Where do you focus your business activities: bringing in new customers or keeping your current ones? Both types are important for companies, but retaining existing customers reigns supreme. Prospecting for new customers is important, asking for referrals is important, but repeat business is essential. If you need reasons why you should concentrate on repeat business, as well as leads and [...]
Reading Time: 4 minutes60% of marketers see a high volume of leads from referrals. There is an art to obtaining referrals. Find out why every business should ask for referrals – and create a referral program. Get the details here:
Eighty-eight percent of companies suffer a blow to their bottom line because of inaccurate data, ultimately losing 12 percent of their revenue. (1) Data decay can also harm the outcome of lead generation programs. A business that fails to provide updated B2B contact data for these programs wastes 27.3 percent of salespeople's time. This failure equates to 546 hours per [...]
Reading Time: 4 minutes60% of marketers see a high volume of leads from referrals. There is an art to obtaining referrals. Find out why every business should ask for referrals – and create a referral program. Get the details here:
Reading Time: 4 minutesSales professionals can minimize lead abandonment by being persistent and communicating with prospects in the ways they prefer. Learn how to keep the best leads engaged:
Part One | Part Two More than one salesperson has wondered why a lead that seemed perfectly qualified and promising disappeared or went "radio silent." Salespeople ponder questions such as: What, if anything, did I do wrong? Did the prospect choose a different solution? Was the prospect really as qualified as I thought they were? What really happened, and what [...]
While fluidity has always been a defining characteristic of sales, a recent shift to guided selling is currently taking place. Consumers’ experiences are becoming increasingly digital and remote– from the selling process through onboarding. Navigating this change to success requires establishing a formal sales process based on the company’s sales history. This concept is called guided selling. With an emphasis [...]
Reading Time: 4 minutesSocial media content is becoming customized as it adapts to users' individual needs, wants, and preferences, including the crucial role of privacy. Now is the time to audit your social media policy. Find out how here:
Contrary to the highly debated consensus that business cards are a dinosaur and relegated to the trash, they can be effective – if they are customized. Why is a high-quality, customized business card a powerful tool for driving sales? And why does a generic card fail to make the same impact? 72 percent of people judge a business on the [...]
Reading Time: 2 minutesOrganizations that institute a formal sales process enjoy a revenue increase of up to 28 percent. Yet far too many companies fail to implement one. Learn the five ways your business will benefit from a sales process.
Reading Time: 3 minutesThere are better ways to measure brand awareness than vanity metrics such as likes and followers. Organizations can track these 11 types of results to get a clear read on the state of their brand awareness online.
Reading Time: 5 minutesFar too many salespeople give up on perfectly qualified leads, with 44 percent giving up after just one follow-up call. Learn how to prevent qualified leads from getting away.
Updated: 9/21/2022 Among the many things businesses learned in 2020: customer experiences matter and are essential for survival. Companies found new and creative ways to ensure their customers had a positive buyer's journey with them. The challenge? Customers came to expect these elevated experiences as par for the course. Organizations recognize this shift, with 45.9 percent indicating they will make [...]
Reading Time: 2 minutesWhile social media offers organizations many advantages, it can damage morale and cause mental fatigue. How can businesses enjoy the benefits of social media while avoiding the pitfalls?
Reading Time: 3 minutesIt can be tricky to balance content that promotes a business without coming across as overly promotional. Still, the results are well worth the effort. Find out how to achieve marketing content success.
When email marketing campaigns are executed poorly, it can leave companies wondering if they are worth the financial and time investment. However, email campaigns that are carefully planned, tested and executed are well worth the time and effort: 59 percent of business-to-business marketers cite email as their most effective channel in terms of revenue generation. (1) Email is the third [...]
It is natural for a business to want to sell to a particular group of customers – in other words, to find its niche. First, people typically feel comfortable in one to two areas. They are reluctant to step outside of their comfort zone. Second, the theory that companies should sell to target audiences is one of the most common [...]
Reading Time: 4 minutesCompanies have faced many changes recently. Survival demands remaining open to these shifts and accommodating them – permanently, in many cases. How can leadership adequately plan for running their business in a post-pandemic world? Find out here.
Reading Time: 3 minutesThe way that companies market to leads and existing customers has changed in significant ways due to the pandemic. Technology has become a critical but challenging tool. How can organizations engage prospects and lead them to action?
Winning the confidence of customers was important before the recent crisis. Now, in the forever altered world following the crisis, earning their trust is imperative. Social listening and engagement play a critical role in doing so. During months of social isolation, people turned to and relied on social media to maintain a connection to the outside world. Businesses must pander [...]
Everyone has heard the cliché stating that content is king and it rings true now more than ever. High-quality content is not just necessary, but it is also critical for converting prospects. 70 percent of buyers learn about a company through blogs rather than ads. (1) 82 percent of buyers enjoy reading content from a company blog. (2) Nine out [...]
Cold outreach is essential to driving business growth. However, 40 percent of sales professionals indicate that prospecting is the most challenging aspect of their job. (1) Most people dread prospecting because they fear saying the wrong thing – and with good reason. The risk of this happening increases when salespeople get stuck when they speak to a gatekeeper because they [...]
Reading Time: 3 minutesCan companies make an impact with their branding efforts when they cannot sell their products or services in the moment? Absolutely! Use these strategies to do so…
Reading Time: 4 minutesDid you know that a business that discounts prices by 8 percent will take two years to recover PLUS will still need to address current economic conditions? This means years of lost time and money. Learn better and more sustainable alternatives to price discounting…
Updated: 9/21/2022 In the past, selling was about delivering on promises – meaning products that work and services that solve problems or generate opportunities. However, customers expect that and much more. These days, customers want to do business with companies that not only offer ideas that improve their performance but also establish trust with them. Brands that do not rise [...]
Reading Time: 4 minutesMarketing in an era of uncertainty can be challenging. Marketers will need to execute content strategies that connect with today’s B2B buyers where they are and when they need it to succeed. Learn about the content approaches that work.
Many sales representatives struggle with sales prospecting. In fact, 42 percent of sales associates named prospecting the most challenging stage of the sales process. (1) Why is prospecting so difficult? Ideal prospects rarely exist. Studies show that at least 50 percent of prospects are not the right fit Making sales is tougher than it was five years ago, according to [...]
Reading Time: 5 minutesChaos does not have to win during uncertain times. With proper responses to the current situation and planning for the future, businesses can overcome the associated challenges and survive for many years after the crisis has passed. Learn how the past can help predict and protect the future…
Reading Time: 5 minutesThe COVID-19 pandemic was the latest in a line of challenging events throughout recent history that include 9/11 and the 2008 recession. All of these events have challenged the economy, and in turn, various markets and industries. Regardless of the pandemic’s effect on your business, you are not powerless. Here are six effective marketing strategies to survive turbulent times.
Did you know that you have internal customers in addition to external customers? Everyone knows about external customers. They are the people who purchase your product or use your services and people who have a vested interest in your organization. Terms for external customers include buyers, consumers, vendors/suppliers, stakeholders, government and creditors. Internal customers are the people who consume or [...]