In B2B Sales, YOU are the Brand!

When it comes to B2B sales, the sales rep is the brand.

Let me explain.For most marketeers, branding is a way to get funding for fun projects and a way to goose up their career. However, the reason that they can get that money is that brand does provide a valuable function.

As the theory goes, a good brand creates buyer preference, which provides a competitive advantage (i.e. your products get chosen more often in a flat playing field) and, ideally, the ability to charge a premium.

The problem with most corporate branding exercises is that they forget that a good brand is the result of a good product.

If you don't believe me, read these two interviews I recently did with two of the world's top marketing executives: "The Wisdom of Price-War Veterans." Note that when these two talk about brand, they're actually talking about how they use product, not "branding" to build brand.

That's why the most effective B2C ads are all about the benefits of the specific product -- not about "corporate goodness" and other meaningless concepts.

Now, in B2B sales, the reason that a sales rep is needed is because B2B offerings must be built into a solution. The purpose of that solution is so that the buyer can "outsource" that corporate function to your firm, with YOU as the manager responsible for making certain that that function takes place on time and on budget.

Therefore, the primary reason that a B2B buyer is going to buy from your firm (as opposed to the firm with identical products down the street) is that YOU seem more trustworthy and knowledgeable than the guy working for the competition.

Furthermore, it is only through YOU, and your personal credibility, that your firm will be able to charge a premium. As I once heard a great salesman say: "All things being equal, people prefer doing business with people whom they like and respect....and that's even true when things aren't equal."

You are the public face of your firm. You are the reason your firm can (or can't) charge a premium.

You are the brand.

Any marketeer who says differently doesn't know what he's talking about.