When it comes to marketing in the East & West. You have to understand the culture and the way they think!
Culture can be complex. What is silently endorsed here might be advised against there. There are no straightforward answers to social norms people abide by.
In fact, this topic is so important to marketers and sales professionals, we decided to redo this topic with a separate guest in our weekly livestream (now available on YouTube).
You can watch it here.
Cultural diversity is always a good talking point because it is human societies are fascinating.
That said, we need to come back to Planet Earth.
We have to ask ourselves what matters.
And many times, that happens to be closing a deal.
Marketing and Closing a 6-Figure Deal in 4 Months
All new companies have one thing in common. They bootstrap. And they need to get people to bring in sales revenue. And FAST.
The logic is simple. The newly set up entity bleeds cash every moment until it is profitable.
And that was my mandate when I joined my current company as a technology pre-sales consultant. My job scope requires me to get leads, open doors, articulate value, bring home the cash bacon.
I brought scored a 6-figure homerun within 4 months of employment, focusing exclusively on the client’s needs (no peddling). This is made possible with the following:
Focusing on one quality lead.
Embracing an intensive customer-first orientation.
Spending 80% of the time nurturing the lead and 20% closing the deal.
Financial economics is the Lingua Franca of the Business World. Stay focused, focused, focused.
You Want Deals? Respect Cultural Diversity. Above All, Love Your Clients.
Treat your client like your newborn. Give them all your attention and focus on everything they do and need to do.
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
I work in a software product company. My primary sales catalog consists of product licenses. On top of that, we do client consulting work and other forms of services (such as training and workshops).
Flexibility is key. And that flexibility comes from our observation of the client. During the 4 months of lead nurturing, I found out that the way to get a higher contract value from a quality lead is to focus on services over product licenses.
This is what I mean:
75% of my client’s workforce do not need software to execute their daily tasks.
The client’s Asia-Pacific Information Technology team has a headcount of 6 and supports 11 Business Units with 170+ full-time employees.
They need help.
In my final proposal to this client, I included software administrator outsourcing, upskilling workshops (1st time and refreshers), and additional consulting services to help convert their paper-based organization to a digitally enabled one. The allocation of the offer is 80% services and 20% product license for $110,000.
My client took the offer without further consideration.
Think about that.
Our YouTube Channel – Knowledge Topics
On our Youtube Channel, we produce content to uncover topics that permeate all walks of life. Our community can understand what it means to be in the trenches of our interest.
Here are some topics of interest we recorded with high viewership:
Why we buy what we buy.
Mindset and Career.
Marketing on a Dime.
Green Technology.
Robotic Era.
Mental Health.
Our goal is to share our research with our community from a practitioner's standpoint.
Summary
How we think matters.
Mutual respect is the lubricant for customer relationships. I have not seen any deals made with complete disregard of the client’s feelings, cultural sensitivity, and you-name-it.
That said, focus. Have your eyes on the prize.
The job of Bottomsup Perspective is to research, discuss, and share our findings so our community can grow with us.
This topic is one example of sharing our practitionership.
Do you believe in what we do?
If you do, push this big purple button.