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When should the handoff from marketing to sales occur? The trend has been to gather ever more intelligence about your targets before unleashing the sales force on an opportunity, in the hopes that a more refined view of the prospect will lead to a shorter and more successful sales cycle. With more metrics brought to bear on the situation, the conventional wisdom goes, the sales team will be better equipped to communicate with the prospect, understand his needs and close the deal.

There is some truth to this thinking, but it has led sales and marketing departments astray with over-analysis. Analytics and market and prospect intelligence are undoubtedly crucial to the effective progression of a sales opportunity from early marketing efforts through the sales cycle and ultimately through implementation, as well. But, data has become a crutch, preventing sales and marketing teams from moving swiftly to take advantage of clear opportunities.

IT marketers and sales forces need to regain a sense of balance.

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The “trusted advisor” line is nothing we all haven’t heard a gazillion times before. Every IT reseller wants to play this role for a client. It isn’t a differentiator any more. Take this approach, and you’ll join the crowd of IT VARs trying to win a prospect’s business … and it will feel like you haven’t done any marketing at all. Don’t let this happen to you. Rather than follow the pack down the trusted advisor road, be ready to demonstrate that you understand your client’s or prospect’s needs and are uniquely positioned to address them. Once this happens, you doubtless will become the trusted advisor.

What IT buyers really need are answers. They are contending with disparate infrastructures, rapidly increasing storage needs and staffs that aren’t growing fast enough to manage the workload – if the staffs are growing at all (let’s not forget what the broader economic situation is like right now). Quite simply, your prospects have clear, distinct challenges that they have to overcome in order to meet the needs of their end users. So, they are most likely to respond to IT resellers who can help them with real solutions that are delivered cost-effectively.

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Everything we’re seeing and hearing in the channel partner and IT manufacturer space is that everyone’s going “social.” Computer software and hardware companies, we published last week, are increasingly turning to this form of marketing. Fifty-five percent of them, according to a MarketingSherpa survey, are increasing their social media marketing budgets, with only 5 percent cutting back.

But, what are they hoping to accomplish?

That’s been the unanswered question for IT manufacturers and resellers. Everyone knows that social is the place to be, but few are sure of the reasons why. We’ve always maintained that social media marketing must be integrated into a company’s larger marketing plan and that clear objectives should be defined.

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Events, webinars, appointments … it seems like every IT reseller is singularly focused on filling his calendar. Face-to-face meetings show progress, and if you’re getting someone to commit to that sort of intensive time, it must mean that the sales cycle is moving forward, right?

The problem, however, is one familiar to everyone in our business. Meetings are canceled. Or, they don’t result in much. Another meeting – or two or three – is required, and they don’t bring you any closer to a sale. You’re left with a full calendar that isn’t turning into sales. It’s frustrating, especially because, according to the conventional wisdom, you’re doing everything right.

Well, it’s time for a change.

Your goal isn’t to get a meeting set up – or to get a prospect to attend your event. Instead, you want to (a) close a sale and (b) establish a long-term relationship that will be valuable to you for the foreseeable future. Meetings are a stop en route to this goal, along with other forms of interaction, such as direct mail, telemarketing and online engagement. Keep this in perspective; otherwise, you may wind up chasing meetings at the expense of new business development.

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