The success of a business venture depends heavily on its ability to make itself indispensable within the industry. This can be achieved by maintaining a constant presence at key industry events, making the product competitive, and, most importantly, cultivating and nurturing strong business ties.
Trade Fairs and Events
Representing the company with a winning smile
Throughout my career in SaaS, I've attended a number of conferences, trade fairs, and other company events in different countries. They are great opportunities to showcase the company's products, meet other industry players, as well as gain insights from potential customers.
While exhausting, I always make it a point to put my best foot forward and greet everyone with a welcoming smile. If the company has a dedicated stand, I go the extra mile and greet passersby - simulating the experience of being in a physical store.
Beyond elevating the brand profile of the company, a consistently warm and welcoming demeanor communicates what the company stands for: great customer service.
The work doesn't stop once such events are over. To fully realize the investment of the company in such trade fairs and events, I make sure to safely keep and organize any business cards that I receive so that I can follow up with new contacts and keep the conversation going.
Industry & Market Research
Knowing the lay of the land and keeping up with the competition
When I started out in my first sales job, I was assigned two European markets. I had to figure out most of the things on my own, and that included devising the appropriate go-to-market strategies to adopt for these two markets.
I immediately set out to learn as much as I could about these markets, starting with reading materials on their culture and ways of conducting business. I then had to piece together industry-specific knowledge about these markets and document my findings for future reference.
I also continually expanded my knowledge about the market by engaging in conversations with new contacts and asking them how things work on the ground. This effectively tested the theoretical knowledge I gained.
Finally, I applied my newly-acquiredknowledge about the market by conducting a trial-and-error process of determining what works and what doesn't for contacts when I marketed the product to them.
For example, it became apparent that clients that used a specific web developer would be less inclined to engage in conversations about our product for practical and contractual reasons. Therefore, I had to find ways to approach this particular segment of the market.
Nurturing B2B Relationships
Turning the company into a key industry player
I also learned how business-to-business (B2B) relationships work in comparison to contact-to-contact relationships. It's a more strategic type of relationship that involves multiple touchpoints, multiple people, and spans a much longer timeline before it results in observable or measurable results.
It therefore requires a lot of patience, as well as the ability to consistently maintain an impeccable reputation because business deals can only be struck in an environment of mutual trust and confidence.
While B2B relationships are quite different from contact-to-contact relationships, one still has to be well-versed in the fundamentals of good interpersonal skills as B2B relationships still involve interacting with other people, just at much a larger scale.
Initiating and cultivating B2B relationships are only the start, as any Customer Acquisition professional still needs to have robust Sales and Marketing skills to truly grow the company's revenue.
Want to know more?
You can read my blog posts, check out my LinkedIn profile, send me an e-mail, download my CV, or click on the social media links below.
I'd love to hear from you! 😄