Marketing | PrairieSkyGroup

Driving Into the Chasm

While crossing the chasm applies to technologies and products across an industry lifecycle, Stocking’s corollary is that it can also apply to a single customer or client. It’s not only the industry or technology that goes through a cycle, individual clients and customers do as well.

If you are concerned about the lifetime value of a client, you have to bring new ideas, services and products to your existing base, otherwise they are going to forget about you and go somewhere else. It’s surprising how often this happens. When it does, you’ll often find yourself driving into your own chasm.

Curiosity. Killed the cat? I doubt it.

I have the great opportunity to interview many sales and marketing professionals. One characteristic for evaluation that isn’t on most corporate interview regimens is… how curious is the candidate? Why is this important? If you are not curious and not asking questions then you are not learning, and your chances of succeeding are limited.

Giving Thanks

Thanking customers and clients for their business is Marketing and Sales 101. But it’s rare when we do it with sincerity. One of the most successful marketing campaigns I’ve been involved with was sending personal thank-you notes to over 1400 customers. The benefits were twofold…

Burning Down Your House

There is a law of project management and business development that states that there will be four crises during the course of any project. This extends to most endeavors whether they are marketing projects, sales cycles with prospects, the relationship between sales and marketing, building a business, or even a marriage. Stocking’s corollary to this law is that you will be responsible for at least one of those crises. Why? It doesn’t matter. The real question is what are you going to do about it?

Does This Resume Make My Ass Look Fat?

A friend sent me his resume and asked me to take a look at it. This is a slightly sensitive situation since it is the equivalent of asking the question above. He’d also had a “Resume Doctor” jazz it up a little. The resume summary was terrible. I fell asleep during the first paragraph. Here’s an excerpt.

Carly Simon and the Wooly Mammoth

Suddenly, the wooly mammoth turned with a snort… its tusks swinging violently back and forth, its trunk searching for our scent. My mouth was dry. My palms sweaty. My heart thumped like the great beast itself. I watched with terror as Grog attacked from the flank and was swept away by the beast’s long tusks. Gnerk then bravely charged, but the beast reared on two legs and came down on top of him, stomping his small body into the ground. I cringed as I head Gnerk’s bones crunching, but seized the moment, the beast distracted, and ran my spear between the mammoth’s ribs and into its heart. What do Carly Simon, blogging and wooly mammoths have to do with Sales and Marketing?

The Buying Cycle and Nurturing Cycle – Part II

Finding the 10 to 15% percent of the marekt that is looking for your product or service is a waste of time and effort, especially by sales people. Constructing a nurturing campaign makes more sense. A recent campaign using a nurturing approach yielded a 20% market penetration and resulted in 30% growth.

How Many Sales People Does It Take to Screw In a Forecast?

Asking how many sales people it takes to add sales revenue to a forecast is the wrong question. Looking at what resources are required is a much better question. See how several surveys bear this out.

Your Competitors Just Hired Two Interns to Scope You Out

Our secret is that each of us maintains a set of priorities which we know are important and we would get to if it weren’t for all this “really insignificant stuff” that occupies our time.
While I could rant about what is important and what is a waste of time, I’m not sure it would change behavior. However, here’s another option that might help you get done some of those things you know you could be doing. Hire a college intern.

Tag Archive: Marketing