It used to be that sales people, could hit their numbers by responding to inbound inquiries (leads, RFI’s, RFP, etc) from various companies within their territory. Now, however, these same reps are forced to develop opportunities from scratch as go-to-market models are increasingly more account–based than in the past.  In addition, most firms are finding their win rates for unsolicited ...   more »

Marketing’s value contribution to the business is elusive.

And increasingly difficult to grasp...

given the trend of b2b businesses transforming their go-to-market models from traditional product-based models to more customer and solution oriented ones.

Should you worry?

Based on research gathered from IDC, the Corporate Executive Board, American Marketing Association, and Annual Reports, BluePrint Marketing has ...   more »

The industrial revolution happened over a period of about 200 years starting in the mid-1700’s and lasting to the mid-1900’s.  The core pattern of this period was the application of mechanical methods to meet the needs of the many in a more scalable, cost-effective way.  For example, the first industry to kick off the industrial revolution was textiles.  In the ...   more »

General George Patton’s unparalleled ability to execute in WWII sometimes gets overshadowed by his colorful (and stupid) public relations.  Because of his quick strike abilities, the Axis leaders feared him more than any other Allied general.  What made him truly unique, and someone still studied in military academies throughout the world today, was his formula for success.  Patton ...   more »

Wow!

It’s really been a crazy two weeks since I posted "Do Your Value Propositions Go to Eleven?" On September 20th.

Weak value propositions are a huge issue…..

We've recieved a tremendous amount of calls and feedback from issues raised from both sales and marketing professionals.  I've talked about messaging, sales alignment, sales and marketing models, and movies ...   more »

Due to the high interest in the subject-matter on "A Perfect Conversation:  Achieving Competitive Advantage One Account at a Time" and the number of dialogs we get into about how to make our observations relevant, we will be launching topic specific sites, starting today.

Dean Davision, industry thought leader and former META Group analyst and I will be discussing ...   more »

In Rob Reiner’s 1984 “rockumentary” This Is Spinal Tap, one of the main characters, Nigel Tufnel claims they are different than other bands because their speakers “go to ll.”   (Click here to see a video clip of the scene).