For many of us in sales, it is an everyday occurrence to conduct sales meetings on a conference call with participants from multiple locations. While this can be a terrific way to communicate to multiple people in different locations, the call can be ruined by music on hold, shuffling papers, dogs barking, and background conversations.…
Internet advertising is growing three times as fast as the other methods. Marketers spent $21 billion on search marketing in 2007. It is forecasted to reach $31.3 billion by 2011 according to International Data Corporation. In 2000, internet advertising revenues were effectively zero! While internet advertising is still relatively new, companies can successfully implement an…
“Promise only what you can deliver. Then deliver more than you promise.” – Author Unknown Many customers hesitate to buy because they fear that they might make the wrong decision and regret it later. This fear dominates the purchase decision and may kill the selling opportunity altogether. One way to minimize this fear, or even…
You can’t help but admire the success of Google. With a market capitalization of $158 billion it is very hard to argue with their strategy. If you visit their corporate website they have a section called “Philosophy” and a button below called “Ten Things”. These ten things represent the guiding philosophy or values for the…
Many of us spend a lot of time thinking about what we want. This is true for career planning, negotiation, marketing strategy, and lunch. We are the center of universe, or so we think. In marketing and sales you must let go of what you want and put the focus first on the customer, or…
Advertising is tough for most small-to-medium size businesses since it is expensive, difficult to connect with your target customer, and hard to measure for effectiveness. However, there some tricks when setting up your advertising campaign to ensure that the campaign’s effectiveness can be measured. The simplest method for tracking advertising is to ask the customer how they heard about your business or product. Most of the time, your customers will tell you exactly how they found you; this could be because of advertising or not.
When I wrote my book, First, Best, or Different, I included a chapter on the importance of blogging. Little did I know at the time that blogging would become the core of own book marketing effort. Indulge me as I tell you about my own blogging story.
A recent online study by Deloitte and Touche uncovered that two thirds of store visits during the 2006 holiday season were not influenced by holiday advertising. It turns out that most consumers picked stores because of their pre-existing familiarity with the stores and the stores locations. Additionally, the products purchased were researched on the internet.
My recent blogs regarding e-mail and selling created quite a stir with my readers. Apparently, e-mail is a very thorny issue for many sales people. Sales people are increasing forced to sell through e-mails; customers seem to hide behind their PCs.
Writing effective e-mails is hard work and there is also confusion about when to e-mail and when to call (or leave a voicemail).
To be successful in Niche Marketing, you gotta follow these 10 rules: