The Thomas Blog

Social Media

What’s the Story? 3 Ways to Get Buyers to Talk About You

Do you remember the Volvo Trucks ad featuring Jean-Claude van Damme’s “Epic Split” between two backward-driving trucks? (If not, click here to see it). It was all the rage on social media a few years ago.. That’s a lot of mainstream crossover appeal for a B-to-B spot – over 72 million YouTube views.

It got the right people talking about the right things — truck drivers and equipment buyers marveling at the hardware capabilities, and everyone else applauding the “wow” factor. We’re not saying to run out and find the nearest 90s action star for your next marketing campaign. But using your B-to-B marketing to get the right people talking  even just within the organizations you’re targeting — can help you drive more business.

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Business Tips

3 Reasons to Get Your Sales Timing Right

Football season is long over, but imagine some poor wide receiver who missed that memo. He waited until today to say, “OK, I’m suiting up, going out there, and I’m ready to catch a touchdown pass.”

Wouldn’t he look pretty foolish trotting onto the field and wondering where everybody was? He’d have to wait a while before making that reception — in fact, he wouldn’t even have a chance for quite some time.

He’d be in the right place, but when your timing is that far off, it barely even matters  much the same way mistiming your top prospects’ needs in the B2B buying cycle can take you out of the game, and leave you sitting on the bench waiting to get back in.

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Sales

Closing the Deal: The B2B Buying Cycle, Part 5

Although the RFI process represents the end of the B2B buying cycle, in many ways it’s actually another beginning. Often, it’s the first time a prospect will contact you. It’s the start of the “face-to-face” process of closing a sale. And ideally, it commences a long and productive partnership between you and the buyer.

Just like each step leading up to it, however, it’s important to treat the RFI as an important component of the overall process, not merely a formality on the way to a sale.

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Sales

Stand Out on the Shortlist: The B2B Buying Cycle, Part 4

Put yourself in the buyer’s shoes. What’s most important to them when sourcing? Early on, speed and efficiency are key — conducting research on their terms, without worrying about an email or a call back. That doesn’t change once they reach the shortlist stage — they’re still not ready to spend time on queries. In fact, you likely won’t even know you’re on the shortlist until the first time they contact you.

How does the shortlist work, and how can you improve your chances of getting there — and getting selected?

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Sales

Learn What Your Prospects Are Really Looking For: The B2B Buying Cycle, Part 3

It’s not enough just to be listed. Keep that in mind as you consider the third stage of the industrial B2B buying cycle: Evaluation. Buyers arrive at this stage once they’ve identified a need and begun a high level, general search. You’re a possibility to reach their shortlist — but you’re still not a lock. Buyers need to see that it’s worth their time to keep considering you. How? It’s all in the details.

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Sales

Impact Your Prospects at Every Stage of the Buying Cycle

Content marketing is a great tool for reaching your prospects at every stage of the buying cycle — it’s a benefit we’ve revisited time and again.

This week, let’s take a closer look at that B2B industrial buying cycle — and the marketing tools that are best suited to making an impression at each step of the way.

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Website Design

Six Reasons You Need Responsive Design On Your Website

We talked a few weeks ago about some first steps toward optimizing your website for mobile devices — and responsive design is a great start. Need a refresher? Think of responsive design this way: imagine if movies were only available in the original dimensions they played in at the theater. Whether you later watched it on the flatscreen in your living room, a smaller set in your bedroom, or on your iPad, it only came in that one, giant size.

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