Sales for Men

Contains about sales information

Month: November 2018

Sales Funneling – A Marketers Guide

Sales people often feel that all marketing needs to do is to drive loads of leads their way. If this is the approach in your organisation, then you are missing sales and lowering potential profitability. Careful management of the tone and quantity of your marketing content across a planned sales funnel can deliver pre-qualified leads to a sales person, significantly improving the chances of conversion.

Many of us will have experienced a sense of ‘information overload’ where we simply switch off, or the frustration of wanting to know more about a product or service before we commit and not being able to find it. Both happen regularly, and when they do – you’ve lost a sale.

For almost every purchase we make, we run through a broadly similar decision-making process (I say almost, as the impulse bar of chocolate at the supermarket counter is quite a different process). Typically, and particularly for more complex purchases, our thinking will go something like this: ‘My laptop is heavy – I saw that ad for really light weight ones, who was it again?’ (Latent need); ‘There’s that ad, it’s X-brand’ (Awareness); ‘I’ll just check out their site’ (Interest); ‘Hmm, well the weight certainly compares well, but can I afford it, what are the other options?’ (Evaluation); ‘I’ll pop into Y-shop to see what it feels like and ask a little more about it’ (Trial); ‘I’ve researched the best price, I’ll get it from there’ (Purchase). Kotler and others have spelt out various different versions of this process, there’s bound to have been one modelled for most markets. By understanding the way people make buying decisions, you can map your sales funnel: 1. Awareness, 2. Interest, 3. Evaluation, 4. Trial, 5. Purchase.

Against this process you should map and measure your sales funnel, you’ll steadily whittle down your audience at each step, with interested parties moving through the funnel and those who either don’t want what you offer or who are turned off by your messaging going elsewhere. To maximise the conversion at each stage, marketers should consider two key elements; tone and quantity.

What do I mean by tone? As short-hand, think emotion. Against the sales funnel, there is an appropriate tone at each step. If you imagine a continuum from emotional to rational, typically your marketing material will need to start at emotional and move to rational through the funnel. To really get noticed, you need to appeal to our most human side, our emotions. If you hit a nerve, they notice you. However rational you are, e.g. ‘we’re cheap’, if they don’t feel a need for what you’re offering they’re unlikely to notice your communications in the first place. Successful emotional appeals, in marketing terms, usually hit on a negative feeling and say that you can take it away. This is called finding the point of pain. Once you’ve established that emotional appeal, your communications need to move into more rational territory, where proof is needed. As a sanity check on the tone of your marketing materials, map out each stage of the sales funnel and look at the material (offline, online, sales person, in-store, etc.) and then judge the emotional appeal – are you delivering rational messages too soon? Is your material providing further emotional messaging, when your buyer is looking for rational proof?

Quantity, in regard to sales funnelling, is a fairly straight forward concept – start ‘short and sweet’ and then provide more information at each step. Where most organisations fall foul of this is on their websites. Home pages are often jam packed with information. In a typical sales funnel, an organisation’s website is the second or third step – this means that people typically reach you looking for an emotional appeal (what’s the benefit for me?) and they are looking for key messages. Again, map out your journey and assess the quantity of information you are serving at each stage, it should start small and increase at each step.

So, if you’re experiencing lots of web traffic, but low numbers of enquiries – or lots of footfall and low sales, think about the sales funnel. An initial assessment against tone and quantity will signpost where your blockage might be and put you on the path to a free flowing sales funnel that has a tangible link to your bottom line.

Copyright (c) 2008 Bryony Thomas

Organized Retail Industry In India – Swot Analysis

OVERVIEW

Retail Industry in India, contributing over 10 per cent to the country’s GDP and accounting for around 8 per cent of the employment, is the largest among all the industries. Over the years, it has come forth as one of the most dynamic and fast paced industries. http://www.bharatbook.com/market-research-reports/retail-market-research-report/organized-retail-industry-in-india-swot-analysis.html

More than 95 per cent of the Indian retail sector falls in the unorganized sector category. Organized retail is expected to grow from 5-6 per cent to 14-18 per cent of the total retail market by 2015.

Organized retail sector’s penetration level is 85 per cent in US, 80 per cent in France, 66 per cent in Japan, 20 per cent in China and, merely 5-6 per cent in India. This confirms that India is at an early stage of evolution in the organized retail space and has a huge growth potential.

SCOPE OF THE REPORT

Industry at a glance Contains a study of the major internal and external factors affecting the industry in the form of a SWOT framework

REASONS TO BUY

Gain insight into the industry in terms of the opportunities and threats that will augment and restrict its growth Get knowledge about the forte of the industry which will help it to ride in the lead OVERVIEW SWOT ANALYSIS 1.1Strength 1.1.1Increasing middle class 1.1.2 Technology 1.1.3 Low cost of operations 1.2 Weakness 1.2.1 Low conversion level 1.2.2 Shortage of skilled manpower 1.2.3 Lack of Industry Status 1.2.4 Supply chain 1.2.5 Policy induced barriers 1.3 Opportunities 1.3.1 Rural Retail 1.3.2 Tier II and Tier III cities 1.3.3 Specialty Retail 1.3.4 Disposable Income 1.4 Threats 1.4.1 Unorganized Retail 1.4.2 Complex taxation system 1.4.3 Macro economic factors 1.4.5 Real Estate Issues 1.4.6 Competition

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1 Middle class households (mn, 2012- 2026E) Figure 2 Labor cost per person ($ p.a, Asian countries) Figure 3 City wise retail penetration (%, 2006-2011) Figure 4 Per capita income (INR, 2006-2015E) Figure 5 Lease rentals (% of sales, 2005-2010) For more information kindly visit : Organized Retail Industry In India – Swot Analysis

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Steps To Choosing A Point Of Sale System For Your Restaurant

If your restaurant is growing, then investing in a restaurant point of sale system should be your next move. Having this restaurant computer software will allow your restaurant to become more effective and efficient. The question is how do you choose the right restaurant point of sale system? What do you need to do to ensure your money is spent properly?

The first step to choosing a restaurant computer software is to look at its usability. Does the software have everything you need to manage the restaurant? If so, how easy is it for your staff to use? Usually, systems that use a touch screen monitor are the easiest to use. Try looking at different point of sale systems in order to figure out which ones will make it easy to run your restaurant.

The second step is to think about the hardware that you would need. For most businesses getting started, they will likely need receipt printers, computers, cash drawers and will want to accept credit cards. It is a good idea to go with an all inclusive system to get set up with everything you need. These restaurant point of sale systems can be cheaper than adding on extras down the line.

The third step is to think about a system that integrates multiple channels such as phone, mobile, and the Internet. This can allow for things such as employees being able to track reservations online, tracking orders from mobile devices, and more. Youll get a more accurate way to fulfill orders and track revenue.

The fourth step is to take a look at what kind of support you are getting. Is the restaurant computer software that youre going to use constantly being upgraded? Can you expect strong tech support from the company? Is it going to cost a lot of money to maintain your system? These are all things that you need to think about before making a purchase.

The fifth and final step is to compare different restaurant point of sale systems based on price. List all the features you would need and do some comparison shopping with different companies to make the best decision. You may be able to get great deals if you need multiple terminals for your restaurant.

So thats a quick 5 step guide to choosing the POS system for your restaurant. Make sure that you spend some time doing research on software and systems before you make a decision. You want to make sure that you are satisfied with how the system runs before you make an investment.

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Crm In Sme – The Changing Scenario In India

CRM is one of the most exciting areas that organizations are looking at these days. We have seen a significant spurt in demand given the accelerated growth and competitive scenario emerging on the business landscape.

Let us look at THREE scenarios here which are clearly emerging in the Indian SME market from a CRM perspective,

First, standalone CRM solutions which many organizations are implementing. I am taking the example of a Brokerage House that has a Customer Service team and a Sales Organization. For a brokerage, the customer service team is the heart of their business as prospects and customers are constantly calling them with requests, issues, requirements, account set up and what have you. This internal Call Center has to be CRM enabled to manage this steady flow of telephone calls, emails and other contact points from their prospects and customers. Invariably their telephony systems have also to be integrated with the CRM. All elements of the Call center have to be truly integrated for seamless delivery of customer service. Likewise their sales team needs also to be tightly integrated in to manage leads allocated by the Call center. This could be within the CRM system or even via SMS to alert mobile sales persons of potential customers. Imagine the customer delight, if you log in your requirements and within minutes the appropriate sales person calls you to set up a meeting. Indian brokerages which are on a high growth path given booming stock markets have realized the importance of CRM systems that will truly drive their business growth. The need has got cemented with brokerages rapidly expanding across multiple locations and the need to manage remotely branch operations. Further many organizations which started small have grown exponentially in the last one year. We have seen the emergence of a high growth industry in the Financial Services business.

Secondly, more and more organizations are seeking end to end solutions with best of breed offerings. The classic example is of ERP integrated with CRM. This is increasingly seen as a trend in the Indian market now. By having this integrated solution, the sales, operations and finance organizations can work together as a team to manage their customers, deals, payments, receivables, inventories and orders. This can powerfully transform the way organizations are run and reduce lead times and improve information flow. This approach has to be taken by organizations seeking exponential growth in an economy where things are happening. Here again we are witness to a new trend that has emerged in the last 6 months or so across SME businesses. This seemed to have been a major requirement for larger organizations until sometime back. This again reflects the rapid growth potential seen by SMEs in India today. This technology driver has accentuated the need for employees to become more result oriented as well as increasingly accountable.

Thirdly, hosted offerings are here to stay for SMEs looking for CRM application. The trend we see is of relatively smaller SMEs adopting this approach quickly as this minimizes investments in hardware, trained technical manpower and infrastructure. It also helps them get off the ground rapidly. CRM is best suited for SaaS (Software as a Service) model given the fact that sales persons are generally on the move and can therefore work from any location as long as internet bandwidth is available. The other major driver of SaaS is the fact that organizations prefer to get started with vanilla applications which makes sure that they focus on user adoption in the initial phase. Further this model makes it easier for SMEs to decide if they wish to rent or buy as the on-premise should always exist in case organizations decide at some point in time to move the application in-house. Flexibility is a huge advantage from a deployment and investment perspective. Lead management, Sales force automation are the two major areas of CRM that are best enabled though the SaaS model.

Is Being A Silpada Designs Independent Representative Right For You

In 1997, Teresa Walsh and Bonnie Kelly had founded Silpada Designs. They happened to be room mothers for children in the same classroom. The two women struck up a conversation and discovered that both had a common interest in sterling silver jewelry. They tried several business ventures but each time were unsuccessful. This prompted them with an idea to design their own jewelry and show them at their own jewelry parties. Since those humble beginnings, their Company, Silpada Designs has had phenomenal growth over the years empowering a vast number of Independent Silpada Designs Representatives all across the country.

Silpada home shows and jewelry parties can bring in several hundred dollars at each party. Typical sales can run around seven to eight hundred dollars for the jewelry collection. Silpada Home Designs are very lenient on how their representatives run their jewelry parties. The representatives are free to run their parties as choose. This gives a large advantage over other home parties that specializes in the jewelry market, a definite advantage for those that are seriously considering this type of venture. Representatives do not have to follow any sales script, push a particular product, or for that matter required to throw any parties. Silpada Designs even allows you to be creative in your marketing by allowing you to sell jewelry directly, over the internet, by phone or any other creative ways provided that you do not miss represent the product. Many representatives are so enthusiastic about the jewelry line and they sometimes are their own best customers. What better endorsement can you possible have?

Make no mistake; Silpada Designs is a Multi Level Marketing (MLM) opportunity. But do no let that scare you. A Silpada Representative is not bound to hold a certain number of parties or is under any quotas or minimums for sales. The number of parties is strictly up to you. However, holding as many parties as you can earn you a great deal of money. In addition, like other MLM opportunities reps can earn prizes, jewelry and vacations for doing an outstanding job. The general commission for representatives is thirty (30) percent of retail sales for jewelry and fifteen (15) percent for accessories. You can also earn residual income from down line sales made by your recruits. Again, no requirements to recruit or have a down-line sale force.

Sound good right! So the question becomes, “How much is this going to cost me?” Unfortunately, for those that are on a real tight budget, its going to be a little costly. Its going to cost you for a certification fee, learning materials and of course some product. Figure almost two hundred dollars for the certification and learning materials and two to five hundred dollars for some starter product (cost of product to reps are at a fifty percent discount) to show. So I would estimate four to seven hundred dollars to get you going.

If you want to do this but you are concerned about the startup cost, I suggest that you go to a couple of Silpada Design parties and just see for yourself how well the jewelry and accessories sell. If you truly belief that you can make a go at this and you want to be in business for yourself, but have the startup cost, save up over several months or borrow it from family or friends if you feel the need.

Go into this venture with both eyes open and your feet firmly planted on the ground. Remember not to take on more that you can deliver. We all believe that it is easy to sell anything, but retail sales are very volatile and have a lot of ups and downs to it. Keep a keen eye on seasonality and run your business like a professional CEO. Never the less, this is well presented business model and is generally a very easy business to run.

The best part of the Silpada Designs business plan is that this opportunity has instant credibility in that the Silpada Designs Representative receive his or hers commission upon making the sale. You simple collect the money, take your commission and send the remainder to the company for payment and shipment. Other companies do it differently than Silpada Designs. They require all sales profits to be delivered to the company for payment and shipment of the product, then the company sends a commission check, sometimes have the representative wait weeks on end to get paid.

So, is being a Silpada Designs Independent Representative Right for You. I would hope so. Build a career, have fun, set your own schedule and make money at the same time. No experience is necessary, and you can learn as you go. Its one of the easiest ways imaginable to have your own business.