In industrial sales and marketing, you know the stakes are high and competition fierce, and understanding your clients' unique needs and priorities is paramount. As the year draws to a close, many businesses zero in on the crucial process of budget planning for the upcoming year. For industrial sales and marketing professionals, the ability to secure a share of these budgets hinges on more than just offering valuable solutions; it requires aligning those offerings precisely with the budgets and priorities of your target clients. In this article, we'll explore how data analytics can be a game-changer in achieving this alignment, ultimately boosting your chances of winning contracts and fostering long-lasting client relationships.

Customer feedback is one of the most valuable sources of information for any business. It can help you understand your customers' needs, preferences, expectations, and satisfaction levels. It can also help you identify your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in the market. By gathering and using customer feedback effectively, you can improve your marketing strategy and achieve better results. In this article, we'll explore how to gather and effectively use customer feedback to boost your marketing efforts.

The arrival of fall presents a perfect opportunity to give your data a much-needed refresh. This cleanup will involve reviewing and updating your market database, but you�ll ensure it�s accurate and free of �dead wood.� By refreshing your information, you will target your prospects better, add more personalization to marketing campaigns, and strengthen customer relationships.

Fall is a time of change, renewal, and reflection. It's also a perfect time to re-engage with your B2B prospects who may have lost touch with your company over the summer (or longer!). Whether they were busy with vacations, projects, or other priorities, you want to remind them of the value you offer and the benefits of staying connected.

For selling business-to-business (B2B), you require a unique set of skills. While business-to-consumer (B2C) sales can hinge on a catchy slogan or intriguing packaging, you must present a convincing pitch because it�s how you address your customers' specific pain points and explain how your product or service brings relief.



While you are making your way past gatekeepers to decision-makers, competing sales reps are pursuing similar paths. To prevail, you need every advantage you can get. Ongoing education for B2B sales professionals provides the edge to seal the deal.

You've heard the saying, "It takes a village." That's the case when Vice President of Sales & Marketing, John Rabon came to MNI and SalesLeads to help turn around their sluggish sales. Fluid Systems, an equipment provider for mining, industrial operations, and oil & gas, had begun to experience a downturn in business. The company turned to Mr. Rabon to lead them back on the right track.

With minimal resources, informing your audience of your company's name and superior solutions takes time and effort. But you can do B2B marketing on a budget if you define your costs, leverage email marketing and social media, collaborate with influencers, and harness user-generated content (UGC). We'll tell you how to do that below.

If you are a sales or marketing professional in the B2B industrial world, you know how challenging it can be to generate and nurture leads. The manufacturing industry is complex, competitive and constantly evolving, and your prospects may have long and unpredictable buying cycles.



But what about the leads that you already have in your database? The ones that showed some interest in your products or services, but never converted into customers? Are they still worth pursuing, or should you focus on finding new leads?



The answer is: it depends. Some old leads may have gone cold and lost interest in your offerings, while others may still be open to hearing from you and learning more about how you can help them solve their pain points. The key is to identify which old leads are worth re-engaging, and how to do it effectively.



In this blog post, we will share some key ways to re-engage old leads in B2B manufacturing.

A low conversion rate can spell disaster for your industrial company's appointment setting strategy. You may reach out to hundreds of prospects in a given month, only to land few or no appointments. The conversion rate, represents the percentage of prospects with whom you actually speak with who agrees to book a meeting. You'll still need to follow up to ensure the appointment is confirmed, especially if it is out more than 7 days. Take a look at the conversion rate for yourself or the team. If your appointment setting strategy is suffering from a low conversion rate, it may be attributed to one or more of the following reasons. Let's take a look at the top four.

Selling B2B products and services to the U.S. manufacturing industry has become increasingly challenging due to the presence of multiple decision-makers within organizations and the numerous hurtles that this dynamic sector is currently facing. Today, we'll explore effective strategies for B2B sales professionals to navigate the complexities of engaging with multiple decision-makers and increase their chances of success in the U.S. manufacturing sector.



Here's the bottom line: selling B2B products and services - in any market - is more challenging than ever before. The manufacturing industry is no exception. Today, we'll be covering how salespeople and marketers in the manufacturing industry can effectively handle buying groups with multiple decision-makers.

You've finally made it past the gatekeeper. Now you're in a room with the people who will decide whether to sign on the bottom line or politely thank you for coming in. This presentation will have to make your case. What are the elements that will spell success?

As the economy continues to show signs of slowing down, companies rely on two solutions to get through the economic hard times: reduce employee headcount and/or find a way to increase sales. This means sales teams will work on high priority prospect opportunities that are already in the sales funnel to close deals. How long will that take before the funnel shows signs of weakness? Can marketing produce enough qualified sales leads at your ideal accounts to be placed into the funnel for the entire sales team? What can be done to help support one or both teams?

With the cost of materials still rising, finding effective pricing strategies for B2B is crucial for keeping manufacturers afloat. As interest rates increase along with production costs, your pricing window narrows. Competition for reluctant purchasers is an additional complication to your price-setting dilemma. So how do you set prices in this challenging environment?

Today's marketing tools are evolving at a rapid pace to keep up with the growing demand for automation. With that in mind, your digital marketing tactics should similarly be kept up to date. Here's how you can improve B2B email click-through rates in your campaigns.

In sales, a good starting point is often to understand what your industrial prospects' needs are. By asking the right questions, you can establish a dialogue and recommend the best solution for a shorter sales cycle and a better B2B buying experience.

Generative AI is suddenly infiltrating nearly every corner of our digital world. It can write your sales scripts, your marketing copy, your thank you notes, your eighth grader's research paper; it will make our lives easier, our business tasks infinitely more productive. But before you feel like your laptop is staring you in the face thinking, move over obsolete human, you are soooo 2022, here's an interesting reality check that says a lot about the importance of real human intervention in our day-to-day tasks---especially sales and marketing.

You might wonder how important account-based marketing (ABM) is for the industrial sector. ABM employs the experience of your company's sales and marketing professionals to create a specifically tailored experience for your targeted accounts. ABM is all about identifying your most promising contacts and aiming your message specifically at them.

If you flip through the Bible to Matthew 13, you'll find the parable of a farmer who sowed seed. Unfortunately for him, his agricultural methods were indiscriminate. His seed fell on good soil but also in harsher locales where it couldn't take hold and grow. A generalized marketing strategy is similar. Your pitch may reach some good prospects but also find many who consign it to a spam or circular file.

Your company provides an array of quality goods to manufacturers, yet your sales are slipping. Your company prides itself on the services you offer to manufacturers, yet sales remain stagnant. Why? Competitors.



You know that you have competitors. Successfully running your company is at the forefront of your mind, but somewhere in the back, you know that competitors exist. You may even think that you have a pretty good idea of which companies comprise your main competitors.



It's time to bring those thoughts to the forefront and perform a competitor analysis.

Value propositions bombard buyers daily. Whether that proposition takes the form of Walmart�s �Roll Back Pricing� or another store's BOGO (buy one, get one) offers, your potential manufacturing client are saturated with value propositions in their daily lives. For your business value proposition to stand out, you must invest the time in creating a product that will knock your socks off upon impact.

How often do you hit the trashcan icon before reading an email? Do you decline a call if you don't recognize the caller ID? How can you find a way around similar reactions in your prospects? One approach that's regaining popularity in 2023 is direct mail.

LinkedIn Groups are virtual meeting rooms (or forums) where people with similar interests can host and hold discussions around subjects they want to share or learn more about. Engaging in groups allows you to display your expertise around a subject and start to grow relationships with like-minded people.

Value based selling forces companies that market their products to other companies (B2B sales) to reevaluate their business model. Instead of focusing on the number of new clients per year, the goal is to realign and emphasize providing lifelong value to the customer.

After all the challenges 2022 posed to industrial sales and marketing, you may be eagerly wishing for a stronger year ahead. So let's look at what sales trends 2023 will bring and see what you can do to make that wish a reality.

As U.S. manufacturers scrambled to adjust to abundant challenges in 2022, from high prices to supply chain constraints and labor shortages, our most popular stories on IndustrySelect this year reflected the efforts of sales, marketing professionals to stay ahead of new developments and shifting needs, improve communications with their valuable manufacturing clients, and discover new opportunities.

Perhaps you've always enjoyed attending (in-person) networking events: You get to hang out somewhere pleasant, meet new people and maybe bump into some people you already know.



Many in the manufacturing industry have done MOST of their networking at trade shows and only see themselves networking in this capacity, but the reality is that most trade shows have been cancelled or moved online for the best part of two years and we must be prepared, in case it happens again!

Traditionally, businesses use data from three parties, first, second and third. But a fourth collection method, called zero-party data, is rapidly gaining traction as a preferred channel for marketers. So what's the difference between all of these different data types and which is the most effective and accurate? In this article, we will discuss all four forms of data-party types so that you can make the best choice for your company.

Every day the news deluges you with more scandals about social media. Determining what media to use and how to use them can be a nightmare. Fortunately, you have an option that doesn't involve a daily bombardment of noise and angst. When selling to other businesses, you can readily reach out to current customers and prospects through B2B email marketing.

Every small and mid-sized business cares about one thing: a consistent flow of sales. Every time you close a new customer, your company drives revenue, the means to your company�s growth and expansion. After each close, management askes itself, "How do we get our next customer?"

The mention of a looming recession evokes groans from sales and marketing reps everywhere. Still, you may find success at selling in a downturn isn't as elusive as it sounds. Read on to understand the economic climate for manufacturers at present and discover some expert tips and growing opportunities for selling in a downturn.