When it comes to conducting business, nothing is more important than relationships and there's only one way to build them: by making contacts and networking. Harvard Business Review recently posted an article that encourages people to learn to love networking because it is a necessity in today's world! Read on to discover how you can make the most of networking in part one of this four-part series from networking expert Ingor van Rooi.

Lead generation is critical for the long-term success of any business. The sales team is the one-on-one approach to getting the word out about your business and what your company can do to help their business become better. But when the sales rep develops the opportunity, and begins to work in the sales cycle, what happens to lead generation? Are appointments continuously being set for a robust sales funnel?

How many times does your first contact result in a closed sale? Unless you were born under an incredibly lucky star, not many. So let's discover why a single call won't complete the transaction and investigate some B2B follow-up strategies.

Email has become a go-to channel for B2B marketers, supporting goals like nurturing leads, staying in touch with existing clients, and helping prospects move along the different stages of their buying journey.



Taking a strategic approach to delivering the right information to support buying activities will help you get more out of this channel. Here's why you need email segmentation for a successful email marketing campaign.

It's no secret that customer retention tends to cost a lot less than new customer acquisition. However, not every organization has a strong customer retention strategy in place.



From boosting revenues to unlocking loyalty, a business-to-business (B2B) customer retention program can support company-wide goals and become a cornerstone for customer success.

While you might be expert at sales openers, ending the call on the right foot is just as important. The last thing you want is an awkward end to your call. In order to stand the best chance with your prospects , you want to make sure the entirety of your call is perfect, and that includes ending the call on the right foot. So how do you end your pitch with your prospect solidly in your funnel? Or, better still, how do you finish with a closed sale? Let's explore both objectives. Here are some techniques for how to end a sales call while keeping your prospects on the hook.

If you don't know where you're going, it's difficult to get there. Setting goals for yourself or your B2B sales team will tighten your focus. Carefully calculated goalsetting will also clarify your strategy and increase your efficiency. It is widely known that sales representatives' motivation rises more in response to specific goals than by simply aspiring toward superior achievement. That crucial data leads to the vital question, "How do you set sales goals, and which goals should you set?"

B2B prospects make thousands of small decisions every day. Will they follow a link to read an article or open the email they just received? You can sway these decisions by crafting powerful headlines. Whether you're grabbing the recipient's attention, making a promise or telling them why they should engage with your content, B2B email subject lines that resonate with your audience can help you get more out of your email campaigns.



How do B2B email subject lines support the success of your email campaigns?

What could be more frustrating than a sudden dismissal when you've barely begun your pitch? To communicate your product's value, you need to keep your prospects on the line. To accomplish that purpose, you require an opener that will spark customers' interest and keep them engaged. This article explores the best sales openers and describes how you can employ them.

You can send emails to half the world, but you're wasting your time if they do not engage. What can you do if your emails don't generate the conversions you need? First, you can ensure recipients actually look at what you send. Using visuals in email marketing campaigns provides the hook you need to grab readers' attention and communicate your message. Here are four reasons why using visuals works, the types of visuals you can use and how to use them effectively.

You've spent days honing your subject line to catch the eyes of your customers. You've agonized over every word and every link to keep the message brief and on point for each of your market segments. You've included an irresistible offer. Finally, you pull the trigger and hit send. Hundreds of emails fly out to your eager clients!



Then you wait, and wait ... and wait. Several days pass with very few bites. Why? Did your subject line trigger spam filters even though you were so careful? Or could be a simple as the email address you're using? If you're using a free email service provider, such as AOL or Yahoo, your beautifully designed campaign might just be in email purgatory. Find out why your email ends up in the spam folder, how you can reflect professionalism with your email address and how to do it in an inexpensive way.

As a B2B salesperson you are often confronting resistance, especially in today's challenging and ever-changing industrial B2B environment. But objection does not always mean rejection. In fact, in every sales objection there is an opportunity. Being prepared for some of the most common objections in sales is key to keeping the conversation going and moving towards a long-term partnership.

Oh, no. Here it comes again, the response you've been dreading: a request for more information. You've sent out multiple emails and numerous thick and expensive envelopes with boundless details concerning your product. Still, your prospects remain prospects, not closed sales. So, what do you do when prospects say, "Just send me more information?" Don't give up the pitch! Your first order of business is to keep them on the phone.

This week, Kati McDermith, Brand Ambassador for MNI, hosted the #USAMfgHour chat on Twitter with a fun American-made mystery trivia theme. The result was a fun hour full of surprises, insights, some truly funny moments, and possibly a new invention...?

You know you have a great product that manufacturers in the U.S. will want. After hearing your presentation, a decision-maker will know it too. But before you can make your pitch, you need to enter the inner sanctum, which means getting past the gatekeeper in B2B sales. Navigating around that obstacle presents a daunting challenge. The following tips will put you on track to leap the hurdles and reach your goal.

As the pandemic shaped business communications, email has emerged as the #1 marketing channel for ROI. Consider that email marketing generates $42 for every $1 spent and that 78% of marketers in 2020 said email is essential to company growth, compared to 71% in 2019.



As more and more marketers get on board with email, you are competing with many other companies for your recipient's attention. That means timing is of the essence: not only when to send that email--but perhaps even more relevant, when not to send that email. You don't want to pour everything you've got into a perfect email only to have your message ignored.

Strong closing skills can make the difference between a successful sale and a lead that doesn't convert. Successful B2B salespeople understand it takes a strategic approach to provide that final push a lead sometimes needs to make a purchase decision.



With multiple obstacles, including information overload, budget limitation, or a complex buying journey, strategies for closing sales in B2B can help a prospect make the right decision without being too pushy.

How many times have you been on an automatic answering system and had to repeatedly enter the same information? Worse, if you reach a live representative, you're forced to give it all again. In this frustrating and infuriating situation, you may even be tempted to give up.



Buyers using an unintegrated multichannel process experience a similar waste of time and effort. Omnichannel selling addresses this severe obstacle to closed deals by giving you multiple ways to contact manufacturers in the U.S.

The B2B marketplace is almost unrecognizable. Spurred by the pandemic, sales are rapidly evolving, making it imperative for you to keep up with the changing landscape. Even before the pandemic, B2B buying was becoming increasingly digital.



Gartner reports that customers spend only 17% of their time face-to-face with sales teams. Worse, that 17% covers all suppliers. Sellers share that small slice with their competitors.



Strong sales depend on gaining back access to decision-makers. That means using new techniques and strategies. Fortunately, you can find help from sales and marketing experts. The B2B sales books highlighted here will guide you toward success in the new sales world.

Customer experience is everything. It's a significant differentiator for B2B sellers, and it's one of the keys to unlocking loyalty.



However, understanding how the experiences you offer shape the way buyers make decisions can be challenging. As a B2B marketer, you need to use a customer journey map to visualize this aspect of the buying process.

It's the beginning of a new year and time to anticipate the B2B sales and marketing trends that will shape 2022. While some of these trends have defined the B2B landscape for years, there are some significant shifts to plan for. Explore 2022's biggest trends, including the latest in account-based marketing, third-party cookies, the B2B buyer's journey and more.

Our customers know MNI's industrial B2B data is the most accurate in the industry and many have wondered: how do we do it? Over the course of our 100+-year history, we've perfected a system that delivers high-quality, comprehensive company profiles to our customers. Today, we're presenting a new infographic that visualizes how company data is collected and perfected by real people for unmatched accuracy. Take a look!

As manufacturing companies scrambled to adjust to greater and greater challenges, our most popular stories on IndustrySelect for 2021 reflected the efforts of sales, marketing and business development professionals to stay abreast of new developments, improve communications with their valuable manufacturing clients, and discover new opportunities.

In marketing, as in many other disciplines, the first question is, "where do I start?" Frequently, marketers start where their strengths lie or feel comfortable.



Database marketers start with data, creative types start with creative, etc. Frankly, that's why so much marketing misses the mark, and does not produce the desired results. My advice to marketers is that micro-segmentation is the "head" position. If we get it right, the relevancy of our communication will follow, break through the clutter, engage the individual and start the sales/buying process.

You researched for days, met with potential vendors for months and pitched database providers to your boss more than you really wanted to and you finally have your new list of leads!



Now what?



I am often met with the question from new IndustrySelect users and I say, there are basically three options:

With Google ending support for third-party cookies sometime in 2023, marketers and salespeople need to rethink the way they generate and target leads. The answer to the coming cookiepocalypse is to focus on first-party data.

Your company has put the work into your B2B email marketing campaigns. You have segmented your customer lists and then segmented some more. You know where each potential buyer is in the purchasing process. And you've refreshed your marketing materials and updated your contacts. You were ready to push the button to start emailing -- but then Apple iOS 15 came into the picture. These changes will greatly impact your ability to track your efforts.



But don't panic. You've faced more devastating changes to your marketing strategy and survived (a.k.a. COVID-19). You completely re-tooled the way you did business, and you can survive this change as well.

B2B marketers can learn quite a few refinements from their B2C brethren. For the most part, B2C marketing techniques rely on personalized ads. B2C marketers do so by tugging on the consumer's heartstrings. B2B marketers, on the other hand, rely on convincing an entire company to buy their product.



Let's take a closer look at what B2B can learn from B2C.

As manufacturing month comes to an end, I am wrapping up this spooky Interview series with a look into the brains of a Freight Broker!



When I drive around, I am constantly amazed by the cool things we move in our country. Even with supply chain shortages, our freight movers are always on the job. I would like to shed some light on the industry as it pertains to brokering of freight services. I am sure we will all learn something.



I bring to you in closing, an interview with a Freight Broker, Pedro Angulo.

One of the best things about working in the manufacturing industry is that so many people are involved in manufacturing at all different levels, it's easy to connect on topics of importance.



We read posts and articles every day about the labor shortage and all the need for workers. Today I am spending some time talking about the challenges in recruiting and talent acquisition with my role model and sister, Terri Lick, Talent Acquisition.