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| Volume 9, Issue 2 |
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In This Issue:
 Eight key ways to say "thank you" to customers
Nine tips for internet marketing in 2009
[Selling] competitive in a down economy
Smart [sales] management: [6 steps to] Pre-call planning for success
Outside the box: How to focus to increase productivity and growth
 He can close, but how is his interpersonal sensitivity?
 Did dumping Phelps Crush Kellogg's brand?
The most innovative companies in advertising & marketing
 Customer service in a shrinking economy
How Amazon aims to keep you clicking
 Marketing your way through a recession
 Top 10 for online marketing success in 2009
 An [interview] question to make a monkey of you
[5 Steps] to rally workers for tough 2009
It isn't always a job behind a posting
Buying wine on a dime
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Eight key ways to say "thank you" to customers
Andrea R. Nierenberg is a best-selling author, world-renowned business authority and president of The Nierenberg Group, a business communications firm.
Good salespeople strive to be in front of customers as often as possible. But, when we think about it, our clients and prospects give us many opportunities to stay in their minds in positive and non-threatening ways.
Yet, these opportunities are often overlooked, simply because we neglect to send a note of thanks. Now's the time to start giving back. Here are eight opportunities to send a "thank you," plus when and how to do it effectively...
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Nine tips for internet marketing in 2009
It's hard to believe that the first quarter of 2009 will soon becoming to a close.
And small business owners have a lot to think about as they look ahead to the next. With a poor economy, budget cuts and downsizing on everyone’s mind, marketing one's business via the Internet is an important activity that's been getting lost in the shuffle neglected.
Research shows that consumer behavior continues to shift rapidly to online resources when looking for local products or services. To take advantage of this surging trend, follow these nine simple tips to
develop an effective online marketing strategy. These actionable hints will increase your chance of being found online, and increase your chance of turning Web site visitors into customers...
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[Selling] competitive in a down economy
Stay ahead of the pack with these tried-and-true tips.
The financial mess is hurting everyone, and sales professionals are no exception. They're finding clients reining in costs and key advocates of their company being given a pink slip. Just how are they to continue hitting their quota in this environment? Not to fear. The best performing professionals know that it takes more
than a great product and an aggressive attitude to stay on top. Here are tried-and-true tips for keeping ahead of the pack:...
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Smart [sales] management: [6 steps to] Pre-call planning for success
Every salesperson would like to have more appointments with more decision-makers. The reality is, these are relatively rare events—particularly with regard to the C-suite.
So once you do get that all-important meeting set up, how much time do you spend preparing for it? The majority of sales calls are won or lost before the salesperson even steps into the client's office. This is due to the amount of time spent planning for the call. Pre-call planning is one of the most critical steps before any important
client meeting. It can take 15 minutes, or even days, depending upon the complexity and importance of the business to your company and goals. In spite of its critical importance, pre-call planning is a relatively simple endeavor. Here are six steps to incorporate into your own planning process:...
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Outside the box: How to focus to increase productivity and growth
David Chittock is president of Incentra, focused on helping leaders achieve their business goals by "increasing the value of the people vital to success" through integrated incentive and recognition solutions. He manages a diverse business that
offers strategy creation, web performance platforms, print and electronic communications, administration, training, program analysis and rewards fulfillment around the globe.
I have been wracking my brain lately to think about every possible way to grow my business—and you’re likely doing the same.
Of course, the challenge has actually been to take the time to just focus and think—to somehow escape the insanity of today’s typical business day to analyze the situation and imagine the possible ways to take advantage of a bad economy and prosper. After pondering how to maximize the effectiveness of our people, improve marketing and ramp
up sales activities, it hit me that my effectiveness, my ability to impact our growth is, at best, marginal right now. If I'm honest with myself, the real reason that my effectiveness is wanting, is that I lack focus, and chances are, so do you. It also hit me that our best weapon, in this tough year as managers and leaders, might be for
us to reprogram ourselves to develop an improved ability to focus, which will help maximize the thinking, creativity and actions necessary to grow our businesses in a brutal economic environment...
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He can close, but how is his interpersonal sensitivity?
There may be nothing more important for a business -- or more difficult -- than hiring good salespeople.
"There are more mistakes in sales hiring than any other position," says Bob Kreisberg, CEO of Opus Productivity Solutions, a company in Laguna Hills, California, that administers tests used in hiring salespeople. "The difference between a good interview and good performance is often wider than usual." So it's no wonder that more companies
are using specially designed personality tests to identify top sales recruits. Such tests are similar to workplace assessments like Myers-Briggs, which requires test takers to select statements and adjectives that best describe themselves. But instead
of determining whether someone is, say, more logical or emotional, the tests assess traits such as...
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Customer service in a shrinking economy
How companies are struggling to maintain customer service amid sinking sales and declining employee morale.
Hertz (HTZ) couldn't ask for a better customer than Richard M. Garber. The Cleveland-based business development manager typically rents cars from the chain 20 to 40 times a year when traveling on business for materials manufacturer FLEXcon. But now Garber is rethinking that loyalty. In the past month he has returned Hertz cars to the
Boston and Minneapolis airports only to find nobody waiting with a handheld check-in device. In Minneapolis, Garber had to drag his bags to the counter to return his car; in Boston, he finally tracked down an employee who came out and explained that some colleagues had just been laid off. "When you're rushing for an airplane, every minute
counts," says Garber. "The less convenient they are, the more likely I am to try someone else." As the economy plunges deeper into recession, many companies are confronting the same brutal choices Hertz faced when it announced layoffs of some
4,000 people on Jan. 16. While businesses may feel forced to trim costs, cutting too deeply can drive away customers...
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How Amazon aims to keep you clicking
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Maintaining good customer "experience" is key, even when it's an outside merchant making the sale.
Last summer, Lisa Dias was poking around the Amazon.com (AMZN) Web site for books that could help her start a home business. The 45-year-old found a used workbook for would-be entrepreneurs that sounded promising and was described as "like new." The seller wasn't Amazon itself, but one of the merchants that market through its Web
site. Still, Dias went ahead and dished out $24.95 for the paperback. When the book arrived at her New Jersey home, though, it wasn't anywhere close to new. The worksheets were already filled in with someone else's scrawlings. She felt burned but didn't do anything about it until November. She first tried the merchant and didn't
get any response. Then Dias called Amazon. The company immediately gave her a refund, without her having to return the book. She's still a bit baffled that Amazon paid her money the company never received in the first place. "I felt like they stood up for me," says Dias. For the most part, Amazon has...
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Marketing your way through a recession
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Now may be the time to drop your weaker distributors and upgrade your sales force.
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The signs of an imminent recession are all around us.
The spillover from the subprime mortgage crisis is weakening both consumer confidence and the consumer spending—much of it on credit—that has been buoying the U.S. economy. Companies should bear eight factors in mind when making their marketing plans for 2008 and 2009:...
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An [interview] question to make a monkey of you
Worldwide Panel LLC, a small market-research firm, is getting flooded with résumés for four vacancies in sales and information technology.
However, officials expect to reject numerous applicants after asking them: "What is your greatest weakness?" Candidates often respond "with something that is not a weakness," say Christopher Morrow, senior vice president of the Calabasas, Calif., concern. "It is a deal breaker." The weakness question represents the most common and
most stressful one posed during interviews. Yet in today's weak job market, the wrong answer weakens your [prospective employees] chances of winning employment...
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[5 Steps] to rally workers for tough 2009
It's been a brutal year. Many workers are burned out, anxious and exhausted. 2009 doesn't look any better. So how can managers rally employees for the hard slog ahead?
We checked in with Tom Rath, a workplace consultant at Gallup and co-author of the upcoming book "Strengths Based Leadership." He says it's critical that managers pay attention to morale now. "There's more fear and insecurity in workplaces today than I've ever seen," he says. "If managers can do a good job of helping employees to feel
secure and see light at the end of the tunnel, they might actually boost per-person productivity." Many managers can't reward workers financially, he adds, so "emotional and psychological" kudos are "even more important." He gave us five steps managers can take to motivate employees...
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It isn't always a job behind a posting
Employment Ads on the Web Can Lead You to Marketing Pitches, or Worse; Ways to See Which Ones Are Sincere.
In October, Tom Greene was invited by email to interview for a vice president position he had applied for through CareerBuilder.com. Before accepting, the sales and marketing executive called the search firm that posted the ad to ensure it was indeed a job opportunity. Mr. Greene didn't want a repeat of two years ago, when he agreed to
an interview in the same circumstances only to find there was no position available. Instead, he had received a pitch from a career-marketing service costing up to $10,000, starting with a $6,000 upfront fee. Mr. Greene didn't want a repeat of two years ago, when he agreed to an interview in the same circumstances only to find there
was no position available. Instead, he had received a pitch from a career-marketing service costing up to $10,000, starting with a $6,000 upfront fee. This time, the 53-year-old was assured by phone that the job was real and he wouldn't be asked to dig into his wallet. But after driving a half-hour from his home in Colonia, N.J., to meet the firm's recruiters...
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Buying wine on a dime
A year ago, Rick Jelovsek regularly paid $20 or more for a bottle of wine at retailers near his Johnson City, Tenn., home. But after stock-market declines shaved 20% off the value of his retirement accounts, he began choosing bottles in the $12 range.
"I'm making sure I'm going down in price, and I'm double-checking that it's either [rated] a good wine or I've gotten a recommendation," says the 64-year-old retired physician, who recently enjoyed a bottle of Spanish wine, Borsao Tres Picos Garnacha, for less than $12. In Denver, customers "are drinking a little bit less, a little less
quality, a little less expensive," says Clif Louis, owner of the Vineyard Wine Shop, which mostly sells boutique wines. His sales have been down about 9% in the past seven months. As recession grips the country, drinkers are discovering fine wines on a beer budget. [The prices mark a trend toward less-expensive varietals, such as...]
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