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• Three Effective Ways to Open a Sales LetterErnest Nicastro
  Your direct mail package clears a major hurdle when your prospect opens the envelope. The moment of truth has arrived. The next 3-5 seconds will largely determine whether your marketing ...
  Copywriting, Direct Marketing, Marketing Tips, Sales
• Marketing Challenge: Setting Your Marketing BudgetHank Stroll
  This week: How does a business determine how much to devote to its marketing budget? Unfortunately, there's no magic number or formula. The most common answer is, "It depends."
  Marketing Budgets, Marketing Challenges, Metrics, Sales, Small Business
• If a Lead Falls in a Forest, Does Anyone Hear?M.L. Hartman
  Generating leads is easy. There, we've said it. Pick a decent list, say something meaningful, toss in an offer, and plenty of folks will respond. Plenty. If you want more, ...
  Lead Generation, Lead Nurturing, Lead Quality, Sales
• Marketing Challenge: Bundling ServicesHank Stroll
  This week: It's rare to find a fast-food restaurant that doesn't offer a combo that's a better deal than each item purchased separately. Does it make sense for service businesses ...
  Marketing Challenges, Sales, Services Marketing
• Effective Marketing Copy: It's Not Just About BenefitsMike O'Sullivan
  You've heard it many times: If you want your marketing materials to do their job, you have to stress benefits, not features. Ultimately, your target readers don't care about what ...
  Print Collateral, Sales, Writing
• Marketing Challenge: Educating Clients About the Sales ProcessHank Stroll
  Read your ideas to solve this week's marketing challenge: What's the best way to educate clients about the sales process? Also this week, what strategies do you take to bring ...
  Collaboration, Marketing Challenges, Online Marketing, Sales
• The Worst Thing About Best PracticesMike McLaughlin
  Few "tools" are more widely abused these days than so-called best practices. It's no wonder that most banks, supermarkets, airlines, retailers and professional services firms look astonishingly similar--they've been busy ...
  Benchmarking, Creativity, Marketing Tips, Sales
• Value Creation: The New Core CompetencyJeff Thull
  If you're competing on price, you'll never achieve maximum profitability. Instead, everyone's job must become value creation. But are you sure that you're providing value to your customers? Even if ...
  Collaboration, Customer Service, Marketing Inspiration, Sales
• Secrets to Closing the SaleBarbara Bix
  There are many reasons for not closing a sale. In today's climate of information and work overload, an increasingly common reason is that prospects don't think of you when they ...
  Customer Engagement, Email Marketing, Sales, Surveys, Targeting
• Succeeding With Straight Talk: Five Ways to Slay the BullJonathan Kranz
  The columnist, author of "Writing Copy for Dummies," recently joined forces with Jon Warshawsky, coauthor of the newly published "Why Business People Speak Like Idiots." Together, the "dummy" and the ...
  Customer Experience, Marketing Inspiration, Public Speaking, Sales
• Death by Corporate OverviewPeter Cohan
  How much of our company's corporate overview presentation should you include in a demo meeting? The answer: as little as possible! Many salespeople and technical staff feel comfortable opening a demonstration ...
  Marketing Smarter, PowerPoint, Sales
• Driving Forces of CommoditizationJeff Thull
  Rapid commoditization of products and services is exasperating even the most skilled professionals. The solution provider is struggling to differentiate its unique products and services. Simultaneously, customers are putting the ...
  Collaboration, Customer Relationships, Sales
• SWOT Team: To Blog or Not to Blog?Hank Stroll
  This week, add your two cents to the discussion: What should companies consider when deciding whether to launch a blog? What benefits do blogs offer? Also this week, read ...
  B2B Marketing, Corporate Blogging, Creativity, Marketing Challenges, Sales
• Rules for RainmakersMike McLaughlin
  Many wonder how a rainmaker reels in so much business while others can only shake their heads in amazement. Some suggest that rainmaking is a genetic predisposition and therefore beyond ...
  Customer Engagement, Market Research, Marketing Inspiration, Sales, Targeting
• Defining Roles of the Product Management TeamGabriel Steinhardt
  The role of a product manager is challenging, complex and often misunderstood. But properly defining and structuring the roles and responsibilities of the product management team enables the team members ...
  Collaboration, Market Research, Positioning, Print Collateral, Product Management, Product Marketing, Sales
• No Pain-No Gain: Five Steps to Gain Respect for MarketingLen Gingerella
  Marketing management is often relegated to communication, advertising and promotion efforts. It's hard to convince senior management that Marketing can produce moneymaking results. But that's what marketing managers need to ...
  Marketing Tips, Measurement, Sales
• Lead Nurturing: Ripening the Right BananasBrian Carroll
  Imagine your marketplace is a field of banana trees. Your marketing people are those who nurture and pick the bananas. Bananas are harvested when they are green, and they turn ...
  B2B Marketing, Case Studies, Lead Generation, Lead Nurturing, Marketing Smarter, Sales, White Papers
• Do All Good Leads Become Sales?Mal Watlington
  It's the fourth quarter of the fiscal year. Let the finger-pointing begin! In truth, the key to accurate lead-conversion ROI calculations is "self-honesty." While every company has the right to ...
  Advertising, Lead Generation, Lead Quality, Measurement, Sales, Segmentation
• Inconceivable! 7 Misconceptions About Lead GenerationMike Schultz
  As service and technology firms begin to awaken from a long, recession-inspired hibernation period, they are again beginning to think about proactive lead generation. If your firm is stepping-up outbound ...
  Direct Marketing, Lead Generation, Sales, Services Marketing, Websites
• Why Demonstration Compels Customers to BuySean D'Souza
  Copywriting, Creativity, Customer Behavior, Customer Engagement, Sales