In enterprise B2B markets, selling the product or service out of the gate is pretty challenging. It might be too complex to get across in the time available. It might be that the prospect simply isn’t ready to buy. It could be that there are multiple logical marketing steps between first contact and first meeting. But many campaigns try to “close” the lead in just one step.

If the proposition itself is not compelling, or too complex to communicate, or if the prospect needs to be taken on a journey or to learn something before they will progress into a lead, you need to make the next step compelling instead.

Your job is to open the door and start a dialogue: entice the person to an event, get a prospect will take a call – not to sell the entire solution in one fell swoop.

Map the journey you need to take people on, and sell the next step. If you really want someone to take a meeting, consider what your proposition for the meeting needs to be. Have you information they would like? If you want them to attend an event, consider what they want to hear, look at what information you could provide that might make their job easier? (see what Egg’s CIO said about why this works.) Then consider what will happen after the event, what will they need to hear or see then to take them to the next step?

Nurture those who are a fit for your solution regardless of their timing to buy. As their knowledge of you and your propositions grows, you build credibility and access. Meaning that when the time is right for them, you are perfectly positioned.

The third and final post in this series will be available shortly, and features a number of ways you can tackle the creation of a compelling theme for your campaign. Get it as soon as it’s published by signing up to this blog’s RSS feed or subscribing to email alerts. Part one of this series on proposition development is here.