Know: ‘timing is everything.’

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Marketing Insights from A to Z

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• Marketing highlights competitors’ strengths and weaknesses
and how the company’s products rate against competitors’ of-
ferings.
• Marketing documents and distributes sales success stories and
uses them in training programs.
• Marketing prepares and distributes communications (advertis-
ing, brochures, etc.) to customers to stimulate interest in the
company’s products and make salespeople more welcome.
• Marketing uses advertising and telemarketing to find and
qualify leads that can be turned over to the sales force.
Smart companies are equipping their salespeople with sales au-
tomation equipment (computers, cell phones, fax and copy ma-
chines) and software. Salespeople can research the customer before
the visit, answer questions during the visit, and record important
facts after the visit. Salespeople can retrieve product information such
as tech bulletins, pricing information, customer buying history, pre-
ferred payment terms, and other data to facilitate their work.
When the salesperson finally makes the sale, “The salesmen’s