by Mark Jensen | Jun 4, 2020 | management, marketing
A competitive analysis is research, reporting and analysis into your company and product competitors who directly affect your market share. It identifies who you are competing with and how you compare. Most small and mid-size companies have probably done a competitive...
by Mark Jensen | May 15, 2020 | management, marketing
The customer experience is driving digital transformation for marketing. Customers are no longer passive in the purchasing process. They aren’t beholden to the sales department and embark more and more on self-guided buyer journeys. Marketing is building relationships...
by Mark Jensen | Apr 20, 2020 | management, marketing
The heart of the sales funnel is the sales cycle. A sales cycle is a progressive relationship between a buyer and seller made to create a transaction. When you hear a salesperson say, “I have a new lead” or “I have a new sales opportunity” that’s a sales cycle. In...
by Mark Jensen | Sep 6, 2019 | management, marketing
For most businesses a marketing plan grows on its own, over time, in an organic fashion. As income grows and people are added marketing and sales activities start to occur as a natural part of opportunity and growth. It’s usually sales first. Usually the owner is...
by Mark Jensen | Aug 10, 2019 | sales funnel
From lead generation, you move to selling. The sales process culminates in a transaction where the customer purchases your product. When the transaction is complete the sales cycle is finished. Discover Needs As part of the selling process, you’re going to focus...
by Mark Jensen | Apr 6, 2019 | lead generation, marketing
Lead generation is the primary constraint in revenue generation for small businesses. If a small business is struggling with sales, nine times out of ten the problem is lead generation. The struggling company is surviving but sales revenue is either a feast or a...
by Mark Jensen | Feb 6, 2019 | wow factor
The Wow Factor is that something about a product that causes people to say, ?Wow!? A Wow Factor is a unique and compelling characteristic that impresses people to the point where they literally say, ?Wow!.? The Wow Factor makes you stand out from the crowd. Wow...
by Mark Jensen | Feb 5, 2019 | lead generation
Here’s a simple and powerful statement that you ignore at your own marketing peril. People want to be led. It’s not an earth shattering statement. You’ve heard it before. Left to their own devices people often stumble around and take a long time to...
by Mark Jensen | Jul 31, 2018 | product offer
Product Offers stimulate market activity by creating an incentive to buy your product. The offer is the terms under which a specific product or service is promoted. It answers the customer’s question: “What’s in it for me?” There are many...
by Mark Jensen | Jul 7, 2018 | marketing
Telemarketing is my favorite marketing tool. I?ve used since my first days in business. I personally think every business should practice aggressive telemarketing. I have never seen a product where lead generation by the telephone isn?t a benefit. The direct marketing...
by Mark Jensen | Jun 30, 2018 | marketing
Position Statement It answers the question, ?What do you do?? Company Positioning Statement A position statement is a succinct definition of exactly what your business offers. It is targeted at your ideal customers and distinguishes you from the competition. It tells...
by Mark Jensen | May 17, 2018 | marketing
Referral marketing is a cost-effective form of marketing and can produce significant sales results. It?s used by small businesses and large both intentionally and as something that just happens. As soon as people started gathering into groups word-of-mouth became a...
by Mark Jensen | May 10, 2018 | management
Scaffolding is a teaching philosophy that helps people to learn new tasks and skills in a simple and effective manner. It is a process of the educator controlling and guiding the learning initially and over the course of the training, releasing responsibility and...
by Mark Jensen | Apr 24, 2018 | marketing, target market
It is essential every company have a target market. The target market should be formal and defined. It should have rules attached to it about who gets in and who?s taken out. It is a dynamic system that keeps you focused on your goals. How do we know what market to...
by Mark Jensen | Apr 10, 2017 | sales funnel
The sales funnel is a collection of sales cycles. A sales person has a sales funnel of all the sales cycles assigned to him or her. A company has a sales funnel consisting of all the sales people’s sales funnels. It’s called a sales funnel because of the...
by Mark Jensen | Mar 27, 2017 | marketing
The organic marketing plan is a bunch of marketing stuff that gets done out of necessity. The organic marketing plan is formed over the course of years by different factions of people in the company. It?s rooted in the need and desire to grow but it lacks the...
by Mark Jensen | Mar 17, 2017 | marketing
Processes are at the root of work. When we work, we are operating within a process. From the simplest job to the most complex job, processes are being used. Businesses grow and increase in complexity because of processes. Humans have an innate ability to manage...
by Mark Jensen | Jan 30, 2017 | sales funnel
The buying center is the group of people within a company who make purchase decisions. It can be one person or a hundred people. It can also be more than one group. Each company has its own unique buying center. The buying center consists of five major roles. There...
by Mark Jensen | Jan 21, 2017 | management
Solving System Problems System problems are called ?constraints.? A constraint is a limitation or restriction. Our system can be constrained at any point in the process. Here?s the most common constraints regarding the sales cycle system. Market. The market is an...
by Mark Jensen | Jan 7, 2017 | sales funnel
The lead you are contacting operates from a Buying Cycle. The Buying Cycle is the potential buyer?s system and behavior processes used to create a purchase. The Buying Cycle is a problem-solving strategy buyers use to purchase things. It is an echelon of activity that...
