THE EMERGENCE OF THOUGHT LEADERSHIP AS A SALES AND MARKETING DISCIPLINE The notion of establishing thought leadership has emerged as a top priority with sales and marketing executives. Growth-starved organizations are looking for ways to differentiate themselves with new ideas, education, and relevant solutions that address buyer pain and influence their perceptions of value. The bar on content quality is rising. As buyer’s experience content saturation and information overload, the notion of establishing thought leadership has emerged as a top priority with sales and marketing as the best way to differentiate their brands and ensure marketing effectiveness. Marketing executives are learning that subject matter expertise and a strong point of view are now essential to success in the digital, social, and mobile channels that buyers use during the majority of the buying process. Sales executives realize original research and compelling insights make it easier to open doors, start quality customer conversations, generate referrals and cross sell solutions. Despite the growing importance of thought leadership to top line growth, it receives more lip service than program dollars in actual practice. Most organizations fail to put “muscle” behind the idea by executing disciplined Thought Leadership Selling Programs in sales, marketing and media channels. This paper outlines how your organization can create Thought Leadership Selling Programs that immediately drive top line growth by generating more quality customer responses, meetings, referrals, profiles, and conversations. It will teach you three practical steps your organization can take to execute a systematic program for delivering compelling ideas and relevant solutions to your customers. Three Steps to Executing a Thought Leadership Program Why Thought Leadership Is So Important to Sales Success? A chorus of consultants and business leaders are emphasizing the importance of thought leadership to creating sales success. • Thought leadership is now critical to differentiating the brand and driving engagement in earned media, owned marketing and direct sales channels. Selling stories, ROI models, and customer case studies are essential to supporting “value conversations” that accelerate sales, drive margin and change minds.5 Thought Leadership Selling Page 3 © Revenue Enablement Institute 2022