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Data is quickly becoming the essential raw material of any business decision. GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) sales and marketing teams now have access to previously unavailable insights regarding the interests and engagement levels of each physician.  GSK can now witness how physicians engage with specific pieces of content—both during and after sales calls using adaptive sales enablement.  This direct feedback is coupled with Skura’s predictive analytics, which suggest the optimal message, timing, and channel to approach individual physicians.  Together, Skura's closed loop marketing solution enables the GSK marketing team to personalize approaches, provide more meaningful content, and build stronger relationships with physicians globally.

Learn more from GSK and understand how they improved their campaigns and doubled the amount of time their reps spend on calls with Physicians in 78 markets around the world.

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?

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?

     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?

A lot of the time, sales enablement experts talk about what tools sales representatives need to do their jobs effectively. From Salesforce to a proposal automation software to everything in between, there is definitely a need for tools, but, more importantly, the need is the insight that sales reps get from the tools they’re using. Before sales organizations can determine the tools they need, they need to figure out the information they actually need to gather.

Count yourself lucky if you are a marketer or sales professional that is tasked with marketing and selling in the pharmaceutical marketplace.  These professionals face extremely tough and unique challenges that many markets do not face. Some of these challenges include: