Most B2B companies want to increase their revenue. And most of them do it by increasing sales effort. This can take the form of adding staff or increasing advertising. The question is whether this is the best approach. Increasing selling seems like the obvious solution to wanting to increase revenue. The trouble happens when your selling is inefficient. If it's already hard to make sales, then adding selling pressure will increase sales only marginally. On the other hand, if selling is made easier, then you could increase sales with the same salesforce. So, how is this possible? Branding. Branding is the grease of the wheels of selling. Branding does 2 important things that every salesperson needs. 1. Branding generates awareness in the market of the company. This smooths the introduction process when making sales calls. 2. Branding positions the company within the market in the mind of the client. This means that the client knows generally who are the competitors, what kind of work the company does, and what they will have to pay. These things are crucial to a successful sales process. No one should be selling without them. Too often, comapnies try to accomplish branding during their sales process. For instance, in the absense of marketing or branding effort, the salesperson him/herself can try to introduce the company and position it correctly for the prospect. Note that this has to happen before selling can even happen. While this is possible, it's very difficult. Only the most effective salespeople, working in the more effective companies with the best reputations, can hope to achieve this. For anyone else, it's going to be near impossible. So, this is what I say: when you're selling, don't forget the branding. Everything will be easier and more effective.