If you are trying to find the best way to take your product to market there is a U.K business link that you can take a survey to Identify Potential Sales Channels and it will give you a set of recommendations. It is only a 5 minute exercise and well worth it.

The Channel Advantage recommends using a 4-step process to evaluate and manage each channel.

It looks straight forward but in today’s world I think it is missing one component. There should be 1-block on the bottom saying consumer and final price. Distribution is so good these days that the channels cross over so effectively that the consumer has to see the same price. Many times even when there is value added services being included. So, how many sales channels do you have and do they all end up with the same price to the consumer?

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1. We should be ignoring the recession.
2. Build community.
3. Pull marketing versus push.
4. Social media.

All of this being the soft side of marketing and selling. But we will make it through the recession by doing this?  I believe that marketing is changing towards the items mentioned above but I also question can it effectively put food on the table today.  I have been pulling out some old notes from years back just to see what was being said and what I was believing in tougher times. I saw a good mindmap of mine on Lead Generation , I just had to share. Look it over and see if it can help you.

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That says many times we just did not qualify them. Sound better! How ever, I think we should put another hole in our sales funnel. Just not at the bottom, maybe in every section. Accept the prospect, and than see if he fits through our funnel. If we struggle keeping him in the funnel have a pressure relief valve that leaves him exit gracefully.

Wonder why we get bad clients? We are successful at cramming them through the funnel instead of leaving gravity do its job. You can provide an easy path and even accelerate it but stop trying to overcome objections, just provide answers to them and leave good old gravity take its course.

P.S. There is another way of getting people out of your sales funnel, it could be overflowing.

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Your Marketing Organized

One of the most difficult tasks for small business owners, when it comes to marketing, is organization. Until you start to look at marketing as one of the core systems in your business it will always feel like a disjointed and disconnected thing that you know you must do when you can get around to it. And that’s no way to build momentum.

For the purpose of this post I’ve created what I think is the ideal Marketing organization in the graphic below. (This is a smart art graphic that new versions of MS Office can create and save as an image – click on the graphic to see full size and feel free to borrow for your organization.)

If you can begin to realize that your company’s marketing system does indeed need to perform all of the functions listed above, you can more easily grasp how to create processes that assure you are accurately moving each and every customer logically along the path to becoming a hyper-satisfied referral machine.

And that’s the way to build marketing momentum!

My opinion:

As you know I am a systems guy and a straightforward,easy to understand chart like this is a great strategy and tool. To simple for some, but that I believe is the beauty of it.

I have taken a similar list and just tried using it in my last presentation. It goes a step further or backwards which ever you may decide. But instead of a linear list like this, I have made more of a Mindmap or spoke type diagram. This way I use linking connections and over lay my “web” on top of it.

My categories were formed from this new software package I have called Marketing Plan Pro Powered by someone….

P.S. I think this linear chart is easier to understand and may use it to introduce my circular chart.

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From the Entireweb Newsletter *   September 2, 2008   *   ISSUE #471

The Most Valuable Source for Leads(cont)

With all of this insight , how did the same channel executives, distributors, resellers, and channel representatives respond to the survey by Chief Marketing Officer Council with regards to tactics for generating new leads in the coming year?

14% Plan to use Direct Marketing and E-mail campaigns

13% Plan to use Sales Brochures and collateral

10% Plan to focus on Tradeshows for lead generation

8% Will use Seminars to generate leads

7% Will rely on Print Advertising

7% Plan to use Public Relations and Article Placement

7% Plan to use the Internet and Online Advertising

6% Will revert to Telemarketing

6% Plan to invest in Internet Search Engine Marketing

5% Plan to engage customers in User Group Gatherings

4% Plan to rely on Yellow Page Advertising

4% Will experiment on the Internet with Blogs and Social Networking

3% Will use Online Directories

3% Will create Webcasts

1% Plan to use Content Syndication

2% Will try something completely different

The results of the survey regarding lead generation tactics for new business acquisition are hardly surprising. Very little has changed in the planning and tactics as conveyed by the survey response, and yet, the contrast in comparison to the most effective and valued leads is staggering. Even though 54% of respondents acknowledged that the most valued leads are based on customer referrals, the first mention of leveraging this goldmine occurs in the 4% of respondents that plan to engage customers in user group gatherings.

Fortunately, it would appear relatively that fourteen percent of respondents believe the most valuable lead generation comes from Direct Marketing or E-mail, and fourteen percent plan to use this tactic for lead generation in the coming year. However, even though only seven percent believe that the best leads come from trade shows, there are ten percent planning to take this tactic, and another eight percent who will augment this activity with seminars.

Ever heard of a Customer referral program?

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You GOTTA Know this – Voice mail messages can be a useful selling tool or a major setback to your sales efforts, depending on how you leave or receive them. Here are a few tips that may help your effectiveness when leaving a message.
Prepare what you plan to say before you leave a message. Rambling or pause-filled messages make the wrong impression to prospects.
Leave all the critical information, but don’t make the message too long. It’s usually a good idea to leave the prospect with a day and time when you will call back.
Be prepared to talk to the prospect or customer when you call. Some salespeople are so used to going into voice mail that they stammer and stutter when a live prospect answers. Every time you call a prospect, think of it as a possible face-to-face interview, and plan accordingly.
Source: William Keefe, sales manager of Interactive Data (from The Selling Advantage, 05/28/08)

Technorati Tags: William Keefe,The Selling Advantage,Voice Mail,Sales,Lead Generation

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The Ultimate Marketing System is a collection of 12 workbooks and 12 audio CDs that make a complete small business marketing program. Each workbook contains a thorough explanation of one critical small business marketing topic, real-life small business examples and worksheets, forms and tools needed to help you implement the information presented.

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