The Funnel Runneth Over with MarketOne International

By Adriana Puckett

In the post-AOL/Time Warner landscape of mega-company mergers, the picture presented to small companies looks bleak. How can small companies with their limited sales staffs channel viable prospects into their sales funnels, while developing meaningful customer relationships and closing deals?

MarketOne International can help. Spencer Harvey, MarketOne CEO, says, “Smaller companies do not have the staff necessary to focus on a pipeline. The sales force is typically small and is focused on closing the deal of the month and keeping the deal going so that the company can stay in business. What you see are peaks and valleys…you close the deal and, uh-oh, there is nothing in the pipeline.”

Spencer says MarketOne works to keep the sales funnel full so when companies are ready to work on the next deal, a ripe opportunity is waiting. MarketOne asks its clients to first identify 300 companies in the U.S. with whom they are most likely to do business. Then their clients analyze the list against certain criteria, such as who they have already sold to, how big the target companies are and what vertical markets they are in.

Next, the clients have to eliminate every company with whom they have already been in contact or are currently speaking. MarketOne works with the remaining list. Their staff of experienced researchers then does secondary research on the target companies and identifies key contact names. Finally, expert sales analysts engage the contacts at each company and extract the information that their clients desire.

The data that MarketOne provides its clients is on an as-needed basis, instead of in one chunk, which may drain the company’s resources and leave them empty-handed in the future. Spencer says, “We only give [our clients] the short-term opportunities that need a skilled solution seller right away, and the rest we hold on to. We keep nurturing the relationships for one quarter, two quarters, or three quarters, and then we make [our clients] aware of new opportunities as they ripen.”

“The idea is to keep our clients focused on what they do best, which is the final mile of the sale, and meanwhile we incubate and nurture new opportunities until they become ready for that final activity,” says Spencer.

For more information about MarketOne International, visit www.marketonea.com, call 800-894-7303 or email info@marketonea.com