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MY FIRST MESSAGE

This is my first entry to not only this weblog but I think any of them. Can someone guide me through a method to this madness we all seem to possess to commuincate? I believe it is absolutely wonderfull and may be one of our biggest  deterrents to long term turmoil in the world however slow it may develop. Communication is the single most powerful weapon we have to preserve ourselves. I briefly looked at the categories and find interest in more than several of them. Any input or help?

2010 - What will customers do using the Web?

The evolution under way in digital marketing reflects the fundamental changes in customer behavior. Today, more and more people use the Web - instead of books, the yellow pages, libraries, car dealers, department stores - to search for information and to share views. In doing so, they often become aware of new products or services and begin comparisons. This intuitively leads to ‘BUY’ decisions.

How far will these shifts go?
According to a Mckinsey Survey of Marketing Executives, by 2010 the Web will play a role in the below mentioned stages of customer decision making process:

1. Product or Service Awareness
2. Information Gathering
3. Comparing prices
4. Buying Products or Services
5. Using Services - after sales/customer service

The expectation that most customers (75% in the hi-tech industry) will seek out new products or services online may be a factor in the plans of organizations to increase spending significantly on several digital marketing tools they see as most useful in building brands. A smaller proportion of customers will use the Web to execute transactions or access services. Still organizations expect to double the business done through online channel in three years compared to today.
Although the hi-tech industry expects about 70% of its customer base to be influenced by the Web to make a decision or better still buy their service or product on the Web; only 25% of the organizations are using online tools or have plans for it.

Organizations, today, need to begin integrating their online and offline marketing efforts and plan for better customer centric approach. Scope of improvement for the industry is large - incorporating a strategy for digital maketing will increase the possibility of reaching a sizable market of customers through successful efforts that could reap benefits offline as well.

Sell Marketing to Sales

Yes you read it right.

As a Marketing Professional, I always knew this is top priority. This, not only, brings visibility to Marketing’s contribution but since Sales is Marketing’s customer and without their buy-in all my efforts would go waste. Having been in Services Marketing, I have seen there is a constant cry on the lack of Sales & Marketing alignment and the negative impact it can have on an organization.

Let us look at one area of constant pain and very fertile ground for debate - LEADS.

Marketing exhibits numerous activities and campaigns that demonstrate generation of leads, yet Sales never has enough opportunities in the pipeline to meet their revenue targets. Paradox?

It is extremely easy to look at numbers and immediately point fingers at Sales. STOP. What if I tell you, consider this perspective - Marketing maybe at fault. That’s right. Marketing’s responsibility is to generate qualified opportunities in the target market segment and equip the Sales team with the competitive tools so that they can close & win deals. In today’s business, there is a heightened need for qualified leads by the Sales teams. If we evaluate from this perspective then consider some scenarios:

• Marketing has generated the wrong leads, run campaigns along the ‘wrong’ target market (BAD)
• Marketing has put lead generation processes and programs in place that are broken (WORSE)
• Marketing has a credibility issue with Sales (WORST)

Selling Marketing to Sales is not just the matter of increasing Marketing’s visibility but also ensuring credibility and alignment with Sales. It is the ability to look at how to deliver real ‘lift’ revenue by delivering qualified leads to the pipeline and requires Marketing to view Sales’ perspective.

Your Purpose is to Sell

Lest there be any confusion, let me make this clear:  the purpose of a seller is to sell. 

Not to make presentations, nor build relationships, nor respond to requests for proposals.

While a seller will have to take those actions and more, the purpose for doing all of those is to get the chance to sell - persuade - convince.  Sometimes, it seems that sellers and maybe especially media sellers, forget this simple truth.  Come into my world for a second and re-live an exchange I had with one of my sellers:

I was in my office trying to identify ways for us to do a better job of targeting the very best prospects when in walks a veteran seller -

"We didn't get on the buy."

I looked up inquisitively and she continued,

"Remember, the buy we were discussing that was only 50 grps per week?"

"Yes", I answered, already aware that this buy had gone from a quota-making 50 grps per week to 'only' 50 grps per week.

"Well, the buyer listened to our argument and decided to give the buy to (our hated competition).  My question for you is:  What should our response to the buyer be?"

"We should immediately tell the buyer that we strongly disagree with her decision."

"Well, I'm not going to do that.  We just started working with this buyer and I don't want to ruin the relationship that I am building with her.  Any suggestions on how to respond to her without appearing to be disrespectful?"

"How about telling her that you respectively but strongly disagree with her decision?"

At this point, my veteran seller was staring at me as if 1) I didn't understand what she was asking or 2) I was the victim of severe brain trauma.

"Now you're just being silly.  The buyer listened to our argument and even agreed that it made sense.  People have been buying (the hated competition) for a long time so we're not going to get them to change overnight."

"So, the buyer listened to your argument and even seemed to agree with you?"

"Yes."

"Then why did she buy (the hated competition)?"

"I guess it's just easier for her to keep doing what she has been doing and easier to justify buying them because they outrank us."

"We can certainly agree on that.  The buyer finds it easier to buy (the hated competition) and since they outrank us her decision will not be challenged by her boss or the client."

"Right."

"Which is exactly the reason we need to be challenging the decision.  Since we have no one taking up the fight for our point of view, we need to strongly voice our position over and over again until someone - the buyer, the media supervisor, the account manager or the client - moves over to our side and can be our advocate inside the account.  My response to the buyer listening respectively to your argument is "Big deal".  She still bought (the hated competition) and gave us zero.  Now, it is your job to tell her she was wrong for doing it."

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Many media sellers make the mistake of believing that they are making progress despite dramatic evidence to the contrary.  If you have persuaded the buyer to your point of view, the buyer would buy you.  If you haven't, the buyer will continue doing what she has always done.

When the buyer continues to do what she has always done - to your detriment - you must object and you must object strongly and decisively. 

Otherwise, you are reinforcing the behavior you are trying to change.

Sales 2.0: Help or Hinderance?

In the last twenty years we have seen a proliferation of Sales Techniques, motivational conferences, self-help books and programs. Starting with the booming '80's economy leading into the Dot Com generation and now into a market that teases us with success and collapse on an almost hourly basis. Along with all of this comes Web 2.0, Sales 2.0, IT 2.0, etc. (I am still waiting for life 2.0, but that could very well already be here with Second Life). Gone are the days of Golfing with potential clients, large sales expense budgets and wining and dining. Or is it? We are assaulted on an almost daily basis with new social networking sites such as LinkedIn, Event Peeps, Twitter, MySpace and Facebook, to name a few, and in all of this the noise is simply getting louder and louder as we strive to differentiate our selves from our competitors while attempting to secure our market share. As Sales professionals we have a myriad of tools at our disposal to get our message across and get our name out there. The question is, are they really new tools and sales techniques or just another form of the cold call?
In speaking to several of my clients and colleagues I have found one common denominator among all. The personal touch, the personally composed e-mail, the face time at that conference that you convinced your boss to let you attend, is still the most effective way to reach potential clients. People still want to feel like people and that irreplaceable connection of one human to another face-to-face cannot be duplicated, copied, or automated. The strongest tool we have, in my opinion, always has been and always will be the ability to effectively listen to our customers and potential customers and consistently deliver time and time again the solution to their needs and expectations. While I do see a certain value to the 2.0 buzz word (in digging to find those clients we may have never had the opportunity to connect with before) the real value comes in us being able to use it as it is, a tool to open the door and say hello. Beyond that we still need to throw the dirt on the floor, fire that sucker up and show the true value of our product all the while building on that human connection between you and the customer.
So ask yourself, your 3,000 "friends " online, are they really people that you know and are working with? Or are you simply adding to the noise saying "Look how successful I am! Look at how many clients I have! Don't you want to be my client as well?!?! If all of these people want to be connected to me, than you should too! Don't forget to accept my friend request from my 10 other networking sites as well!" And all the while you've met maybe 1% of them in person. Has it helped lead to your success, or in the end are you still pounding the pavement, just like before?

Proliferation of E commerce in Developing Nations: An Indian Perspective

Have you ever wondered how convenient it is to shop online these days? There is no traffic, parking issues and aimless walking around malls. Instead in the convenience of your home you can shop at the click of a mouse.

“But aren’t things cheaper on the Internet? Then how reliable is the quality of the stuff one buys online?” This is often the question that deters most people from buying goods online.

It is true that the Internet does offer products for cheaper rates than most other physical stores. But that does not mean quality of the goods sold is necessarily suspect. I have bought, among other things, a mobile phone, an iPod and a watch-- all well known brands at least 30 per cent lower than the market price. And they are all working fine.

What made me buy them online? It started when I realised my mobile phone retailer would not show me the handset unless I bought it. “We are not allowed to open the seal until the handset is bought,” was the reply I got tired of hearing at most places. If I had to see the phone inside the packing, was I not well off buying the same model cheaper? That is when I logged on to an online shopping site. Not only did I see a bigger picture of the handset, I also saw 3-4 pictures of it from many angles- front, back, side, screen shot. What was more I also had a choice of colours to choose for the handset.

How is it that the online medium can offer so much variety at such low prices?

Concept of Dis-intermediation

E-commerce or using the Internet and other electronic media to make financial transactions was based on the concept of dis-intermediation. This refers to a business model where middlemen – distributors, wholesalers and retailers—have been removed from the value chain, their role being fulfilled by the Internet.

This means things are cheaper due to the fact that the amount of money spent on maintaining a physical establishment like a retail outlet is not there.

A retail outlet, as you are aware, has fixed and variable costs. Aspects like rent or mortgage of the rental space would contribute to fixed costs while establishment costs such as electricity, telephone bills and salaries of sales staff would account for variable costs.

The cost savings hence incurred are passed on the customer in the form of discounts on all products—branded or otherwise.

The other interesting aspect of an online transaction is that the payment for the purchase is usually made while placing the order—not on delivery. The product is delivered later. This gives enough time for the company to source and deliver the item at the customer’s doorstep without prior investment in a large warehouse or maintaining inventory.

Does this mean it is easy to run an online store?

The real costs for an online site

When it comes to online purchases, the customer is looking for recognizable names when he logs on to the Internet. In marketing parlance this is referred to as top of the mind recall. This is called the common marketing problem which we call as top of the mind recall. It is this aspect of the business – publicising the site—that requires most money.

Most of us know of amazon.com now. But what we do not know was that the venture was in loss for a long time, funded periodically by the promoters and venture capital money. The site site’s biggest cost— advertising.

So where do these E-retailers advertise surprisingly they mostly use traditional media like print, television as well as radio. How often have we seen the commercials of sites like zapak.com and recently ibobo.com on prime time television. The key is that to have your brand like say Amazon.com on the highest recall rates when the consumer thinks of making a purchase on line.

And its not that only the online retailers have been on the net. Of late the traditional brick and mortar companies have been taking to the net in a big way. Take Staples Inc, the largest office merchandise retailer in the

United States

for example. They have embraced the on-line retail format and in 2007 almost one-third of their revenues came form E-tailing. That’s almost $ 5.7 billion in revenue which is at a lower cost as the traditional costs associated with retailing like ware housing and occupying retail space are not there.

The power of E-tailing became evident the day when Barnes and Nobles the brick and mortar book store went on line to merchandise its books.

This phenomenon has taken a new turn when Unilever in

India

decided to go online and with the help of Web 2.0 created a socially interactive site for its hair care product ‘sunsilk’. This was a classic case of co-branding, a social interactive site with an old economy product like shampoo. The result was a site called ‘sunsilk gang of girls’ which offered Career advice apart from the usual beauty and hair tips. As a matter of fact the brand ambassador for sunsilk actress Priyanka Chopra writes an infomercial in a leading daily about her inspirations in life. A case of online venture advertising in traditional media.

So what can you buy on the net?

Not everything can be retailed through the internet. Any product that is standardised can be merchandised on the net. Branded electronics items like IPods from Apple, Sony Ericsson mobile phones, digital cameras from Canon can be bought on the net. As these products come with an international warranty and assured quality the consumer can buy them without being worried. Same for Books, music cd and DVDs can be bought on the net.

What can’t be bought on the net? Definitely clothes where the touch feel and colour becomes important.

And as I get back to my computer to click for a new digital camera, I can already hear my wallet tick. All this from the comfort of my house (You can also be sitting in your office!).

New to SalesLab

Hello my name is Alba Henderson and I new to SalesLab.  I look forward to being a great part of this community amongst greatest marketing and sales professionals.

I am sure it will be a wonderful experience.

Best

Alba

persona-based marketing for ideal success

digg this article at http://digg.com/business_finance/persona_based_marketing_for_sales_success/blog

by M. H. "Mac" McIntosh, CBC

Persona-based marketing is part Hollywood and part business analytics. Construct a fictional customer--based on real-life data and intelligence--and then use that character as the touchstone for promotion and selling decisions Mac McIntosh, The Sales and Marketing expert

Introducing our cast

Meet Joe, He's the VP of sales of a down-sizing technology company. Joe is in his early 40s, sports a new iPhone and gets up early to work in a 4-6 mile run while he trains for long-distance races. He prefers to wear turtlenecks and high-priced jeans, donning a suit only when he has to. Joe drives a late model SUV with a booster seat in the back seat for his three-year-old son. He's harried, and worries about the headcount of his sales force. He wants to leverage web services to increase his team's results and reach a related vertical market, but doesn't know where to start.

SaaS predictions for 2008 and beyond

Now that 2008 has arrived, along with the New Year's resolutions and the ever-present pundit predictions, I thought it was the perfect timing to dive into what Saugatuck Technology just reported as being their Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) predictions, highlighting five key trends for 2008 and beyond:

SaaS platforms and marketplaces will begin to proliferate, becoming a significant channel opportunity for vendors, as well as a key means by which users will gain access to SaaS solution capabilities.

SaaS is becoming an international phenomenon, driven by both local demand as well as large multi-nationals who are adopting SaaS business solutions on a global basis. While US SaaS adoption is clearly going “mainstream”, Europe and Asia are only now beginning to experience the steep adoption ramp that the US has witnessed over the past two years. Whereas average US market growth rates will likely slow into the 35-40 percent range in 2008, European market growth rates should exceed 60-70 percent next year.

SaaS merger & acquisition activity will explode. No doubt a serious feeding frenzy is about to unfold and it could be anticipated that a large number of venture-backed start-ups and emerging SaaS companies would be acquired by either SaaS pure-plays, ISVs hungry to enter the SaaS fray or on-shore & off-shore IT services and BPO providers who are eager to leverage a SaaS model.

Traditional on-premise application ISVs will earnestly begin to fight back. Approximately 15-20 percent of ISVs have already either begun new initiatives or gained access to SaaS assets and development experience through M&A activity. However, over the next 12-24 months, this number is anticipated to rise dramatically, as a tougher economic climate will only exacerbate an already challenged on-premise and traditional perpetual license model.

SaaS development platforms will evolve and 2008 will see explosive growth in the adoption and use of SaaS-based software development platforms and services. Wide availability of open, standardised tools and technologies in subscription-based, on-demand environments will help streamline and reduce the costs of software development and customisation.

Other key insights and Strategic Planning Positions provided by Saugatuck include the following predictions …

Unleashing the power of remote collaboration & virtual team management

When thinking about factors that distinguish top performing companies, the root of their success often can be traced to the human equation. But how many companies are able to tap more than a fraction of their workforce potential? How many are able to take advantage of latent talents, ideas and contributive strengths waiting to be switched on? How many are able to unleash the power of remote collaboration & virtual team management? The companies that find the means to use a larger fraction of their human resources will undoubtedly supersede their competitors. That is their edge in the global economy.

With increased globalisation, virtual leadership has started gaining a strong foothold in recent times. As the workplace evolves, the techniques for managing employees are changing. Today’s leaders and managers are faced with a different set of challenges for managing employees who work in various locations across the globe or telecommute. Managing in the virtual environment can be quite a daunting undertaking.

The biggest challenge with remote collaboration & virtual team management is actually to maintain quality and productivity across all participants, despite the physical and cultural distance. Other associated issues are operational. Indeed, you do need to ensure that everyone is working on “the same project”. Social issues may also come into play: If the teams adopt an “us versus them” mindset, they might well wind up working at cross-purposes. All these challenges may finally be exacerbated by time zone and language differences that make collaboration and real-time communication even more difficult.

Advances in information and communications technologies have enabled businesses to become truly global in scope. There is an abundance of technology available today for collaboration. However, a company's culture and processes that encourage people to share work in a productive manner are central to effective collaboration.

So how are top performing organisations avoiding the many pitfalls of remote collaboration & virtual team management and what are the key to success for adapting to this complex and ever-changing working environment?