Acadia Blogs

In sales, knowledge is power. You probably know your products and services inside and out, pricing schedules, your top competitors, your target segments, and the best questions to ask to uncover pain points. But that doesn’t get you far if you’re in the dark about what industrial buyers really want. After all, they’re the ones who will decide if you win the deal.

We know that in the manufacturing and industrial world, setting production goals, establishing quality metrics, and creating work instructions are a necessity. Unfortunately, it is not surprising to find companies in this space don’t treat their sales and marketing activities the same way they would their manufacturing or production environments. All too often, "more sales than last year" is the metric set. In order to establish an effective sales and marketing plan, you must first define your goals, determine the metrics needed to track the success of those goals, and create a plan to get there.

If you’re like most in manufacturing, continuous improvement is always on your mind. You spend hours finding ways to streamline production, innovate, bring more value to your customers, increase your revenue, and on and on. One way that manufacturers realize improvement in operations is through formal Centers of Excellence (CoE). It’s hardly a new concept on the production side of manufacturing but have you considered this approach for your marketing, sales, and customer service (a.k.a. client-facing) teams too? Here’s why you should.

No matter how long you’ve been in manufacturing, you’re acutely aware that timing is everything these days. You’ve invested in a facility and production lines carefully designed for flexibility and maximum output in the least amount of time. Maybe you’re thinking it would be nice to have the same kind of control when it comes to lead generation: plan the process, hit the quota. But- it doesn’t quite work like that.

Ah, lead generation. A constant battle and love-hate relationship. You win some and you lose some. If you’re facing challenges generating leads, the good news is that you are not alone. In fact, many companies are facing these common challenges:

A client-facing team (CFT) includes anyone in your organization who has some level of interaction with your clients and prospects. In most organizations the team spans departments: marketing, inside sales, outsides sales, customer service, and depending on your internal structure, quoting.

When you become aware of a problem in your business, it’s usually not long until you also realize it’s a symptom of a larger issue. If you decide to make some changes, it’s critical to look at the bigger picture: why you think change is warranted, what factors are behind how things are now, and what will happen if things stay the same over time. It’s complicated to disassemble and rebuild how you do things, and it might just feel easier to resign yourself to the status quo.

When Acadia was first starting, it was based on a remote employee model. I was not only a professional but a mother, wife, friend, and neighbor. Using my experience, I built Acadia realizing that at-home professionals, specifically women with children, had the potential to be a really valuable resource. Working remotely was mutually beneficial for both the employees and Acadia. While this model became very successful, collaboration was always a challenge. “I will never forget the day that Google Docs became available," I said, "it was a game changer for the way we could share information and collaborate.” New technologies have allowed for a greater level of communication, making it easier to grow and utilize talents from around the country. 

You’ve come to terms with the fact that you don’t have the bandwidth or capabilities to take on some of your company’s necessary marketing work.  So now what?  There are many marketing agencies that will claim to have the skills to help your company, but it's important to not just pick the first one you find. In this blog post, I'll expand on the most vital factors to keep in mind as you go through the marketing agency evaluation process.

Making B2B outbound sales calls is no easy task. At Acadia, the very important people who make these outbound calls are our lead development representatives (LDRs). Each and every time an LDR sits down to work, they're faced with ever-changing scenarios and varying industries, companies and personalities. Each call is unique and could go in many different directions. They also hear "NO" a lot. 

It helped that I won the Pitch Competition at the recent Ohio River Valley Women’s Business Council (ORV-WBC) Catch the Wave Conference in Louisville, KY, but that’s not the only reason I go to this event every year.  My time with other woman professionals at this event is always time well spent. Having the opportunity to get out of the office and share learnings and knowledge refreshes the soul. I'd like to share some insight on a topic that surfaced a few times.