The Sales Metrics That Will Actually Matter in 2016

For the longest time, sales reps have been bound to activity metrics. How many calls are you making? How many emails are you sending? How many product demonstrations have you booked? These metrics (along with quota) helped managers determine whether a rep was doing their job well or falling short.

But what if those metrics suddenly lost their value? What if instead of activity-based reps, we had something totally different?

As another year comes to an end, the old sales playbook is starting to fade, and an entirely new school of thought is emerging. It’s one that’s focused less on making the maximum amount of calls or sending the maximum amount of emails, and more on developing, maintaining, and strengthening relationships.

And this means that what is being measured is changing, too. Here are three sales metrics that will matter more than ever in 2016.

1) Customer Success

How successful is your customer after they purchase your product? What type of impact does it have on their business? Has their pain point turned into a point of strength?

Sales is no longer about getting someone to sign on the dotted line, setting up their new service, and then wishing them good luck. Instead, reps need to ensure that their customers are not only surviving, but thriving with their product. They must follow up with clients, offer assistance with problems, and help them strategize for the future.

As Forrester's Kate Leggett points out in a blog post, customer success is what’s behindincreasing existing revenue, and influencing new sales. One customer’s success can prompt another prospect to try to your product or service in hopes of attaining a similar outcome. But this virtuous cycle only kicks off if you actively promote and track customer success.

To measure customer success, formulate a customer "health" score. What do the financials look like? How many customers do they have? Get a handle on their business' health as it pertains to your product and then monitor the metric over time.

You can also measure your customers' growth. After all, the best sign of business success is growth. Ask if the company is hiring, taking on more business, or improving customer retention rates. 

2) Loyalty

Churn is still a great metric to measure, especially on a rep-to-rep basis. A rep who maintains a healthy relationship with each of their clients is likely to have a lower churn or cancellation rate. Again, sales is about relationships, and rapport makes a huge difference.

Loyalty, however, is not only about the customer’s feelings towards the sales rep, it’s also about the rep’s loyalty to the customer. According to Jason Wesbecher, “The best [sales reps] are intensely loyal to their customers and step in to solve problems. If things happen to go awry after the sale, the sales rep works on their behalf to fix the situation. This is the social contract that all great salespeople live by.”

The easiest way to measure loyalty is through net promoter score. An NPS measurement simply asks whether or not someone is likely to recommend your service or product to someone else. The rep, and their relationship with the customer, plays a major role in this rating.

3) Customer Feedback

The final thing to measure is your customers’ feedback. What are they saying about your reps? What do they like about their connection to the company, and what do they not like?

Customers need to feel that they have a voice. Offering them a chance to give feedback and provide insights is a great way build a long-lasting and meaningful relationship.

This HBR article from Tom Atkinson and Ron Koprowski points out that the two biggest pet peeves a buyer has with sales reps is a failure to follow their company’s buying process, and a failure to listen to their needs. Managers can determine from customer feedback how well their reps are working with clients in these areas if they take the time to solicit regular feedback. It might be unpleasant to hear where your sales process is failing customers, but getting the chance to right a wrong before a customer jumps ship is invaluable.

To collect customer feedback and report on it, send out a survey. Pose a few questions to your customer base and determine how they feel about your sales process and reps. Remember: Customer feedback shouldn't be solely about the product; it should also cover how clients feel about the company as a whole.

You could also hold a customer day. Invite some folks to your office or headquarters for lunch and talk to them one-on-one. Note their facial expressions and body language when they reflect on their rep.

Instead of making calls for the sake of making calls, reps are instead turning their attention to relationships and what happens after they make a sale. The metrics that matter have shifted, and the modern sales rep is adjusting accordingly. These three metrics are worth watching as you bring your sales team into 2016.

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Moral Practices in Sales & Marketing

A marketing strategy details how a business can offer products and services to satisfy the needs of members of a target market. Ethical marketing ensures that the needs are real and that the products and services meet those needs. Over the long term, an ethical marketing strategy is effective because customers derive the benefits they expect from using the products or services your company offers

Your sales and promoting activities need to follow moral standards if you hope to avoid sanctions from restrictive agencies and loss of name with customers. you'll be able to get steering on moral practices from business and promoting associations and develop your own internal policies. moral firms knowledge to respect the rights of all stakeholders within the business whereas creating choices that area unit within the interests of the corporate.

Professional Conduct

Ethical conduct in sales and promoting suggests that employing a skilled approach to customers, competitors, members of restrictive bodies and company colleagues. Characteristics of such conduct embody respectful interactions, thought for cultural diversity and nondiscriminatory behavior toward those that area unit totally different than you. you've got to behave honestly, portray things and merchandise accurately and build constructive contributions to discussions concerning issues and solutions, and you need to observe the applicable laws and rules the least bit times and cling to company ethics policies.

Competition

Healthy competition delivers worth to customers whereas permitting firms that contend to earn associate applicable come on their investment. moral behavior during a competitive setting includes supporting honest competition, competitory on the premise of accurately representing your merchandise and services within the marketplace and fulfilling your obligations in straightness.

Pricing

Following moral pointers in evaluation suggests that costs need to be clear while not hidden charges. the patron should knowledge a lot of he's aiming to pay once he makes the acquisition. Your costs need to mirror each {the cost|the worth|the price} you incur in delivering the merchandise or service and also the value the client expects to receive.

Products

Ethical sales and promoting provide solely safe merchandise that area unit appropriate for his or her supposed use. provide of the merchandise includes activity directions that the client will follow to form the merchandise work as supposed, providing client service to resolve issues and managing issues objectively by applying applicable solutions. Following these moral pointers is nice business apply as a result of it will increase client satisfaction.

Research

Businesses get personal data concerning their customers throughout sales activity and research. moral apply suggests that you respect the privacy of shoppers and safeguard their information. you've got to follow privacy legislation and inform customers that you simply area unit aggregation their information, allow them to grasp its supposed use, use the information just for that purpose and destroy it firmly once you not want it.

Promotion

Sales and promoting embody promoting your merchandise and services to potential customers. moral promotion portrays your offers honestly and accurately, while not links to engaging lifestyles that aren't relevant. you've got to push your merchandise and services on their own deserves and highlight those options that members of a target market would possibly notice valuable once promoting thereto market section..

How to Discover New Customers Through Networking

As a little business owner you most likely already use sales and selling techniques to seek out new customers. however did you recognize that you simply will use networking to form a replacement supply of incoming work? once done systematically, little business networking will assist you find new customers and kick start relationships that will eventually cause new customers. to not mention a number of the opposite advantages of networking, as well as finding opportunities for learning, plan generation, and business growth.

To get you impressed to induce out there and network, here are some ways in which you'll use networking to seek out new shoppers.

Attend Events in Your area people

Take your time to explore skilled teams in your community; you'll have an area Chamber of Commerce, associate industry-specific cluster, or perhaps a a lot of informal native business owners’ cluster that meets on an everyday basis.

Getting attached  native events can offer you instant access to business homeowners in your community United Nations agency will become an excellent referral supply for your business.

Host Your Own native Events

If you wish to require the thought of native events a step more, think about hosting your own workshops, lectures, or categories in your community. whether or not your target market is customers or different businesses, hosting an incident is an excellent thanks to begin networking. It conjointly offers you associated your business quality and helps establish you as an professional in your field, which may cause different business homeowners seeking you out for networking opportunities within the future.

Ask for Referrals and proposals

Once you’ve gotten out there and have met some like  colleagues, it’s time to plant the seeds for future referrals and proposals.

Explain what you hope to accomplish, what your long-run goals ar for brand new business, and  discuss however referrals work into your arrange. Then, build it terribly straightforward for your contacts to refer you by providing all of the knowledge they will would like -- your product/service list, your contact info, relevant links, business cards, brochures, etc.

And, maybe most significantly, be willing to refer the professionals you're networking with within the same approach. you have got to be willing to assist others get the word out concerning their businesses, particularly if you're asking them to try to to a similar for you.

Explore a venture

Joint ventures occur after you aggroup with a fellow business owner to accomplish a project along. This generally includes the event, marketing, and execution of a project that falls in line with a strategic alliance. the most important advantage of a venture is that you simply typically double your investment and your reach, and hopefully your profits, after you aggroup with the proper person. you'll establish venture opportunities through networking, and you'll conjointly realize further networking opportunities through a venture, thus it typically comes full circle.

Take Advantage of on-line Networking

Although there's a massive distinction between face-to-face networking and on-line networking, the latter can give variety of advantages. Not solely will on-line networking assist you meet colleagues you'd have not had the chance to satisfy, however it can even set the muse for in-person networking. Explore wherever there could be opportunities to satisfy up at trade events or collaborate on comes, and choose it.

It takes a time investment and a solid arrange, however with numerous on-line networking choices, you'll expand your network quickly while not ever deed your workplace. Then, use those on-line connections you have created to develop real-world, lasting cooperative relationships that may cause you to an improved business person.

Networking could be a powerful tool for all little business homeowners, for each skilled development and finding new customers. it's going to take a time investment to line the muse, however networking is one amongst the most effective ways in which to forge important relationships that may assist you grow your business within the future.

The Marketing History of Porn in America

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Guidance for Women in Sales From Industry-Leading Saleswomen

Think of the standard sales stereotypes. The door-to-door salesperson. The used automotive salesperson. The enterprising nearer. The slick smooth talker.

Visualize every of those individuals in your head. Got them? smart.

Now, let American state raise you: Were any of your mental pictures female? They weren't on behalf of me, and i will venture a guess they weren't for many of you. albeit these are not all the varieties of stereotypes that individuals would wish to be related to, it's still important that almost all of the enduring sales personas are historically male.

Sales has been a traditionally male dominated profession, and in some ways in which it is sensible. Salespeople of yore were aggressive, brash, and practical -- 3 adjectives that aren't typically applicable to the X gender. however note the word "yesteryear." Today, sales administrators area unit yearning for reps and managers UN agency area unit additional thoughtful, advisory, insightful, and UN agency possess higher listening skills.

At Dreamforce 2014, Jill Konrath, sales author and speaker, hosted associate degree all-female give-and-take with a number of the leading saleswomen within the game nowadays. every offered her recommendation for the way girls will achieve a sales role, and perspective on the distinctive skills that girls wake the art of commercialism.

Find a Female mentor.

"It's difficult being a lady in sales, and particularly a adult female in sales," aforementioned Joanne Black, founding father of No additional Cold vocation.

To combat this problem, Black counseled the skilled friend system: mentoring. "Find a mentor -- another girl to act with and UN agency will either formally or informally facilitate [you] on."

Konrath in agreement, and discerned that mentors do not have to be girls the mentee is aware of in the flesh -- or perhaps is aware of in the least. "You will have virtual mentors that do not even grasp they are mentoring you," she said. Mentees will follow their virtual mentors' careers and social media profiles, and appearance up to them as "role models for what is potential."

And once you discover a mentor, it doesn't suggest you cannot have others. Debra Walton, chief content officer at Thomson Reuters, aforementioned she is concerned finding "mentors for a reason, mentors for a season, and mentors for all times." In different words, completely different mentors will and will be recruited for specific comes or times in an exceedingly career. One mentor cannot and should not be expected to advise a mentee regarding each goal and circumstance.

Approach your career with boldness.

Sales as a profession is not hospitable to girls. however may girls even be holding themselves back?

"Research has tried that men can apply for employment that they need seventy to eightieth of the talents for, and girls will not apply for that job unless they need 100 percent," aforementioned Trish Bertuzzi, president and chief strategian at The Bridge group. "Come on. Go for it."

Bertuzzi conjointly had additional robust words for the way girls in sales ought to perform their jobs. "Lean in, speak out, have a voice in your organization, and ne'er use the word 'sorry.'" (This statement attained her a spherical of applause).

Konrath conjointly inspired girls to seize the chance that sales presents.

"The sales profession is perhaps at the foremost exciting time ever in history," she said. "It's an excellent time for girls to urge concerned, and girls area unit typically the most effective salespeople."

Don't attempt to be a Man.

Are there skills girls wake a sales role than men typically don't? The panelists actually thought therefore.

Black aforementioned girls area unit additional naturally intuitive than men, and trusting their intuition will facilitate them succeed. Her statement received instant validation once Josiane Feigon, within sales talent evangelist at TeleSmart Communications, aforementioned she designed her work observe for the most part on intuition, that was "fairly right."

Walton said a special facet. "I suppose one among the items girls do very splendidly is bring tier of intimacy to a relationship with a client that’s unbelievably effective," she said. "Top saleswomen achievers at Thomson Reuters bring their whole self to the consumer relationship, which level of intimacy differentiates them.

"I would encourage all girls to not attempt to be like men," Walton continued . "Just bring your whole self as a lady to your relationships with shoppers."

Are you a lady in sales? What area unit your keys for success?

The truth about Sales & marketing for women

Men and girls area unit totally different and businesses ought to market to them otherwise. That’s the moot read of selling knowledgeable Henry Martyn Robert Craven, United Nations agency believes companies that don’t modification their approach to promoting to ladies can get left behind. however it’s not a read shared by all small-business house owners, as we tend to discover

Question: area unit ladies totally different from men? Answer: Yes

Do they behave otherwise once they area unit buying? Answer: Yes

And if they're totally different, shouldn’t we tend to be promoting to them in a very totally different way? Answer: Yes

Enough of this equality and favoritism nonsense, ladies aren't a similar as men. At last, I’ve aforesaid it!

What i actually, extremely want !

(Spice women, 1996)If men and girls behave and act otherwise from one another then perhaps their approach to promoting and commercialism, and a lot of significantly shopping for, is additionally totally different.

The women’s market is associate under-developed chance, probably the number-one chance, for those that extremely perceive what ladies really need.

Women area unit currently the key decision-makers. religion Popcorn, one among America’s shopper trend specialists, says: “Companies suppose they’re promoting to ladies — United Nations agency purchase eightieth of the merchandise and management eightieth of the cash — however they’re not. They’re not lecture ladies. They don’t shrewdness to speak to ladies. similar to they need no clue what to relinquish their wives for his or her birthdays. They extremely don’t realize that ladies have a separate language and a separate manner of being.”

Women make the decision in the purchases of 94% of home furnishings…92% of vacations…91% of homes… 60% of automobiles…51% of consumer electronics

According to Martha Barletta, author of selling to ladies, ladies area unit the first decision-makers for goods in eighty fifth of households. they create seventy fifth of selections regarding shopping for new homes, and create eighty one of the choices regarding groceries. They influence a minimum of eightieth of all social unit disbursal.

Why can’t a girl be a lot of sort of a man?

(My truthful woman, 1964)

All promoting professionals ought to focus their undivided attention on ladies. this can be not merely an enormous business issue, this is applicable to you and the way you are doing business together with your customers.

Barletta explains however ladies reach getting choices in a very totally different thanks to men. “Men and girls don’t communicate within the same manner, and that they don’t purchase for a similar reasons,” she stresses. “He merely needs the group action to require place. She’s fascinated by making a relationship. each place ladies go they create connections… ninety one of ladies say ‘Advertisers don’t perceive us’.”

Men dominate most industries and therefore the advertising trade is not any exception. though roughly half advertising workers area unit ladies, men monopolies the desired artistic positions.

Thankfully, rising feminine shopper power is ever-changing the manner that some businesses style, create and market merchandise — and that i need to say that this can be over simply “making it in pink”.

Female shoppers need to grasp what the merchandise goes to try and do for them. however can it facilitate them or create their life easier? and the way do ladies get this information? they are doing variant analysis.

Women, as shoppers, area unit clearly not an identical cluster that behave and act in a very uniform manner. Being superior, contented  or oily won't get you a lot of sales. ladies can pay a lot of with a whole that acknowledges their life-style.

It’s necessary to consider every potential feminine customer as a private and target her desires. What stage of life is she at? however will your product create her life easier?

So, one lesson is that ancient sales-based advertising are less effective and subtler ways that of human activity would possibly work higher, like viva-voice and invective agent promoting.

To go one stage additional, it's time to style merchandise (and promoting campaigns) that truly charm to the shopping for desires and habits of ladies. There’s a thought!

The times they're a-changing

(Bob Dylan, 1964)

So the scenario is as follows:

• Women area unit the amount one business chance. As business guru Tom Peters says: “They purchase variant stuff”.
• Men and girls area unit terribly totally different.
• Men area unit (still) up to the mark and area unit all, hopelessly, uninformed regarding ladies.
• Not enough “stuff” is intended {for ladies|for ladies|for girls} or communicated in a very manner that appeals to women.
• Most stuff for girls is, to be frank, pretty superior.

So, there’s your chance. Do I even have to spell it dead set you? I don’t suppose thus.

This is not a feminist issue, however a straight-down-the-line business argument. ladies aren't a distinct segment market or a minority — they need wallets and, for several businesses, ladies as decision-makers and shoppers hold the key to future success.

It’s a man’s world

(James Brown, 1963)

Men, stop singing those dodgy James Brown songs. Those businesses that don't modification their male approach can get left behind. a lot of significantly, a number of your competitors can take the importance of human activity effectively with ladies on board ― and can take business faraway from you.

So, what’s to be done? ladies area unit currently the key decision-makers and purchasers to be courted. Ignore them at your peril.

The small-business read

It’s way too generic to separate the full population into 2 teams,” says Elaine Clark, director of low cost Accounting. “Different ladies have totally different desires and needs.

“They area unit bushed totally different things, reckoning on age and whether or not they have families then on. If you target one form of lady, you risk antagonistic massive sections of the feminine population and therefore the male population further. everybody has demands on their time, as an example, even supposing we’re not all essentially juggling youngsters and work. for several merchandise and services, gender doesn’t even acquire it. you really ought to go deeper to search out out what motivates your target market. problems like age, circumstances and pocket area unit typically way more necessary.”

We believe you ought to market otherwise to ladies,” say Annie Brooks and Hela Wozniak-Kay, co-founders of the women’s business club, Sister smooch.“Our business is targeted completely on businesswomen and our promoting is ready-made consequently. What’s totally different regarding our approach to networking for girls is that there’s nothing forced regarding it. In fact, we tend to like the term ‘connecting’, as a result of that’s regarding building relationships. though our members area unit all assured, savvy ladies accustomed standing up and presenting, we tend to don’t apprehend anyone United Nations agency truly enjoys doing the 60-second elevator pitch ― thus no formal pitches or podiums at Sister smooch. Nothing is prescriptive, everything is intuitive. It’s regarding collaboration, not competition.”

Dos and don’ts for promoting to ladies !!!

There is no one-size-fits-all guide to promoting to ladies. each client base is totally different, however here area unit some general dos and don’ts:

• Build relationships. Gather client intelligence and use personalization tools to focus on feminine shoppers with specific messages.
• Avoid negative campaigns — provide ladies positive reasons to shop for.
• Don’t forget that ladies typically search around and do their analysis before they purchase. check that you promote all the small print like after-sales service and warranties.
• Don’t stereotype ladies (ban Oxo mums, beauty queens, graying grannies and senseless secretaries).
• Don’t visit extremes. promoting to ladies is regarding line of work to all or any their desires ― not simply specializing in the ways that within which they take issue to men.

3 Reasons You Must Be With Online Video Ads…

TV advertising is evolving, and small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) have to be compelled to alter their promoting methods as a result. With the arrival of streaming TV services like

Hulu, Amazon Video and Netflix, fewer and fewer folks square measure looking TV the normal manner and sitting through ads. on-line video advertising provides an economical and compelling thanks to interact shoppers wherever they’re defrayal most of their time–online. Below, we have a tendency to list 3 reasons why on-line video advertising will either extend the reach of your current TV campaigns or give a a lot of targeted various, if your company doesn’t have a TV budget.

11.  Consumers pay their time on-line

Conversion estimates that whereas folks pay a mean of 113 minutes daily looking tv, they’re additionally defrayal 108 minutes and 147 minutes on their computers and phones, severally. Consumers—especially teenagers and young adults—are defrayal less and fewer time before of the TV, and on-line video advertising presents a chance to achieve them wherever they like to pay their time.

22.  Demographics don’t matter

Though they will assist you reach a younger audience, your video advertisements won’t simply be viewed by a younger demographic. A good thing about on-line video advertising is that notwithstanding World Health Organization you’re targeting, folks at any age between eighteen and fifty four square measure even as possible to look for and examine on-line videos and their incidental to ads.

                                                                                                                           

33.  Online video drives immediate action

After viewing an internet video ad, forty sixth of viewers take some type of action, like visiting a business’s web site or searching for a lot of data regarding the video subject. The actions that arise from the attention and interest generated from your video ads interprets into new leads and redoubled product sales for your company.

Both TV and on-line video ads square measure nice ways in which for native businesses to share their story or promote a product to shoppers, however video are often even a lot of extremely targeted and traceable for a lower CPM.