How Good is your Profile on Social Networking Sites?

Source: eGrabber Newsletter

All sales people know that their prospects search the Internet for information about the product, the company and competitors, before they purchase something. But, what is now new is they check out the sales person they are in contact with too. Does your LinkedIn profile have the right ingredients to create a sense of trust that would make your prospects better inclined to buy from you?

Prospects would like to know how long you have been in this industry, your experience with the company / products, your qualifications, companies you have sold to, etc. How many of your customers have recommended you on LinkedIn? Are you associated with groups and associations related to your work and industry?

These things really matter a lot. If your answer is a ‘No’ to any of these questions, then it is time you started working on them.

Are you Adept at Web Conferencing Yet?

Source: eGrabber Newsletters

Companies and sales teams face significant challenges in selling cost-effectively to businesses today. Old selling habits that rely on face-to-face contact is simply too expensive for most businesses in the current market. More importantly, surveys show that, customers prefer online interactions, over personal contact, when possible.

A web presentation in which you show your PC desktop and demo something relevant to the prospect has become more effective. It is also rather convenient to both than a face-to-face conversation in the potential customer's office.

You can also easily record these web conferences and review them later to improve your selling skills and techniques. So, get started on using web conferencing.

Add Contacts into Outlook Addressbook with AddressGrabber - wikiHow

Add Contacts into Outlook Addressbook with AddressGrabber - wikiHow

Build Targeted Sales Lead Lists from the Internet

The Internet is one of the cost-effective ways to build a quality list of targeted sales leads. Buying or renting a list can be expensive and you can never be sure if you are getting the exact customers you want. Also, there is the issue of outdated contact data since contact information may change over time.

The Internet has many sources of free-leads. Online directories (such as YellowPages.com and SuperPages.com), association websites, membership directories, White Pages, MLS listings, etc. are some of the sources that you can use to build a list of prospects for e-mailing / tele-calling.

ListGrabber allows you to quickly capture contact details of prospects from all the above online sources and automatically add them to your database (Excel, Outlook, etc.)

So, stop wasting money on expensive lists. Use ListGrabber and see how it directly helps you sell more.

Download the 10-day trial version of ListGrabber today.

Cost - Per - Lead Advertising Report - Pontiflex

clipped from www.marketingcharts.com

Pontiflex's Analaysis - Source: MarketingCharts.com

In its “Cost-per-Lead Advertising Data Report,” Pontiflex defines basic data as information such as a user’s first name, last name, e-mail address and postal address. Premium fields include more detailed data such as telephone numbers, social networking usernames, and custom questions.

Pontiflex’s analysis found that the overall cost for a basic lead, across all industries is $0.60, while the cost for a premium lead is $2.27. However, the increases are not consistent across industries.

Specific vertical differences:

• In the entertainment industry, a basic lead costs $0.80, while the cost for a premium lead is $3.00.
• In the CPG industry, a basic lead costs $0.87, while the cost for a premium lead is $1.13.
• In the health industry, a basic lead costs $0.60, while the cost for a premium lead is $3.36.
• In the non-profit industry, a basic lead costs $1.33, while the cost for a premium lead is $1.85.
• In the technology industry, a basic lead costs $0.43, while the cost for a premium lead is $3.75.
• In the travel industry, a basic lead costs $1.40, while the cost for a premium lead is $2.50.
• The cost for a online retail basic lead is $0.59.

The report also found that advertisers often engage marketing leads through social networking groups and community sites, while a significant percentage also use e-newsletters to collect information

Ad Spend Sinks 14% in H109

clipped from www.marketingcharts.com Ad spending fell 14.3% in the first half of the year, to $60.87 billion, according to TNS Media Intelligence. The TNS number is similar to that reported two weeks ago by The Nielsen Company, which said that total ad spending was down 15.4% for H109, to $56.9 billion. Second-quarter spending was similar to Q1 spending, which could indicate that the steep decline may have have leveled off. These 14% declines represent billions of dollars in lost revenue, said John Swallen, SVP of research for TNS, who cautions that too much optimism could be premature. Early data from Q3 hint at possible improvements for some media because of easy comparisons against distressed levels of year ago expenditures, reports MediaBuyerPlanner.

Creative Selling Can Be a Double-Edged Sword

Source: eGrabber Newsletters

With so much competition and too few prospects, both marketing and sales have to be creative to attract and sell to consumers. Surveys show that though creative marketing and sales approaches are successful at getting attention, they create higher expectations in the prospects they engage. The more creative you are, the higher the expectation. This continues even after they become your customers and they are prone to being easily disappointed. So, when you fail to live up to these expectations, you end up doing more damage than if you had simply not chosen to think out-of-the-box.

So before you start thinking of creative ways to engage your prospects, make sure you have the means to perform higher and better.