Key Strategies for Retaining Business and Preventing Defections By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD Businesses focus on sales and marketing efforts to grow their operation and make a profit. But before they can accomplish these goals, they must first make enough sales to offset the business they’ve lost. To make this easier, wise leaders seek to […]
Strive to Help Each Prospect By Peter Lyle DeHaan What is the ideal follow-up strategy? Consider these examples and then apply them to your sales and marketing efforts. Once I researched some software that promised to streamline my publishing business and integrate operations, as well as provide me with new tools. Given all this, I […]
When Marketing Data Is Absent, You Need to Go by Instinct By Peter Lyle DeHaan Though the source of the old advertising quip is in dispute, its wisdom isn’t. The adage laments, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.” Tracking Traditional Marketing When it comes […]
Indirectly Promote Your Company and Products by Providing Valuable Industry Information By Peter Lyle DeHaan I’ve talked about content marketing. Now we’ll delve into it more fully as a practical marketing tactic. Having written nearly five thousand content marketing pieces over the past couple of decades, it’s a subject I know quite well. The goal […]
Don’t Overlook the Basics for Your Marketing Initiatives By Peter Lyle DeHaan As a periodical publisher, I’ve run ads for my customers. As a marketer, I’ve created and run ads for myself in various publications and on websites. And as a buyer, I’ve reacted to ads. These experiences provide me with a 360-degree view, able […]
If We Determine When Prospects Aren’t Open to Buy, Our Experience Will Confirm It By Peter Lyle DeHaan Tyler, it seemed, was content to earn his base pay. He showed little incentive to close sales or earn any commission. Because he had one job to do—sell accounts—I expected his close rate would far exceed the […]
Price Matters, but Not in the Way You Think By Peter Lyle DeHaan A common complaint I’ve heard over the years from my sales teams is that the prices for our products or services is too high. Yet in lowering rates to match the competition, it becomes a race to the bottom. I’ve seen this […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan Marketing drives sales. You can’t hope to have the latter without the former. Over the years I’ve tapped many marketing channels. Some were successful and others not so much. At the call center where we specialized in telephone answering service, I made extensive use of Yellow Pages ads. Remember them? It […]
Capitalize on Naturally Occurring Motivators, but Don’t Manufacture a False Sense of Urgency By Peter Lyle DeHaan In the past, I mentioned a variation of the either/or close. I call it the special incentive close. Here’s how I use it when selling advertising for my publications. In essence it’s buy now and receive a special […]
Ask Your Prospect to Choose Between Two Options, Both of Which Meet Your Objective By Peter Lyle DeHaan Remember when I went on the sales call with Mitchell? In a few minutes I closed the sale he’d been working on for a couple of months. The “secret” sales technique I used is no secret at […]