecast to increase 6% in 2013, agencies – especially digital agencies – represent a huge investment.

     In the digital world, all of the information we need is generally available at our fingertips. We can gather more information about a company we are thinking about buying from, we can research our competitors and we can look up specific information about prospects in our lead management software. But what can’t be automated and grabbed from the Internet is the human touch that is needed for sales organizations to glean actionable insights and make reasonable conclusions. That’s where the quality of the sales team comes in.

In a perfect world, sales and marketing should be feeding off each other in order to support a more efficient and collaborative sales cycle. This includes content creation, seamless use of tracking software to provide insights and active conversations on how to improve lead nurturing tactics, all of which are sales enablement activities. Whether you’re in the sales department or on the marketing team, all of these activities are going to help you do your job better. So, why shouldn’t all of these teams be working together on sales enablement?