The Cash to Cash Cycle 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....

To readfarther

Microsoft has used this online sales secret to become a giant, and the greatest software company in the world. How about you? What are you waiting for? The secret is bundling your products. An effective way to increase your profits and sales is to bundle many products or services together into one package. This gives people more reasons to buy yourproducts and services. People also have come to believe package deals are a better value. You want all the products or services to be closely related....

To readfarther

About 2 years ago, I participated in a training program I'll never forget. The leader divided us into two teams. Each team's task was to fire a whack of darts into each number on a dartboard. The leader of Team A was given instructions that his team had to hit the numbers in a certain sequence. He then related the sequence, number by number, to his team. The leader of Team B was told that her team could hit the numbers in any sequence. Her task was to encourage and motivate us (I was on Team B) to achieve....

To readfarther

There are four primary activities that successful salespeople engage in on an ongoing basis. These are Prospecting (45% of time), Presenting (20%), Product Knowledge/Malleability (20%), and Professional and Personal Development (15%) Recently we were presenting this information in a workshop on Prospect Management, when one of the participants raised his hand and said: "That's great. But you just don't understand. We spend so much of our time having to service our existing clients and putting out fires, there's no way to have that much time for prospecting and all this other stuff....

To readfarther

Q. What's the single, biggest change exhibitors can make to move more prospects closer to a buying? A. Exhibiting firms can make their most credible, "main differentiating benefit" the most obvious, prominent (aka BIG) message in everything they display, give away, or discuss. Problem: Exhibiting staff rarely get to have a pivotal role in creating their exhibit, "uniform" clothing or collateral material. If you are reading this article, you may be facing this situation. Read on and you'll find some ways to overcome the inadvertent barriers put in the way of your sales success....

To readfarther

Snowflakes are beautiful! For the Winter Holiday sales season handcrafted snowflakes are the perfect touch. They lend an aura of a mystical winter wonderland to any room, house or office decor. You may ask "What has snowflakes got to do with internet marketing?" A free gift with every order gives you the competitive edge over your competitors. Everyone likes getting something for free. And what better time for gifts than Christmas time! Reward your customers with the enjoyment of a unique free gift not available in stores....

To readfarther

Targeting is the process of selecting high potential customer accounts to receive intense sales focus. Goal setting translates that high potential into achievable numeric objectives, i. e. revenue and margin growth. Each Territory Manager should select a predetermined number of Target Growth Accounts (TGA). Creating focus on this group of selected accounts doesn't mean a Territory Manager should ignore other accounts; he is always expected to service his entire territory. When making decisions regarding his or her time, however, he or she should always consider these selected target growth accounts a priority....

To readfarther

Help buyers discover the answers they need to understand and align all of their decision variables. In complex sales, salespeople often find themselves negotiating their way through a web of decision influencers, conflicting initiatives, and multiple priorities. The time it takes prospects to align all of their internal stars and planets for a buying decision can create painfully long sales cycles. In the audio book, "Sound Advice on Sales Strategies," Sharon Drew Morgen maintains that conventional sales precepts are the underlying cause for this and the other problems salespeople are experiencing....

To readfarther

I remember moving my family to Argentina as Vice President of Sales for Latin America. I was in charge of managing five regional offices, Argentina of course being one of them. In the company's ten year history of selling into Latin America it had never exceeded $14 million (M) in annual sales. The Argentina office itself had never produced more than $400 thousand (K) in sales. My task was to increase the sales locally in Argentina, but more importantly throughout Latin America. I remember sitting in my office one day, looking out the window and wondering, "...

To readfarther

Corporate videos are an important sales tool that can often be overlooked in marketing budgets. We look at the top nine tell-tale signs that indicate whether your company is in need of an innovative and effective way to promote itself. 1. No strong corporate "look and feel" You're in a highly competitive industry. Yet, what makes you really stand apart from your competitors is your people and the look and feel of your company. So how do you show your state-of-the-art factory in action or your professional staff working in your appealing office?...

To readfarther

Good sales people can close, but few "step up" for even more sales from that close. Yet stepping up should be one of the easiest accomplishments in sales - that is if you know how to build the staircase. Do it by applying a leadership tool I have taught thousands of leaders worldwide during the past 20 years. The tool is simply to foster a particular viewpoint, which is this: Challenge people not simply to do a task but to take leadership of that task. The difference in results-producing effectiveness between doing a task and taking leadership of a task is the difference between the lightning bug and lightning....

To readfarther