Tags |
|
|
Links |
|
|
Member You - 8 Procedures to Take Control of Sales and Marketing
“Hey Man who are you!” I was sitting on a wall next to the Armory Park outside the Peabody Essex in historic Salem when this “Goth Chick”. Not exactly Goth, well you do not expect many of them to have a southern accent. It was more than her dress that made her seem out of place, or the accent. For this is Salem, and Salem loves Vampires and things of Halloween, but Red (for that is what I will call her in this article.) seemed a long way from home. Not the one in Tenenesee, but the one in her heart. And she was running out of time to get there. For she was pregnant and if she could not find her way home, her child would not stand a chance.The night before I had seen an equally strang
• Sales Cycle Efficiency. Time kills deals. The speed at which a prospect is converted into a customer and the number of prospects required to make that conversion determines your sales cycle efficiency. So ask yourself, are you taking the right steps to measure and reduce lost sales?
• Life-Time Value. How profi
Has your slow season turned into a lazy season?Many times, it’s just an excuse for salespeople who lack the creativity and determination to make sales. Their sales are slow because they allow them to be. They would rather take a nap and let the time slip by.Well, YOU should stay awake! The slow season is the BEST time to get in front of your customers! Think about it: While the rest of your industry is resting, you can take advantage of the opportunity to stand out among your competition and attract customers.The best way to do this is to have clear objectives. Focusing on just a few aspects of your sales approach could help you turn your slow season into a successf
Part Three of Series
We’re sprinting toward that million dollar mark...and we’re only a couple strides away…
Decreasing inventory carried us over the first hurdle, and last week reducing Accounts Receivable sped us through the half-way mark. We’re making great time, so let’s bring on the next mile marker – marketing and sales.
Increasing Overall Sales and Marketing Effectiveness
If you are an organization spending $500,000 or more on marketing expenses (e.g. advertising, trade shows, print materials, direct mail, etc.) then STOP! We found it again. Why you ask…? Because marketing has the greatest potential of being very unproductive. In fact, many marketing programs struggle to break even, and actually frequently lose money. So if we increase the overall effectiveness, then we can eliminate 50% or more of your wasted marketing efforts, which translates into $250,000 in cash.
So now, let’s see how this actually works in a real-life scenario.
Sales and Marketing Company Policy Case Study
An organization with $500,000 in marketing expenses needed assistance. We examined their sales and marketing process to understand and quantify the lead flow, follow-up, and demand forecasting issues. Then we designed and implemented a process to improve their sales cycle efficiency and tie it closer to their customer’s buying cycles. After the marketing reductions, we then reinvested $100,000 back into new processes for public relations and Customer Relationship Management (CRM), both of which were suffering badly.
The metrics we developed reduced their marketing expenses by 60% overall and increased their sales cycle efficiency from 40% to 60% within 6 months of implementing the new procedures. With these new processes and reports, the company now tracks sales cycle efficiency and life-time value rather than just sales quota achievement, as the measure of their sales & marketing effectiveness. The result: an extra $300,000 in cash plus a 50% increase in process capability (capacity).
As we have seen time and time again, time can be our best friend, if only we let it.
Methods to Design the New Sales & Marketing Process
• Improve Follow-up. Only about two percent (2%) of sales occur on the first contact. Eighty percent (80%) of sales will require five to eight contacts before the sale closes. This means that if you are contacting the prospect less than five times or more than eight times, then you could have a problem with follow-up.
• Sales Cycle Efficiency. Time kills deals. The speed at which a prospect is converted into a customer and the number of prospects required to make that conversion determines your sales cycle efficiency. So ask yourself, are you taking the right steps to measure and reduce lost sales?
• Life-Time Value. How profit
One of the main advantages of buying a franchise is that you don’t have to spend a lot of effort introducing your product or service to the public. This alone can save you a lot of money in promoting your product to the public. People already know about the brand and as long as you have purchased a successful franchise, they will not care much about who the owner or operator of the franchise business. This is to say buying a franchise is almost like buying customers themselves.Another advantage of purchasing a franchise is that you save a lot of time and heartache learning this the hard ways as practices and procedures would have been in place for years. Trainings are usually provided
So now, let’s see how this actually works in a real-life scenario.
Sales and Marketing Company Policy Case Study
An organization with $500,000 in marketing expenses needed assistance. We examined their sales and marketing process to understand and quantify the lead flow, follow-up, and demand forecasting issues. Then we designed and implemented a process to improve their sales cycle efficiency and tie it closer to their customer’s buying cycles. After the marketing reductions, we then reinvested $100,000 back into new processes for public relations and Customer Relationship Management (CRM), both of which were suffering badly.
The metrics we developed reduced their marketing expenses by 60% overall and increased their sales cycle efficiency from 40% to 60% within 6 months of implementing the new procedures. With these new processes and reports, the company now tracks sales cycle efficiency and life-time value rather than just sales quota achievement, as the measure of their sales & marketing effectiveness. The result: an extra $300,000 in cash plus a 50% increase in process capability (capacity).
As we have seen time and time again, time can be our best friend, if only we let it.
Methods to Design the New Sales & Marketing Process
• Improve Follow-up. Only about two percent (2%) of sales occur on the first contact. Eighty percent (80%) of sales will require five to eight contacts before the sale closes. This means that if you are contacting the prospect less than five times or more than eight times, then you could have a problem with follow-up.
• Sales Cycle Efficiency. Time kills deals. The speed at which a prospect is converted into a customer and the number of prospects required to make that conversion determines your sales cycle efficiency. So ask yourself, are you taking the right steps to measure and reduce lost sales?
• Life-Time Value. How profi
Every CEO has an organization that he donates time or money to - if you really want the business, you will find opportunities to join that same organization. What if the organization is restricted or you cannot afford to be part of it? In this case, you may just want to attend one of the fund-raisers that the organization puts on or participate in a donation campaign. The best policy is to get on the invitation list and become involved. If it is a closed shop, find out the criteria. This may seem like a lot of work, and it is. You have to decide whether doing business with the organization is worth your time and effort. If you feel you will gain more than you put into it, then prepare a plan
The metrics we developed reduced their marketing expenses by 60% overall and increased their sales cycle efficiency from 40% to 60% within 6 months of implementing the new procedures. With these new processes and reports, the company now tracks sales cycle efficiency and life-time value rather than just sales quota achievement, as the measure of their sales & marketing effectiveness. The result: an extra $300,000 in cash plus a 50% increase in process capability (capacity).
As we have seen time and time again, time can be our best friend, if only we let it.
Methods to Design the New Sales & Marketing Process
• Improve Follow-up. Only about two percent (2%) of sales occur on the first contact. Eighty percent (80%) of sales will require five to eight contacts before the sale closes. This means that if you are contacting the prospect less than five times or more than eight times, then you could have a problem with follow-up.
• Sales Cycle Efficiency. Time kills deals. The speed at which a prospect is converted into a customer and the number of prospects required to make that conversion determines your sales cycle efficiency. So ask yourself, are you taking the right steps to measure and reduce lost sales?
• Life-Time Value. How profi
I recently visited my university alma mater in the United States.This Ivy League institution is a powerhouse of education and research. But you wouldn’t know it from the huge cracks and peeling paint on the walls of the Student Union.The Student Union is not where traditional academic work is done; it’s not a library or a lab.But the Student Union is where students sip coffee and read the paper. It’s where prospective students and their parents ‘take in the atmosphere’ and assess the student body. And it’s where alumni go to feel proud of their college days and reconnect with the campus.Millions are spent annually on research facilities and excellent faculty membe
As we have seen time and time again, time can be our best friend, if only we let it.
Methods to Design the New Sales & Marketing Process
• Improve Follow-up. Only about two percent (2%) of sales occur on the first contact. Eighty percent (80%) of sales will require five to eight contacts before the sale closes. This means that if you are contacting the prospect less than five times or more than eight times, then you could have a problem with follow-up.
• Sales Cycle Efficiency. Time kills deals. The speed at which a prospect is converted into a customer and the number of prospects required to make that conversion determines your sales cycle efficiency. So ask yourself, are you taking the right steps to measure and reduce lost sales?
• Life-Time Value. How profi
When you decide to launch your own home business, you first need to determine what kind of business will be successful. Mia Bella candles offer quality products that allow you to work from home. To have a thriving business you need a product or service that is in great demand. That is why Mia Bella candles have been profitable for many people who work from home.Candles are very popular in American homes. The candle business in the US is a $2 billion plus a year industry. Seven out of ten homes use candles and many people use them for relaxation. At one time, candles were used only for light. But now, they are used for home d?cor and to add scent to the home.Selling Mia Bella Ca
• Sales Cycle Efficiency. Time kills deals. The speed at which a prospect is converted into a customer and the number of prospects required to make that conversion determines your sales cycle efficiency. So ask yourself, are you taking the right steps to measure and reduce lost sales?
• Life-Time Value. How profitable a given customer is over time defines your LTV or Life-Time Value. Companies spend ten times more to acquire a customer than to keep a customer. However, existing customers are more likely to purchase again, spend more money, and therefore become more profitable. If you don’t know your LTV, then how do you know how much money to spend and on which customer segment?
• Demand Forecasting. Every customer buys on a cycle. So this means that you should track cycle times and variance to increase the accuracy of your forecasting and the loyalty of the customer. Do you know when your customers need to reorder?
• Improve Lead Quality. Do you have methods in place to measure the conversion potential of each lead? Lead generation activities (i.e. forms) should pre-qualify every new lead so that you can take the right follow-up actions for the marketing offer. Strong leads produce strong sales.
• Increase Awareness. To keep the sales pipeline full of good quality leads you must continuously increase the awareness of your company and the solutions that it provides. Public relations is more efficient at building awareness than advertising, yet many companies spend wildly on advertising and trade shows while neglecting to fund public relations efforts much at all. Increase your name recognition, not your budget.
• Reduce Discounting. Discounts represent deficiencies in the sales & marketing processes, which means that you should use them sparingly. Instead, determine the root cause and then fix the process that’s causing the need to discount. Show customers the added value, and they won’t focus on price.
• Train Personnel. Provide your sales & marketing personnel with regular formal training. This will arm them with better product knowledge, as well as presentation, negotiating and selling skills that will improve effectiveness. This will boost both employee morale and the bottom line – a win-win.
Control of Sales and Marketing Policy and Procedures
Improve your sales cycle efficiency. Reduce your marketing expenses. Tie it closer to your customer’s buying cycles. And take control of your sales and marketing program to let it work for you.
Improvement with Well-defined Policies and Procedures
With well-defined processes
HTTP = HTML link (for blogs, profiles,phorums):
<a href="http://www.memberyou.net/article/38889/memberyou-8-Procedures-to-Take-Control-of-Sales-and-Marketing.html">8 Procedures to Take Control of Sales and Marketing</a>
BB link (for phorums):
[url=http://www.memberyou.net/article/38889/memberyou-8-Procedures-to-Take-Control-of-Sales-and-Marketing.html]8 Procedures to Take Control of Sales and Marketing[/url]
Related Articles:
Reasons Why You Should Niche Your Business
Bookmark it:
|