the view from Airport Rd | Kucia And Associates Blog

We have an observation to share about why sales professionals have a tough job. The great majority of marketing effort and investment goes into attracting “leads” to the “sales funnel.” It’s Marketing for Attention and Engagement. But that’s only the on-ramp.

Sales leads are people disguised as numbers. They’re from different organizations, with different questions, different needs and their own way of deciding things. Long-term B2B, contractual, relationship-driven or “solution” sales – the most valuable kind – must be earned. Sales teams need effective tools that motivate and help keep the process on track, avoiding delays, reroutes and exits due to information gaps, lack of clarity or the dreaded and inexplicable “gut feel” or loss of interest. Targeted, tactical messages (in whatever forms fulfill the need: digital, video, print, infographic, etc.) can give reps the stage, frame the conversation, anticipate questions and clear the way, bringing productivity, momentum and acceleration to the sales process.

Clear, convincing communication, at the right time in the right way, gives direction to the sales conversation. Collaboration and trust building can move forward with momentum toward creation of a new relationship. We call this Marketing for Sales.

Kucia And Associates has decades of experience providing custom communication support for B2B Sales teams. Hearing from you the particular challenges of your sales process, we could begin to offer ideas and assistance.

Call Dave Kucia at 513-321-0644 or email dave@kucia.com

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tunnel vision n.

1. A constricted visual field in which peripheral perception is eliminated.
2. An extremely narrow point of view; narrow-mindedness.
   – American Heritage Dictionary, Second College Edition

There’s nothing like a bunch of concentric circles to help remind business owners, managers and marketers about the importance of “context.” It’s always out there, evolving, influencing and challenging what we think we know about our organization, our industry or the world. More than depicting tunnel vision, this simple graphic shows why tunnel vision should be avoided.

It shows that serving Customers well requires motivations and effort arising from a core Purpose. This is embraced and embodied by a Product (and/or Service) and an Organization (the Business) that must deliver high performance over time. Because a business must perform well for a long time or what’s the point? Dissatisfaction and objectivity are good for a business, because the context is always changing, if subtly, and the future is mostly unknown. So, it helps to take a good look around – inwardly, outwardly and beyond – constantly. Lastly, this dizzying depiction shows that Innovation is, or can be, integral, drawing insights and momentum from within and outside the business as new bases for delivering, with Purpose, one’s best. Expending resources to preserve and defend a point-of-view, rather than on seeking and seeing with an open mind, can be a costly choice.

In our business and the marketing of others, we avoid tunnel vision in its many common forms… Product, Strategy, Media, Message, Creative/Conceptual, Execution, Interpretation… We challenge and refine our view, which helps our clients evolve and trust theirs.

You want a good pizza for your pizza dollar, or $20. Who doesn’t want pizza ROI?

So you look for the right specialist to help you, and find there are many answers.

There are the pizza sauce Leaders, who make pizza sauce for a living. They say good pizza requires an exceptional sauce that balances all the tastes people want, but with its own distinctive edge.

There are the pizza dough Specialists, who will tell you that a pizza is only as good as its dough. Pizza without crust is just a bunch of ingredients on a pan, they say.

There are mozzarella Gurus, pepperoni Ninjas, and strategic flavor Catalysts who insist that best-practice selection in the areas of cheese, meat products and other ingredients is critical to pizza performance.

There are technology and efficiency Innovators, brick oven manufacturers, lighting, furniture and pizza platter makers who want to ensure the ideal pizza experience, wherever and whenever people want to enjoy it.

Yet, with all of this expertise and more in mind and within reach, in marketing, someone still has to “make the pizza.” They know you. They understand your situation and who it is your pizza must satisfy. They’ve made a lot of different pizzas. They bring a point-of-view to the prep table to help you decide what your pizza needs – when, where and why. What it will cost. They know ingredients and how they work together to produce the needed outcome. They put it together, bake it, slice it and serve it. These people are not generalists. They just happen to specialize in the whole pie.