The sales and marketing of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software is an entirely Business to Business (B2B) transaction. As the need for an ERP software solution differs from industry to industry and, within industry types, from company to company, the key factor in the marketing of ERP is the preliminary research to identify the exact segment for pitching the sales note.

1. A Winning Sales & Marketing Strategy for ERP Businesses
The sales and marketing of Enterprise
Resource Planning (ERP) software is an
entirely Business to Business (B2B)
transaction. As the need for an ERP
solution differs from industry to
industry and, within industry types,
from company to company, the key
factor in the marketing of ERP is the
preliminary research to identify the
exact segment for pitching the sales
note. If this research is skipped or floundered, all the manual and material
investments in marketing the ERP solution might just collapse to naught.
ERP products have to be sold multiple times to breakeven the enormous cost
invested in its development and to generate revenue for sustaining the business. In
this course, the sales force of any ERP company is posed with the obligation to
target many companies with disparate business process requirements, wherein,
even companies in the same industry segment might have different needs. So,
marketing an ERP product entails industry oriented business-specific surgical
segmentation of the market.
After successfully segmenting the market and identifying potential prospects, the
following 3 aspects play a crucial part in acquiring and retaining customers:
1. The core reason for which the client wants to implement the ERP has to be
recognized through telephonic/personal interactions with key stakeholders
and through on-site surveys.
2. Based on the learned conclusions drawn from the preceding survey, a
demonstration of the ERP has to be presented to the client in such a way that
the demo perfectly aligns with the gap the client intends to bridge through
the benefit of an ERP.

2. If the prospect were to become a client, the ERP design formulated for the
demo will also serve as a pilot blueprint for the Implementation and
Development Teams.
3. Once a Lead is converted into an Order, the Marketing personnel’s consensus
on the choice of implementation team should be made imperative in order to
ensure the easy synchronization of the team with the client’s key
stakeholders.
Though there is no single formula for the sale of ERP, the sales sequence briefed
above is a simple yet time tested protocol with an appreciable success rate. The
sales ploy, in addition to its success rate, is also strategized to earn customers who
would eventually become long term business allies and, of course, perennial
revenue generators.