Managing A B2B Marketing Network

Posted on Jul 28 2015 - 3:19pm by Editorial Staff

Business

If you are in the business of marketing for the B2B sector, chances are you have sales reps all over the globe and keeping track of everything is a major chore. From keeping track of leads through sales that are made on a daily, even hourly basis, your office staff may be overwhelmed, to say the least. Whether you are in need of improving efficiency in your Human Resources department or bookkeeping is working beyond capacity, there are effective ways to manage a B2B network that can actually cut costs while reducing stress on your office staff. Here are some thoughts you might want to consider.

Make the Right Choice in Team Leaders

One of the biggest choices you will need to make in terms of managing marketing teams in remote locations is your choice in team leaders. Not only is it necessary to appoint a leader who knows marketing inside out but you will need to choose one who is efficient as well as driven. Some people are natural born marketers but horrid with paperwork. Your team leader should be able to manage his or her team whilst making sure that records are kept accurately to account for sales, leads, clients and even records of the clients’ customers. Always choose a team leader with superb organisational skills.

Cloud-Based Data Storage

Another highly time-consuming task that many marketing companies face is converting all those records to the mainframe when teams come in off the road. With cloud-based data storage it is possible to have all that information logged into the system daily without the need to wait until returning back to the home office to catch up on ‘paperwork.’ Everything from managing the team’s schedule with cloud-based HR software like that found on XCDHR.com to entering daily sales records can be done efficiently in any location and would be immediately visible to the managing directors back home.

Outsourcing Tasks

Oddly, while B2B marketing is in itself an outsourced task hired by growing numbers of companies, even outsource providers need to outsource some of their tasks from time to time! If you are managing a huge marketing endeavour, why not outsource some of the tasks your team would normally be responsible for? Have you considered hiring copywriters to do the actual writing of promotional materials? This leaves your marketers free to build and follow leads whilst working with clients and prospects as they go. Taking time to do the actual marketing copywriting is a time consuming task that management could outsource, saving resources for where they’re needed most – selling!

Managing a crew that is always on the road is a time-consuming job. These ideas should help B2B marketing firms improve efficiency whilst actually saving money in the process. Just because you are an outsourced marketing firm doesn’t preclude you from taking advantage of outsourcing yourself. As you are trying to increase profitability for your clients, take the time to increase your own as well. Technology and talent is the key.

About the Author

Editorial Staff at I2Mag is a team of subject experts.