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Hot or
Not: Sales and Marketing Trends in
2012
By
Barry
Moltz
The
techniques that are effective to keep and get
new customers continues to radically change. In
2012, they will evolve even more. Here is what's
going to be hot (and what's not) in the year to
come.
1.
Direct Selling
- Not: It used to be that every sales effort
started from picking up the phone to "cold call"
an industry list. This is no longer effective
(partially since no one ever answers their
phone!) Besides being a waste of time, the fear
of rejection makes this scary to actually do.
- Hot: We are in the referral economy as John
Jantsch frequently discusses. A company can
automatically get put in the "maybe" pile for
the a sale when a connector or past customer
refers that business to another prospect. Don't
be afraid to always ask for a referral or
reference. Satisfied customers almost always are
happy to give them.
2.
Deal-a-Day Websites
- Not: Offering coupons alone through
Groupon,
Living
Social and other daily deal
mechanism is not effective long term. This may
get an immediate cash flow bump for your
business, but it kills the gross margin or may
even may make this particular transaction
unprofitable.
- Hot: When these daily offers are used
to attract new customers and then retain a
lifetime value relationship, they can be
worthwhile. Businesses are now turning to
companies like Mob
Manager that help follow up daily
deal purchases with multiple emails that build a
future relationship.
Continue
Reading: http://smallbiztrends.com/2011/12/sales-and-marketing-trends-2012.html
Source:
Small Business Trends
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Maintenance
Tip: Regular File Reconstruction and maintenance
It
is recommended that you make automated file
reconstruction a routine part of your Retail Pro
database management.
File reconstruction
can be performed automatically using the Retail
Pro Scheduler. (Refer to Retail Pro Tool
Supplement #8: The Scheduler.) You can schedule
reconstruction of individual files or a group of
files specified by a file list. You can create
an unlimited number of file lists, each one
including different files and each one scheduled
to be run at a different time.
Another
recommended strategy for routine file
maintenance is to periodically test all files
and reconstruct those in which the program found
errors. This is easily accomplished by selecting
all files (or using a file list) and processing
them in Test Data Only mode. Afterwards, only
those files in which the program found errors
will remain in the Selected Files list. Change
the mode to Full Reconstruct and select Start to
reprocess those remaining
files.
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Maximize post-holiday sales with
search and social
media
By
Fiona
Swerdlow
Online
consumers have been shopping up a storm this
holiday season, which is certainly cause for
online retailers to rejoice. As the Google
Retail Blog pointed out this week, however,
retailers need to make sure they're not "turning
off the lights" next week for customers who are
ready to spend their gift cards, return and
exchange those not quite perfect gifts, take
advantage of sales, and perhaps simply treat
themselves.
So,
if you thought that consumers might be ready to
take a break from all that online shopping of
late, history would indicate - likely not. For
the week between December 27, 2010, and January
2, 2011, comScore calculated that online retail
sales in the U.S. topped $2 billion. This year,
Google expects the holiday 2011 shopping
momentum to continue right on through the second
week of January. And this isn't just a U.S.
phenomenon - IMRG in the U.K. is forecasting
that U.K. online consumers will spend a tidy
GBP186.4 million on Christmas Day this year,
followed by another GBP367.8 million on December
26 (and that's almost double from the same day
last year). It stands to reason, then, that if
anyone thought we were in for a little breather,
in fact we all need to proverbially buckle up,
as the ride's not over yet. A few tips based on
this research:
Continue
to invest in search for the next several weeks.
Google
last year found that searches for "sales" and
"returns" peaked on December 26 in both 2008 and
2009. With Christmas falling on a Sunday this
year, December 26 this year is a public holiday,
so it's a fair bet that customers will be
heading into stores and online.
Christmas
Day is a golden day for social media.
On
Christmas Day 2009, Experian Hitwise found that
Facebook edged out the main Google page for
"most visited site" (unlike the other 364 days
of 2009). Similarly, last year IMRG found that,
in the U.K., "...Facebook received more site
visits than Google as people logged on to wish
their friends Merry Christmas."
Continue
Reading: http://blog.shop.org/2011/12/22/maximize-post-holiday-sales-with-search-and-social-media/
Source:
blog.shop.org
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Follow Advanced
Retail Management Systems
on
Facebook
 Keep up with latest
happenings in Retail and your particular
POS\Inventory Control software by becoming a fan
of Advanced Retail Management Systems (ARMS) on
Facebook! Video
Clips from the ARMS staff with Tech Tips and
other helpful information coming soon!
By being a fan of ARMS, you will receive
information about your software including
special "web only" tips & tricks that won't
be given elsewhere. You'll be among the first to
learn about new release and features, training
opportunities, and links to interesting
information on the web. Connect with the ARMS
staff and our customers!
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Advanced Retail Management
Systems
Referral
Rewards
$100 for You and
$100 for the Retailer You
Refer!
 Here's how it
works:
1.
Let
us know the name and contact information for
another retail company that is looking for a POS
system and receive a $100 Visa Gift card that
can be used anywhere Visa debit cards are
accepted.
2. Once the referred retailer
participates in a 1 hour web presentation for
CounterPoint, Retail Pro or Microsoft RMS they
will also receive a $100 Visa Gift
Card.
Contact us today with your
referral. Call Susie Carmen
at (800) 305-0461 Ext 357 or e-mail her
at susie.carmen@armsys.com. Visit our website
to register your referral at www.armsys.com
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Customers
insist on service from
retailers
By JOYCE SMITH
KANSAS
CITY, Mo. -- It's not only the Grinch who stole
Christmas.
Some
grouchy salesclerks do, too.
Shopping
is now at its peak, and holiday sales can
account for up to 40 percent of a retailer's
annual revenue. But just when stores need to put
on their best customer service show - to not
only get sales now but get customers to come
back next year - they may have the hardest time
keeping their standards high or even acceptable.
Overworked employees, some just seasonal or
poorly trained, can blow the bottom
line.
A
study this year by American Express found that
nearly 80 percent of Americans have ditched
intended purchases because of poor customer
service experiences. But on the flip side,
consumers said they would spend an average of 13
percent more with companies that provided
excellent service.
"The
holidays might be the only time you get that
customer in the store. You have to leverage that
one-time encounter," said Richard Shapiro,
founder and president of the Center for Client
Retention in New Jersey, which does research on
customer satisfaction. "It's important to engage
them. You can't lose those people. Business is
too hard to get."
Customer
service checklists can includes well-trained and
pleasant workers, relaxed return policies,
extended hours during the holidays, free gift
wrapping and shipping, and perks such as valet
parking - with some services more costly to
implement than others.
Continue
Reading: http://www.macon.com/2011/12/22/1834762/customers-insist-on-service-from.html
Source:
Macon.com
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