Increasing selling seems like the obvious solution to wanting to increase revenue. The trouble happens when your selling is inefficient. If it’s already hard to make sales, then adding selling pressure will increase sales only marginally. On the other hand, if selling is made easier, then you could increase sales with the same salesforce.

So, how is this possible? Branding.

Branding is the grease of the wheels of selling. Branding does 2 important things that every salesperson needs.

1. Branding generates awareness in the market of the company. This smooths the introduction process when making sales calls.

2. Branding positions the company within the market in the mind of the client. This means that the client knows generally who are the competitors, what kind of work the company does, and what they will have to pay.

These things are crucial to a successful sales process. No one should be selling without them.

Too often, comapnies try to accomplish branding during their sales process. For instance, in the absense of marketing or branding effort, the salesperson him/herself can try to introduce the company and position it correctly for the prospect. Note that this has to happen before selling can even happen.

While this is possible, it’s very difficult. Only the most effective salespeople, working in the more effective companies with the best reputations, can hope to achieve this. For anyone else, it’s going to be near impossible.

So, this is what I say: when you’re selling, don’t forget the branding. Everything will be easier and more effective.

Good branding is built up over time supported by good delivery, good value, etc. So, for one, good branding alone is not what people buy. They buy a good brand. So, to ask for the value of a branding campaign is a mistake. You should ask for the value of the brand.

That aside, the most important goal of branding is to not lose you sales. When a potential customer is evaluating options, they are giving each provider a quick look. At the moment your company gets the look, you need to keep the customer from turning away. You don’t need to make a sale. You just need to stay in the running. A good brand will keep you in the running. A bad brand will lose you the sale.

At worst, your failure to make a quick good impression will take you out of consideration for good. At best, a bad brand will immediately create an unnecessary hurdle for you. Your marketing and sales will have to overcome this hurdle before you can close the deal. And why create more work for yourself?

Next time you’re working on your brand, ask yourself what you could be losing.

Well, that seems to be the approach of this marketer! I found this advertisement on the wall of a public restroom—the height of interruption marketing. Luckily, I was able to ironically peruse their ads with my cold, marketing eye. And I was in luck! What a description for your company. I can imagine the creative discussion between the writer and business owner.

Writer: So, we need to nail down your specialty so we can communicate about it.

Owner: What, just one thing?

Writer: Well, maybe 2. But, no more.

Owner: Won’t we limit the number of customers who will use us if we limit it?

Writer: No. It will increase because those who want exactly what you do will go to you first.

Owner: I don’t buy it. If we have to say we specialize, then say we specialize in everything!

Jon settles on this main argument: “B2B buyers are still people, and people are emotional”. He alludes to Kevin Randall’s argument that branding is actually essential for the B2B market.

It seems a stretch to argue that emotion is the biggest reason for the effectiveness of B2B brands. Here, Moore must be right: B2B decisions are more weighty and complex than typical B2C purchases. And it must be true that these decisions are more deliberate.

But, it does not in any way follow that a deliberate choice is an unbranded choice. Here, I side with Randall. Brands, in the best sense, allow shortcuts. A good brand captures many complex ideas. And when well-communicated, a good brand passes these ideas along to the potential client. In this sense, a solid brand can facilitate purchases by narrowing the complexity that a buyer faces.

And isn’t this just what it does for B2C brands, too? Isn’t brand communication just a shorthand way of reminding the purchaser about the company’s or product’s qualities?