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What is a lead?
Companies that aren’t asking this essential question of BOTH their marketing AND sales teams will find that they are producing poor ROI from their lead generation efforts. Miscommunication leads to missed revenue targets, wasted budget dollars and possibly more distrust between marketing and sales.
Here are 6 Steps to help you mutually define a sales lead within your organization. This is referred to as a Universal Lead Definition or ULD.
1. Meet - Get ALL those involved in new customer acquisition in a room or a conference call. You’ll need a leader/facilitator who has “street credibility” because the premise of the meeting is that we’re all in this together. Also, it’s best if you can have sponsorship of a top executive. If you have team issues I suggest the book by Patrick M. Lencioni: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable.
2. Ask the question - What do you consider a qualified lead? Now shut up and listen. Everybody must play. What are the characteristics of the ideal sales opportunity? Who should we be contacting? Who’s involved in the buying process?
3. Confirm it again - Don’t stop with just one meeting. Summarize the notes from your meeting and have another meeting to clarify and make sure everyone is satisfied with the definition? You’ll need a strong consensus.
4. Publish - Publish the ULD everywhere that you can. The terms you use to rank and describe your leads must become part of your organization’s culture and shared language. Everyone must be on the same page.
5. Close-the-loop - Marketing and sales should meet often (maybe bi-weekly) to review the ULD for accuracy. I’ve found it best to do it as part of the regular sales meeting. Ask questions like this... Was X a lead? Did they enter the sales process? Why / Why not? What else would you like to have known about this lead? How can we improve? What should we stop doing? What should we start doing?
6. Edit and republish - The ULD is a living document, so it is not uncommon to see several revisions within the first few months of implementation.
Benefits of Universal Lead Definition:
- Higher qualified, sales-ready leads
- Sales force has less frustration
- Increased sales effectiveness
- More accurate funnel management
- Shorten average sales cycle
- Meaningful ROI metrics that are consistent
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2. Build profitable and professional online carts.
3. Reach your targeted customers with effective marketing tools & new strategies.
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E-Commerce & Internet Marketing:
What is marketing? If you are asking this question then you’ll benefit from spending time in this area. Here we offer numerous resources and links to help you understand the fundamentals of marketing and also see how marketing has evolved with resources devoted to marketing and advertising history. Also, several other specialize marketing topics can be found here.
Internet Marketing:
It seems that everyone wants to be on the Internet for good reason. It is safe to say it is the most important new method for conducting business in the last 50 years if not longer. Unfortunately, many marketers jumped in with little knowledge of how to do it right. Internet marketing experts agree that anyone who is interested in doing business on the Internet should take time to learn about what it is they are getting into. Well before you take the leap you may want to take a look here.
Area Coverage:
 Strategies for doing business on the internet
Locate affiliate programs (a.k.a. associate programs or partnership programs) on the internet and find out how this can be a source of revenue for a web site operator
Basics of electronic commerce including explanations of the key terms and technologies
Extensive coverage of electronic transactions Get up to speed on the internet with information on internet basics, internet history and current internet news
See how search engines are quickly becoming the most powerful information and marketing tool on the internet
Learn basics for building a web site and also the techniques for promoting a web site
Read about effective marketing including internet payment methods such as smart cards
Research issues in electronic commerce
Marketing Planning, Management and Strategy
Marketing managers face many challenges not the least of which is figuring out what is necessary to maintain a competitive advantage. In this section Know This offers resources for the marketing manager with special focus on tools to help with planning and strategy formulation. Also, if you have an interest in starting a small business then the information available in this area may be quite helpful. Time spent investigating the resources available here could save lots of time and money in the future.
Area Coverage:
Find out how to write an effective marketing plan including viewing samples of marketing plans
Advice for starting a business including links to many free resources to help you get started
Starting a business is just the beginning, check out the resources for helping you grow your small business
Lists references sites that discuss important issues related to product design, branding, brand names and packaging
Promotion and Advertising:
Many people when they hear the word marketing instantly assume it is the same thing as advertising. In reality, marketing is a much broader concept that includes as one of its parts methods of communication and promotion of products and services. Advertising, sales promotion and public relations represent three extremely important forms of marketing communication. Most of us can not help being exposed to hundreds of ads, promotions and even news stories each day. The amount of money spent on these three areas is staggering so it is no wonder this is one of the largest areas.
Area Coverage:
For those not familiar with advertising resources are provided for understanding the basics of advertising as well as advice for designing advertisements and for creating and managing an advertising campaign
The hot issue of internet advertising is covered with links to understanding what it is about and how to do it successfully
Find links to media kits and other advertising rates information for both internet web sites and conventional media
Offers resources including information on media rating services and other news on media outlets to help advertisers keep up with information on the media in which advertisements are placed
Find out the basics of public relations and some advice for doing it correctly
Locate a PR professional through directories and searchable databases
For companies exploring direct marketing methods, resources are provided that explain the basics of direct marketing, help in locating mailing lists and other contact lists
Sales Promotion, Internet Coupons and Other Promotions
Information, resources, reference and links related to other types of promotions, consumer promotion and trade promotion.
Customer Focused Marketing: Good marketers are constantly gathering information about their customers in an effort to better serve them and, most importantly, to retain them as loyal customers. In recent years a number of techniques have emerged that are designed to:
1) Improve the relationship between the marketer and its current and potential customers
2) Utilize these relationships to not only build stronger ties with existing satisfied customer but also to use existing customers to help locate new customers. Collectively, we refer to these tools and methods as Customer-Focused Marketing since these attempts to identify and target customer’s right down to the very narrowest of levels - the individual customer. In this way marketers attempt to gain intimate understanding of their customers and satisfy their individual needs. In this section we present a number of areas that arguably fall within the Customer-Focused category. The idea of this category is to provide links to resources that assist with micro-marketing (i.e., individual customers) activities, help with establishing a line of communication with the customer in a way that makes it appear to be special or personalized for each customer and use this customer base to help identify new customers.
Area Coverage:
See how customer-facing technologies such as call centers and kiosks are extending the reach of Customer-Focused Marketing
Learn the basics of CRM including the key terms and concepts
Find information for improving the customers online experience using web site personalization
Learn the basics of database marketing including the key terms and concepts
Read about the important areas of data warehousing and data mining and see how marketers have put these to use to improve customer relations and increase revenue
Understand techniques that can be used to build strong word-of-mouth or referral (or pass along) campaigns for finding new customers
Education and Training: Those involved in marketing teaching and training, whether on the academic or professional side will find many useful reference sites in this area. Additionally, also good resources are provided for those who may have an interest in academic research.
Global Marketing: Companies sometimes assume that what works in their home country will work in another country. They take the same product, same advertising campaign, even the same brand names and packaging, and with virtually no chance to try to market it the same way in another country. The result in many cases is failure. Why? Well, the assumption that one approach works everywhere fails to consider differences that exist between countries and cultures. While many companies who sell internationally are successful following a standardized marketing strategy it is a mistake to assume this approach will work without sufficient research that addresses this question. In this section resources are provided to assist companies in their global marketing efforts.
Area Coverage:
Basics on how to market internationally with links to useful articles and case studies
Links are provided to government agencies and other groups that will assist with export plans
Groups and Meetings:
There is one thing marketers like to do and do a lot - get together with others! In this section KnowThis presents resources to help marketing professionals and academics learn about and locate marketing groups and meetings. Whether you are a salesperson looking for a trade show to demonstrate your product or a marketing professor looking to present a paper this section offers many good sources of information.
Area Coverage: Listings of professional marketing associations and societies.
Information on locating marketing related trade shows
Links to online groups such as marketing mailing lists, marketing discussion groups and other online forums
Locate marketing trade shows and other marketing conferences through searchable databases from several leading web sites
Find locations and call for papers for up-coming academic marketing conferences
Legal Issues in Marketing:
Marketers must deal with many issues as they attempt to operate a successful business. Some of these issues can be controlled such as making decisions on what price to charge or what type of advertisement should be run. Other issues, however, are outside their control such as what the competition is doing or what new technologies may affect their business. Another major concern that all businesses must deal with relates to the legal environment. Most marketers are not trained in the law, consequently, they often do not consider the legal implications of their marketing decisions. For example, a small company may find out that the name of its largest selling product has already been registered as a trademark by a larger company, and now the larger company is threatening legal action unless they change the name. KnowThis offers several resources that marketers may wish to investigate to learn how the law affects marketing decisions. While it is probably a good idea to consult a lawyer if you are really not sure, at least by reviewing this material you’ll know what the lawyer is talking about!
Area Coverage:
Lists links to several detailed internet law sites that provide a wealth of information and explanations often in easy to understand language
Provides resources that focus specially on advertising law
Explores the emerging and burgeoning world of internet law (sometimes referred to as cyberlaw) and see why the internet is in many ways reminiscent of the wild wild west
This section also offers a number of excellent resources and links for understanding patents, trademarks and copyrights
Publications:
To help marketers maintain their competitive edge they need to stay on top of current issues. This section of KnowThis presents links to marketing publications for both the professional and the academic.
Area Coverage:
Find links to thousands of publications including magazines, newspapers and trade publications
Academics will find listings for marketing related journals
Listing of links to web sites for major marketing print publications
Listing of links to marketing publications that are exclusively web based
Retailing and Consumer: This section provides coverage of issues related to various consumer activities with special emphasis on consumer purchasing. Here visitors will find links to useful sites that address one of the largest of all marketing activities (at least in terms of revenue): retailing. Information is provided for both brick-and-mortar retailing as well as Internet retailing. Also, an important mission of Know. This is to serve as a one-stop location for anyone in need of marketing-related information. While this site is mainly for anyone engaged in marketing activities in a business sense, Know. This also realizes that non-marketers can benefit from what we have to offer. With this in mind, resources for consumers who are often the target of marketers’ actions. We believe a well informed consumer can only serve to improve the relationship between companies and their customers.
Area Coverage:
Sites offering in-depth discussion of retailing including access to research reports and articles
Tips for being a more effective shopper including explanations of new technologies that can help the online shopping process
Links to special promotions that may save shoppers money
Information on shoppers’ rights and legal protections
Selling and Sales Management:
Selling is a highly misunderstood profession. Many people, when asked what they think of salespeople, instantly use terms such as pushy, greedy, or some other unkind adjective. Yet professional selling is not what most people think. Professionally trained salespeople are among the most important individuals within many companies. This is especially true in business-to-business selling situations where the amount of promotional expense allocated to support a sales force far exceeds expenses for advertising. Also, successful selling requires the establishment of strong relationships with customers, relationships that are intended to last for a long time. Salespeople whose goal is to just get the sale and not worry about the customer are doomed to failure. Professional selling requires knowledge and skills that must to learn over time, thus on-going training is critical for most. In this section resources are offered to help both the experienced sales professional as well as those new to the field.
Area Coverage:
Learn the basics of the selling process with links and resources that focus on sales training
Find out ways to expand your prospect list with information for finding new sales leads
See how manufacturers’ reps add value to the supply chain
E-Mail Marketing:
More and more businesses and organizations are now turning to email marketing to keep profits rolling in. While an increasing number of people say they rarely surf the Net, the vast majority of North Americans check their email every day.
Email marketing is the most effective and efficient way to influence purchases and keep customers informed and happy. It is also extremely inexpensive. Where you might have mailed out one printed customer update every month, you can now email one every week for a fraction of the cost.
Increasingly, companies need to embrace email marketing in a big way in order to stay competitive. Those who formerly used a service to send out their
newsletters, sales info, and consumer updates are now doing all the emailing themselves.
New technology that is powerful yet easy to use allows anyone to handle email jobs that previously required expensive professional help. Many companies
are bringing their email campaigns in house in order to have more control, grow their email efforts, and decrease costs.
Here are four features you will want to use in your email marketing efforts:
Include HTML in your email messages. Most email programs are now equipped to read HTML. Your logo, banner, bullets, and color elements can make your message jump off the screen. You can even include forms that allow customers to order instantly from your message. You take advantage of impulse purchases that can lead to big increases in sales. One note on HTML, it is best to create message that is in both HTML and text format, allow the clients software to display the appropriate version. Also if possible, pre-qualify your customers desire for HTML.
Use a campaign manager feature to schedule when your email messages will be sent out. You can prepare an entire months’ worth of messages and tell
the manager which weeks, days, or hours to release them to your list.
Take advantage of a POP import feature. It automatically takes the email addresses from messages you receive and puts them on your mailing list.
This insures no one who requests information from you is left out of your next update. This also helps you grow your list as fast as possible. You can even use a feature that automatically unsubscribes those who ask to be removed from your list. Many companies say this saves them hours of work each week.
Make sure the software you use to send your messages includes a walk-through wizard. You get step-by-step instructions on how to do any task you
wish to achieve. Instead of waiting for the tech guy to show up, you can speed through the job on your own.
Affiliate Marketing ABCs: The principles of offline advertising are equally true online: target your market, encourage customer loyalty, and address customer’s needs. But through affiliate programs, the online marketplace has also introduced a new idea: performance-based advertising.
When you advertise through flyers, billboards, commercials or newspapers, it’s difficult to know if your ads are really working. Short of speculative and highly inaccurate market surveys, you have no way of finding out where customers are learning about your business - and so you’re forced to spend marketing dollars on a broad publicity blitz, while simply hoping for the best.
On the other hand, affiliate programs are based on commissions. Links from other sites (your affiliates) direct visitors to your storefront, and only if one of those visitors becomes a buyer do you actually pay for the referral. Since you only pay after the sale has been made, you won’t spend a cent on useless advertising. And in addition to the cost-effectiveness of affiliate programs, there are several other notable advantages.
One of these is that you will probably only pay for the first sale. Clients who discover your business through an affiliate will likely visit your site directly when making future purchase - so you won’t have to pay for the same customer twice. And because shoppers tend to develop loyal relationships with companies that earn their trust, the first sale is always the hardest.
Another advantage of affiliate programs is the potential for targeting. For instance, if you operate an online music store, you can establish affiliate relationships with music fan sites, band home pages, and radio stations. Because those sites’ visitors are necessarily interested in music, there is good reason for you to view them as potential clients.
Finally, consider the issue of exposure. If your affiliate is already well known or trusted within your client community, then partnering with that company is an excellent branding opportunity, since visitors will bring some of that trust to their dealings with you. Moreover, if your business is being promoted by off-site affiliates, you’ve effectively outsourced a portion of your publicity needs - and as industry watchers are starting to realize, business decentralization works
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experts of Creative
Web Solutions.
All our ecommerce applications and designs are as per
client's needs and choice.You can define what you need
for your specific Internet business requirements based
on our unique list of web site features. Of course, any
specific requirement is welcome too! For your custom web
development solution, please submit a request for proposal
or CONTACT US
directly & immediately.
Creative Web Solutions offers costs-effective solutions
for businesses requiring custom web solutions, but within
a fixed budget frame. For these businesses,we offer standard
packages that include customized web solutions to meet
specific customer requirements. You can check our standard
ecommerce packages from our very own ecommerce packages
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