Recent Articles from Christopher Ryan
Top five B2B sales trends for 2015
Every December, my team and I have the opportunity to reflect on the past year’s activity and results, conduct some industry research, and spot some B2B trends. You can take advantage of every one of these trends to increase your competitive advantage and improve marketing and sales performance in...
B2B sales and marketing trends for 2014
In the rapidly evolving B2B arena, knowing the key trends can help you refine, adjust or enhance your strategy. For B2B sales and marketing professionals who want to improve their practice and results, one of the best things about the holidays is using some of those slower days to reflect on progr...
Marketing gurus — inside or outsource?
I don’t know where along this spectrum your company falls, but CEOs and their marketing leaders are faced with a dazzling array of choices when considering whether to outsource any portion of their marketing needs. Do you plan to keep all of your core functions under the employee umbrella? Will yo...
Six ways to build company value in a down economy
While the political battle rages over whose fault it is that the economy seems to be perpetually stuck in the doldrums, entrepreneurs and established businesses alike are faced with the task of keeping their businesses moving in a forward direction. Working with dozens of companies has taught us valuable lessons on how to accomplish this. […]
Hit hard and clean in your B2B campaign
Another high-stakes presidential campaign plays out before us, bringing cyclical feelings that range from hope to nausea. This year displays the same high rate of spin and cut-to-the-bone negativity as always. While B2B marketers may not have the bare-knuckle messaging latitude that the presidenti...
How to shorten the B2B sales cycle
If there is one thing that aggravates the modern B2B company, it is the constantly lengthening sales cycle. Everyone, from CEO to sales VP to sales rep, suffers from this problem and wants to know what to do about it. The future of your company (and its stock price) may depend on getting revenue i...
Just how many sales leads do you need?
This should be a simple question. However, for a lot of B2B companies, the answer is tough to pinpoint. When I ask a new Fusion Marketing Partners client or prospect how many leads they think they need to generate, I usually get one of these answers: • “I don’t know” or “I have no idea”• […]
David vs. Goliath, business-style: Part 2
In my last article, I talked about how “David” companies can compete against industry Goliaths with smart positioning. The idea is to create a niche where your differentiators are without compare; something that addresses a particular market pain point that you do better than anybody else. Now I’d like to drill down into some tactical […]
Fatal marketing mistakes for tech companies
For all Colorado’s diversity of tech companies and entrepreneurs, there is still a small list of marketing missteps that can cause them to limp along far beneath their potential, or worse yet, fold outright. As veterans who have built and marketed tech-based companies from Silicon Valley to Colorado, our team has seen it all. We’ve […]
The seven deadly sins of marketing and sales
The original seven deadly sins are lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride. While the marketing equivalents aren’t as serious, they can lead you to marketing and sales disaster if not addressed. Deadly Sin 1: Lack of Self-Awareness. When I refer to self-awareness, I am talking about not only understanding who you are as […]