TheTop 10 Reasons Why Salespeople Get Outsold
June 30, 2010
In my business, it has been an interesting and very busy two quarters. I’ve worked with sales managers, marketing executives, professional services practice managers, business development executives, divisional presidents, two dozen sales teams, nine VPs of Sales and directly with 29 CEOs in North America and in Europe. I’ve seen a lot of deals won and more than a few lost.
When I first meet my clients, I find that some really do not know why they have won or lost business, although often they think they do. Their answers to just a few of my questions provides me with a pretty good idea of where to dig in more deeply. (Note: For me to perform a comprehensive diagnosis and provide appropriate recommendations for improvement, a formal win/loss analysis is required.)
In order to help you diagnose why you may have lost one or more deals, I am sharing with you in Letterman-style reverse order, the top ten reasons that salespeople (generally those employed by my clients’ competitors) got outsold during the first part of 2003:
Gettting Paid To Take Surveys Online
June 29, 2010
Gettting Paid To Take Surveys Online
by: Chris Price
Many websites will post ads that say something like ” Huggies vs. Pampers, take this survey and get a $500 gift card”. That is not a paid survey! If you read the terms of that type of offer it will tell you that you need to join their sponsor offers and trials to receive the reward.
What is a Real Paid Survey ?
A real paid survey is conducted by a legitimate market research firm. The market research firm is hired by a company to gather information about a certain product or advertisement. An example of this would be:
A major cell phone company wants to change their logo and slogan and wants to see which one of their ideas has the most appeal to the public. They hire Luth Research to conduct a study of people 18 - 35 in major cities who own a cell phone. Luth Research then sends a survey to their online panelists via their online paid surveys division, Survey Savvy. They may send the survey to 10,000 people. Each of those 10,000 people are paid $5 to answer questions about the way they feel about the advertisement, which logo and slogan they think is best and why. The survey takes about 15 minutes to complete and the panelist is mailed a check a few weeks after the study is complete.
A Business Plan Is Not Worth A Cracker To A Struggling Business - A Plans The Last Thing It Needs
June 28, 2010
Before you start a business we encourage you to prepare a business plan. Without it your business has a 92% chance of failing within the first 12 months. Sometimes your business plan tells you that you should not go into business at all!
Sometimes we encourage you to think seriously before you decide to go ahead with a risky business. But we always encourage the preparation of a business plan.
If you use a professional to assist, the fee can be between $3,000 and $10,000. Or you can purchase off-the-shelf plans that give you the form and you do the research for information to fill in the ‘blanks’. Either way, it will take at least three weeks for you to come up with the completed plan and normally much longer.
So the chief reason is that you probably don’t have $3,000 to $10,000 for the professional. If your business is struggling it’s probably got very little money to pay existing creditors without incurring further expense with no immediate return.
Another problem is that you will definitely not have the time to prepare one. You need something done now, not in three weeks or more time.
How to Turn Your Marketing Into a Money-Making Machine - Setting The Stage For Successful Marketing
June 28, 2010
Powerful Marketing has become elusive to many companies seeking strong sales results and overall growth. The sad truth is that Marketing comes across as a rather frustrating process. After all, how do you guarantee the outcome of a campaign when it is unclear what will work and what will not? As someone once said, 90% of Advertising doesn’t work-the question is, which 90%!
If we could hone in on that 10% that does work, we would do more of it, right?
The good news is that there is a way, and it is through a scientific approach to our Marketing efforts. But before we can expect to see any results, our mindset must be a focused one, and that requires being on the same page with others on our team, and having solid sources of information (and inspiration!) accessible to allow us to forge ahead in a new direction.
Getting There
There is a place where ideas can happen, where our flowing creativity can give rise to new ways, new possibilities in our thinking. If we are going to increase our Marketing results, that openness must be firmly in place, allowing ideas to bounce freely and solutions to present themselves.
Goal-Mapping
June 27, 2010
Goal-mapping is like a treasure hunt, you must first start out by knowing what you are looking for. Be very specific on what you want without limiting yourself. The next step is charting out what course of action you must take to get what you want. I encourage women to map out a treasure hunt on what they want in life, and to use that chart to reach their goals. That is exactly what I did to get my Ph.D. degree. I knew that I wanted to get my degree in psychology, and to write a book. My goal was to use my dissertation as a self-help book, and with the successful completion of my dissertation I could be awarded my degree. I enrolled in the Ph.D. program and completed all my core courses.
The Wealthy Mindset
June 26, 2010
What is the difference between wealthy people and poor (even average) people? It is not all the money that wealthy people have and the average don’t, nor the luxury, nor the lifestyle. It is their mindset.
A few lucky people have won a lot of money and become wealthy overnight but in short time many of them have returned to their prior financial condition too soon. There is no trace of all the riches they have once
won. Very few of them can stay wealthy long enough to actually improve their quality of life.
Why? Because it is not the money and the luxurious lifestyle that make people wealthy. It is their mindset.
Real wealthy people act differently upon the big cash they can get their hands on and upon everything else pertaining money and possession. And this is because they think differently from most average people in the first place.
Let’s think this through and discuss the way average people think?
As soon as they can get their hands on a big fat check, average people would almost immediately go shopping. Buy the latest model car, luxurious home, or spend it on renovation, once-in-a-lifetime luxurious vacation? blah blah blah.
Is CRM Technology Living Up To the Hype?
June 25, 2010
Over the last few years the buzz about CRM (Customer Relationship Management) has grown extensively. It seems that every Sales & Marketing executive is talking about it. A study conducted by Jupiter Media Metrix found that U.S. businesses spent more than $5.2 billion in CRM technology software in 2001, a number that is expected to rise to $8.7 billion by 2006. CRM spending has been growing considerably, especially in financial services, retail, and telecommunications.
Many companies have invested in CRM systems to retain customers who demand more and better services by the day, but why? Due to recent trends, consumer behavior has changed dramatically in the last couple of years, and even more with current market conditions. According to a study made by The Center for Customer Strategy, consumers are less concerned with minor price differences, but choose companies based on their value-added services. They want to be able to get what they need, quickly. With tools like the Internet, it’s now a lot easier for both consumers and businesses to compare offers, and switch over if their needs aren’t met. This is especially true of high-value customers that produce the most profit for the business.
Why Arent They Buying?
June 24, 2010
You’ve polished your sales page over and over againuntil it’s gleaming with benefits. You’re gettingplenty of traffic. And still - no sales.
What’s wrong?
It could be the recession (although that’s debatable).
With thousands of people losing their jobs each week,consumer confidence (and therefore consumer spending)is down.
But on the other hand, if thousands of people arelosing their jobs, there is without doubt a growingarmy of people out there who are looking to theInternet to make their living.
But let’s leave aside the recession, and look at twoother reasons you may not be getting sales:
(1) People very rarely buy the first time.
You must have heard the statistics - people have tosee your product an average of 7 times before they buyit. When I cast my mind back to the marketing eBooksI’ve purchased, in each case I saw those booksadvertised for months - on websites, in newsletters -before I bought them.
So if you want to make a sale, you must find a way tostay in contact with your visitors - and bring themback.
The easiest way to do this is to offer your visitors afree subscription to your newsletter.
Staying In The Game
June 23, 2010
The message came from Human Resources. There’s nothing to worry about with the newly announced organizational changes and pending merger, it reassured. The changes will be good for the company and good for the people who work here it coached.
I’ve seen a couple dozen messages like this during my career. In fact, I’ve even crafted a few. I’ve been through mergers, acquisitions, downsizings, organizational changes, personal career set-backs and a myriad of new corporate initiatives. And the best lesson I learned from all of them? Stay a player.
Granted my tactics for what that meant varied with the situation. Sometimes the safest play was to keep my head down and do my work exceedingly well until I understood the new landscape. Sometimes I rolled with the punches long enough to realize what was happening might be great for the company, but not a great long term choice for me, so I moved on. Sometimes I helped others acclimate to the new direction or culture and found new opportunities emerging along the way. Sometimes the toll was personal, like when a promotion I’d worked my entire career to reach was given to an outsider. Still, I stayed in the game.
Selecting Google Adsense Keywords - Simple and Easy
June 23, 2010
Selecting Google Adsense Keywords - Simple and Easy
by: Stephen Wright
Getting on the bandwagon for profits and increasing your website traffic in the balance might sound like an easy task, but in reality very few marketers are able to be successful on their own without some advice, guidance and shortcuts. Finding and implementing high profit, low competition keywords in your ads really is the trick for making Adsense payoff big.
On the opposite spectrums of Adsense are huge possible profits and low competition keywords for your ads - to substantial expenses and lost revenues, simply from not having up front information to utilize. Adsense for many is an expense and painful lesson in “what not to do”. However, InternetMarketingUSA offers a handful of straightforward approaches, designed to provide you with a easily followed roadmap of ideas to get you going on the right path.
