Knowledge Management for Sales and Marketing: A Practitioner’s Guide

While this book is primarily aimed at those who are involved in Knowledge Management (KM) or have recently been appointed to deliver KM in sales and marketing environments, it is also highly relevant to those engaged in the management or delivery of sales and marketing activities. This book presents models to assist the reader to understand how knowledge can be applied and reused within the sales and marketing processes, leading to an enhanced win rate.Topics covered provide managers and practitioners with the necessary principles, approaches and tools to be able to design their approach from scratch or to be able to compare their existing practices against world class examples. Several models and methodologies are explained which can be applied or replicated in a wide variety of industries. The book also features numerous case studies which illustrate the journey that various companies are taking as they implement KM within sales and marketing.

Table of Contents:
List of figures and table Foreword Preface Acknowledgements About the authors Chapter 1: Principles of knowledge management Introduction What is knowledge? Tacit and explicit knowledge What is knowledge management? Knowledge management models People, process, technology and governance The ‘learning before, during and after’ model The business need for knowledge management The learning curve Benchmarking Which knowledge? Approaches to knowledge management Cultural issues Chapter 2: The sales and marketing context The sales force The bid team The marketing team The interface between product development, manufacturing, marketing and sales Summary Chapter 3: Knowledge management processes in sales, bidding and marketing Peer assist Knowledge exchange Knowledge market Retrospect Mini-knowledge exchange and peer assist at team meetings After action review (AAR) Training, coaching and mentoring Interviews Knowledge asset Best practice Storytelling and case histories Chapter 4: Communities in sales and marketing Communities of practice Communities of purpose Communities of interest Chapter 5: Technology The telephone Community software Collaboration software Knowledge libraries Customer databases and product databases Chapter 6: Knowledge management roles Knowledge manager Knowledge management champion Knowledge librarian Community facilitator or leader Subject matter experts (SMEs) and knowledge owners The central knowledge management team Senior sponsor Chapter 7: Culture and governance Knowledge management, target-setting and incentives The role of the manager in setting the culture Dealing with inter-team competition Dealing with ‘not invented here’ Knowledge management expectations Reinforcement Chapter 8: Case study from British Telecom: supporting a distributed sales force Introduction Understanding the users’ requirements Web 2.0 for knowledge-sharing Knowledge-sharing with the Semantic MediaWiki Delivering information in context Understanding and improving processes The users’ response Next steps Acknowledgement Chapter 9: Case study from Mars, Inc.: knowledge management in sales and marketing Introduction Toolkit Global Practice Groups Communities of practice Knowledge exchange Formal knowledge-capture Go with the flow Technology – the great enabler Summary Chapter 10: Case study from Ordnance Survey: social networking and the transfer of knowledge within supply chain management Introduction What was the problem? Silos Assumptions Methodology Demand audit Findings – 2004 audit Findings – 2006 audit Findings – 2007 audit Was the problem due to ignoring social architecture? Personal character traits Knowledge transfer Space Reward systems Power Conclusion Chapter 11: Setting up a knowledge management framework for sales, marketing and bidding Step 1: define the scope of your exercise Step 2: identify the key areas of knowledge that people need Step 3: for each knowledge area, define the source and user of the knowledge Step 4: define whether this knowledge can be transferred as tacit, explicit or both Step 5: if knowledge transfer is tacit, define the communication mechanism Step 6: if knowledge transfer is explicit, define the capture mechanism Step 7: define the organisation method Step 8: define the distribution and internalisation mechanism Step 9: define how you will measure knowledge management activity Step 10: define how you will manage the performance of knowledge management Appendix – customer buying process Index

About the Author :
Tom Young is Chairman of Knoco Ltd. Prior to that Tom was founding member and Principal Coach of BPs Knowledge Management Team and Virtual Teamworking project. His understanding of cultures and industries and how to successfully interact with them, allows him to be equally at home in the Asia Pacific as in Wall Street. Dr Nick Milton is a director and co-founder of Knoco Ltd - a Knowledge Management consultancy comprised of seasoned knowledge management practitioners, mentors, and coaches. Knoco Ltd has been delivering successful and sustained Knowledge Management implementation to clients since 1999.

Review :
"Offers a straightforward and easy-to-grasp overview of a complex subject." --Managing Information "This book illustrates that what may appear a straightforward concept is in fact one that requires more consideration and has many elements to it if it is to be successfully implemented. It has been written for a specific audience, but the content can also be understood and applied more broadly." --Australian Library Journal