100 SALES AND MARKETING FACTOIDS 1. Listing some of the reasons why sales strategies fail the American Salesman Magazine cited not acting with a carefully considered plan as the number one fault.[1] 2. Over 50% of the world’s business PCs are over 3 years old. Hewlett Packard set up a corporate upgrade scheme to make the purchase of new machines much more straightforward. This generated an unprecedented upturn in sales.[2] 3. Sales Strategies hinge on the 4 aspects of the Marketing Mix. The four aspects are: What needs to be undertaken?; how much will it cost?; how should it be done; and when should it be done? [3] 4. In 2003 Harragh’s (a US based casino) reported 16 quarters of significant growth. This was attributed to this increase in turnover to the implementation of a Marketing Information System, implemented just before the upturn.[4] 5. In 1999, Volkswagen set up the Autostadt, a specially designed automated complex where owners can pick up their new cars as a highly successful repeat sales strategy.[5] 6. Successful salesmen tend to avoid promotions requiring prospects to make more choices after making the decision to buy. Some customers won"t be able to make a clear choice and may not buy at all.[6] 7. The average worker sends and receives 190 messages per day.[7] 8. The right domain name is becoming an increasingly important sales tool. For example www.business.com was initially sold for $150,000 but has subsequently been resold for $7.5m and $350m. [8] 9. Telesales personnel are have to replace approximately 10 percent of their customer base every year, as people move, change jobs or go out of business.[9] 10. Recent research has shown that Promiscuous Prospecting does NOT work. It never has and it never will. [10] 11. A sales blitz has often the advantage of focusing the entire sales force on a specific task. That alone has brought many companies far greater results than if you"d just left it to each salesperson to do on their own.[11] 12. The average salesperson only works for about 20% of their time 1 or 2 hours a day.[12] 13. The average active telemarketer will make approximately 50 outbound calls per day.[13] 14. Purely Commission based pay schemes are becoming less effective and are being used less in top performing US sales companies.[14] 15. Boosting sales of both domestic and international products, China has been the fastest-growing major nation for the past quarter of a century with an average annual GDP growth rate above 10%.[15] 17. Recent research has shown One of the most frequent mistakes made by sellers is that they talk too much and don’t give the potential client enough time to think about the benefits.[17] 18. On average 50% of telesales end up with no close.[18] 19. Many successful retailers now use offer “bundles” to increase the overall sale per customer.[19] 21. A salesperson scratching themselves has been identified as the most off-putting personal characteristic of salespeople.[21] 22. 25% of all e-mails identified as spam are generated by salesforces to advertise a particular product.[22] 23. Traditional sales companies now need to be on guard due to a new internet sales fraud called phishing where a rogue individual sends e-mails purporting to be from a company and requests information.[23] 24. In the UK alone it is estimated that there are 164,000 outbound telemarketers.[24] 25. Top salesmen report that highlighting the product’s “benefit” is your strongest selling appeal. [25] 26. Over the last few years, the growth of on-line marketing campaigns - especially email marketing - have pushed more traditional off-line sales efforts to the background.[26] 27. Keeping it simple works. UK based Virgin group has achieved rapid success in the complex financial services market by being organising a straight-talking and simple sales strategy.[27] 28. Trust in the product or service has been identified as the most important factor in customer’s purchasing decisions along with value for money and affordability.[28] 29. Only 4% of Affiliate Sellers on the internet make more than a few dollars making it one of the least lucrative revenue sales strategies in the world.[29] 30. Telesales has been in operation in the US since the 1950s.[30] 31. Clothing & accessories/personal care accounts for over 1/3 of the total volume of retail sales in the US. [31] 32. Social network marketing, using sites such as Facebook and Bebo is the most rapidly growing form of directed selling in the marketplace today.[32] 33. The Brazilian city of São Paulo has introduced an outright ban on advertising hoardings.[33] 34. The Yellow Pages claims to be able to generate 8 times the value of your original advert with them in business for you.[34] 35. Sales “flyers”, written on papyrus, have been found to have been used as far back as Egyptian times.[35] 36. Industry spending on advertising to children has exploded in the past decade, increasing from a mere $100 million in 1990 to more than $2 billion in 2000.[36] 37. If current trends hold, nearly one billion people will live in China"s cities by 2025, thus allowing vast expansion in sales potential in these areas.[37] 38. Online display advertisements tend to generate the best ROI for advertisers.[38] 39. Radio advertising is more effective than print because it is forced on the listener. If you"re listening to a radio program, you MUST sit through the ads to continue, or else switch the station, which is no guarantee you"ll find a station not currently on a commercial break.[39] 40. Cooperative Advertising is a relatively new situation where a retailer and manufacturer agree to the reimbursement of advertising costs. These costs may be in whole or a percentage. Typically it is the manufacturer who reimburses the retailer for the costs of advertising.[40] 41. The first company on record to use telemarketing was DialAmerica Marketing Inc, in the 1950s.[41] 42. Search Engine Optimisation is now considered as a must have for new, online-only, enterprises.[42] 43. Face to face selling accounts for approximately ¾ of overall retail sales.[43] 44. “Dress down Fridays” are responsible for a significant percentage of lost sales according to a recent report in the US.[44] 45. Marketers often describe their product or service with words like, "It"s fast, easy and inexpensive". But a specific description of how fast, how easy and how inexpensive will generate more sales. Customers usually buy on impulse, not logic. They base their buying decision on how they feel about your product or service. Get them excited about using your product or service and you"ll increase your sales.[45] 46. 54% of all retail sales in the US are made to people aged between 35 and 54.[46] 47. The US credit crunch is not, contrary to news reports, having a significant effect on sales volumes. Figures are up on last year’s.[47] 48. Many companies are using "buzz marketing"—a new twist on the tried-and-true "word of mouth" method. The idea is to find the coolest kids in a community and have them use or wear your product in order to create a buzz around it.[48] 49. A 1% increase in market share in coffee would yield an extra $48m in revenue.[49] 50. The first use of the term "advertising" was used in the year 1655.[50] 51. Subliminal advertising is the use of images and sounds at a speed or frequency that does not allow us to perceive them consciously but that we perceive unconsciously bypassing in this way our judgement and evaluation filters at an intellectual and conscious level. The supposed persuasive effect has recently been disproved.[51] 52. The Yankee Group estimate that hard-drive recorders will be in 20% of US household by mid-2008 and that almost all of these users will skip the televised adverts.[52] 53. The Intel ™ “unwired” campaign is one of the most successful sales pitches in history. For an outlay of under $200m, the campaign generated an additional £2bn of sales in the first 9 months alone.[53] 54. Amusing animals have been proven to help in sales pitches. For example, the use of an irascible duck in Aflac Inc during an ad campaign improved sales by 28% and name recognition improved from 13 to 91% in that time. [54] 55. “Hooks” are a very cleave way to increase loyalty. CitiBank have given $100 to new customers who start to pay bills through their account and have found that they remain much more loyal customers.[55] 56. Sponsoring computer games is becoming an increasingly effective way of marketing to the masses. A report by the Wall Street Journal in 2002 estimates that the cost per thousand viewed in a computer game is $7, whereas for a TV ad, the cost is over $11.[56] 57. The optimum amount of rings for a company to answer the telephone so as not to put off a prospective customer is between 2 and 5. Quicker responses tend to shock customers and longer ones suggest a lack of personal care.[57] 58. Sales from direct marketing makes up 9% of the total US economy.[58] 59. B2C accounts for 53% or direct retail sales and B2C accounts for 27%. The remainder is taken up by charitable enterprise.[59] 60. Following a segment of the NBC TV show Will and Grace, in which a character wore a pink Polo shirt, the network ran a 10-second clip telling viewers to go to the Polo Web site (which is 50 per cent owned by NBC) to purchase one. The site sold $3,000 worth of shirts over the next five days. In the near future, Interactive TV is expected to allow users to order a pair of pants that your favourite TV star is wearing, merely by clicking on them.[60] 61. In 1960, Proctor and Gamble estimated that they could reach 80% of American women with a 30 second advert on only 3 networks. To achieve this today, the advert would need to be screened regularly on over 100 channels. [61] 62. Intrusion at mealtimes is the most cited reason for dislike of telesales campaigns.[62] 63. Raleigh bicycles reduced their overall sales costs by 34% in their first year following their introduction of telesales (as opposed to a travelling sales force) in 2003.[63] 64. 35% of all searches on the internet are for goods or services.[64] 65. Celebrity partnering is a burgeoning trend in sales marketing. Once highly successful venture was ailing firm Salton who, when they teamed up with boxer, George Foreman with the Lean-Mean-Grilling Machine, saw their fortunes turned around almost overnight.[65] 66. On average, as Westerners, studies show we each see 3,000 ads per day.[66] 67. In the US, 85% of retail sales personnel are women.[67] 68. Much research is being conducted in to the new phenomenon of abandoned shopping carts on the internet as many customers do not appear to be completing sales.[68] 69. In the UK, it is unlawful to transmit an automated recorded message for direct marketing purposes via a telephone, without prior consent of the subscriber.[69] 70. Companies are now increasingly turning to hybrid sales systems with a printed catalogue but an online store to give an indication of quality whilst keeping costs low.[70] 71. The introduction of self-service systems like Kodak’s mini-labs are helping employers reduce staff overheads and providing high levels of customer convenience.[71] 72. Coca-Cola are implanting a new sales techniques involving the use of mobile phone based payments at their vending machines.[72] 73. It is estimated that it takes somewhere between 6 and 8 “no” responses before you get a “yes” in telemarketing.[73] 74. It is possible to sell the same item for vastly different amounts, if you know how. Evian charges 4 cents an ounce for its bottled water, but sell the same water to a cosmetic company for a moisturiser at $3.00 an ounce.[74] 75. The internet has allowed many women to return to employment after childbirth and many are setting up their own businesses. The biggest area for women to be working as self employed is in the retailing sector selling baby and young family merchandise.[75] 76. Not all industries are seeing a continued increase in the move from bricks and mortar to online services. The global banking industry has intimated that it over-estimated customer desire for online banking and branches are now re-opening.[76] 77. The estimated amount of global retail sales volume was US$7.2 trillion in 2003.[77] 78. Research has shown that only 15-35% of individuals are actually “price-sensitive” and will we willing to pay more for intangible or perceived benefits.[78] 79. Currently, there are well over 2,000 online market places (such as e-bay) selling everything from pigs to motor yachts. This tend is growing.[79] 80. A 1% increase in the soft drink market share would net $120m in extra revenue.[80] 81. In 1999, the U.S. Center for Media Education found that 62 per cent of beer and alcohol Web sites displayed what they call "youth-oriented features"—that is, activities that appeal to the adolescent and pre-adolescent set.[81] 82. Almost $1bn is spent every year advertising chocolate alone.[82] 83. EDLP is a concept used to the extreme by companies such as Wal-Mart to entice customers for Every Day Low Pricing on staple goods. It is the foundation of their success.[83] 84. Soft Advertising is a term used when a salesperson advertises within a network of known affiliates such as business friends, industry contacts, or anyone within a specific niche that has a prior relationship with your company.[84] 85. Approximately 7,000,000,000 telemarketing calls are made in the UK each year.[85] 86. In China, over 47 million people are employed within the retail industry.[86] 87. Globalisation of products has precipitated a homogenisation of previously disparate brand names, such as Marathons now being Snickers and Opal Fruits now being Starbust in the UK.[87] 88. Pay-per-click is a rapidly increasing, cost effecting way of managing the cost of advertising for online business that is taking away business from the traditional marketer and sales teams.[88] 89. Sales booms are clearly increasingly available in niche markets. The price of Pu"er tea has risen dramatically in recent years. In 2004, a kilo of Pu"er sold for about $1. By last year the price of that same one kilo had risen to $800.[89] 90. Canada, and not China or any European country is the United States largest receiver of exported sales.[90] 91. If all the people who made a living from buying and selling on e-bay were employed by one company, they would be amongst the largest employers in the world.[91] 92. A sales-niche strategy has been shown to increase sales by 27% in small markets and 11 % in larger ones.[92] 93. The future of product placement as a successful advertising tool was assured when the 1982 film ET featured Reese"s Pieces in a pivotal scene—causing sales of the candy to jump 65 per cent.[93] 94. Wearing facial hair can cost a sales or service professional as much as 30%.[94] 95. 75% of UK households that are registered with TPS (Telephone Preference Service), stopping unsolicited and uninvited marketing and sales calls.[95] 96. Rather than being an innate ability, sales success is almost always the result of a consistent, long range investment of time and energy on the part of the successful person.[96] 97. At any one time there is over US$2 trillion that is in the ether. It is somewhere between customer’s bank account and the retailers.[97] 98. It is estimated that many cold callers are not calling enough to generate positive results. It isn"t the quality that is the problem; it"s the quantity.[98] 99. Telesales personnel have to be patient to wait them out and be assertive with your arguments and not give in too soon. When speaking to a person who normally needs to say no 6 or 7 times, and the telesales person stops at five, they were just one more ‘no’ away from success. [99] 100. Sales experts state that more people will buy from you when they feel you are talking directly to them about their individual needs. Develop customized versions of your sales message to cater to the specific interests of prospects in each market you target. Use the language and style of prospects in each market to communicate your message to them.[100] expert help writing killer sales letters here. [2] *** www.hp.com [3] *** Henley Management College Marketing (MBA Course Notes) – 2004 [4] *** Harvard Business Review – 2003 [5] *** Computerworld Magazine – 2003 [6] *** Business Know-How Magazine - 2008 [7] *** www.salesvantage.com [8] *** www.sellingtobigcompanies.com [9]*** www.salesvantage.com [10] *** www.sellingtobigcompanies.com [11] *** www.davekahle.com [14] *** www.davekahle.com [52] *** www.theyankeegroup.com [53] *** Marketing Management – Pearson [81] *** www.media-aware.ca |
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