This week: Many businesses have succeeded in selling products online in the form of e-books, e-reports and other downloadable content. Of course, it's not as simple as posting the product on your Web site and hoping buyers will come. The challenge comes in getting potential customers to your site in ... more

Do members of your company's executive team—along with your peers throughout the organization—see the connection between marketing and the cash flowing into your company's coffers? If not, they probably view you as merely a tactical tool (brochure writer, a trade-show participant, Web site "put-it-upper"), not a true strategic partner. And ... more

B2B marketers who are recognizing the limitations of today's email-marketing and Web-analytics applications for generating qualified sales leads are switching to lead-generation solutions to ensure a continuous stream of qualified leads. Keep these five points in mind to ensure that you make a purchase that meets the needs of your ... more

For many sales professionals, prospecting or qualifying is the least favorite aspect of their job. Often, in the rush to dig into a new account and make a new sale, only a cursory attempt is made at qualifying, and the salesperson ends up spending time with the wrong people. In this ... more

Referrals are one of the most effective ways to gain business. But what's the best vehicle....in-person conversations, email newsletters, blogs, articles? more

Do you remember a time when most restaurant meals were the sit down, full-service, dessert-included variety? Even if all you wanted was a cup of soup or a simple salad, you were offered the blue plate special with everything at one price. Then the culinary folks came up with small ... more

Generating quality leads is a growing challenge for many marketing professionals. More than ever before, legions of marketing materials are competing for the attention of prospects. How can you be sure to stand out from the crowd? more

Every time the tradeshow season rolls around, marketers ask themselves the same old question: how can I tap into the special sales markets without using last year's hats, bags, Frisbees, pens, and other boring gimmicks? The solution is so simple and effective—good old-fashioned books. more

Marketers assume that "Googling" for information is an automatic response the instant a Web surfer opens a browser. And for many Internet users, the theory is true. But for a number of reasons, and with increasing regularity, many people bypass search engines altogether in favor of a technique called direct navigation. ... more

A fundamental question in selling is not why people sell, but why people buy. People buy for their own reasons—not for the seller's. In fact, their motivation to buy may have very little to do with the reasons sellers think they should buy. When it comes down to it, people buy ... more

A customer reference program can have a significant impact on all customer-related functions in an enterprise. To maximize and demonstrate the strategic business benefits of a program, an effective RMS needs—at a minimum—the following capabilities.... more

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The elevator speech is that tightly scripted, 30-second introduction that should pack as much information about a person as possible in an engaging, persuasive, and interesting way, right? Unfortunately, even the "best" elevator speech can be an express trip to oblivion instead of a shining personal marketing moment. more

Your initial contact with a prospective customer leaves little margin for error. The first conversation is the most critical and least forgiving point of the entire sales process. Within the first 20 seconds you must simultaneously establish relevance and credibility—or you will be dismissed as just more marketing noise in ... more

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To design marketing plans that are effective in attracting and selling to more women, you have to know where you are today. In other words: To get the right answers, you must start with the correct questions. As your company focuses on developing appropriate strategies, here are some questions you ... more

For some organizations, there's no business like tradeshow business. But diversifying your marketing efforts leads to better results. So what are the alternatives to tradeshow marketing? more

Make no mistake: Online, your success in converting interest into acquisition depends on your ability to connect with prospects precisely where they are in the buying process. B2B and B2C buyers go through similar stages in that process as they consider their purchasing decision: needs assessment, requirements analysis, evaluation, purchasing. Using ... more

Traditional TV tends to deliver measurable advertising results only for true mass-market products—in part because you need about $15 million to begin even the smallest mainstream TV campaign. Cable TV, on the other hand, is a powerfully viable alternative, delivering much higher ROI on much lower budgets in a national campaign. ... more

The whole is more than the sum of its parts. To recognize and value the baby boomer opportunity, it is critical to comprehend all of the pieces of their lives and how they are linked together holistically. Success with this market will come to those who understand how boomers define ... more

One way to delight users is with the guy-in-the-unexpected-context phenomenon. Any company with way-over-the-top customer service is giving its users an unexpected, delightful surprise. Something to remember. Something to talk about. But even the subtle out-of-context surprise can trigger some neurons and brain chemistry. A reference to one movie slipped ... more

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Increasingly there's a new priority emerging for marketers, and that is sales acceleration: Finding disciplined and repeatable ways to move existing customers as well as prospects from "why?" to "buy"—more rapidly. Here are tips on how marketers can prove their value and work together with sales to accelerate the sales cycle. more

One of the enduring myths of negotiation is that it is a back-and-forth struggle with your customer that occurs in the final stage of the sale, the "close." Here's how to survive (and maybe avoid) it. more

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