Our observation of large and small businesses in various industries and countries indicates that most companies waste money because they work from nonexistent or weak marketing foundations.Marketing foundations, or fundamentals, are about differentiation, positioning, and focus on sending a consistent message to the market.The challenge for all companies, products and services is to stand out in crowded and noisy markets. The key to standing out is to be different in an attractive and meaningful way. The choice of one major differentiation factor is the toughest problem most marketers are facing because they all have a tendency to bombard us with endless lists of specifications, features and benefits (including the proverbial kitchen sink). They don't think hard enough about what not to say.Clear differentiation is, in turn, the key to successful positioning. Positioning is the act of imprinting a unique, credible and memorable message in the mind of the customer and to consistently work at defending and reinforcing this position.This takes time. The subtitle of the seminal book on positioning, published in 1981 by Al Ries and Jack Trout is: "THE BATTLE FOR YOUR MIND". The term 'battle' is a tad unfortunate because it suggests the possibility of a quick victory. Positioning is more like a war; it takes years. It's a long-term investment. Scan, in your own mind, the brands that have the strongest positive image. Most of them have been around for years, haven't they?The good news is that it is difficult to dislodge a category leader. Volvo is still the leader for safety, Mercedes for reliability, Rolls Royce for prestige, Ferrari for speed, VW for value, etc. The other good news is that, once the essence of your message is created, you can use it as basis for your entire market communication and quickly earn benefits from this important investment.Last, but not least: positioning is an art. It works better with the objective, external point-of-view of a specialist who looks at your company or products from a different angle and who brings fresh ideas. You need a second opinion like a doctor needs a colleague to perform surgery on himself. You want to avoid throwing good money after bad, don't you?
BASIC RECIPEAn effective positioning message has to be about half-way between your actual position in the market and the vision you have of the future of your company and of its products.To be memorable and effective, your message should be as short as possible, different, attractive, relevant and persuasive. So, it should achieve the right balance between facts and aspirations.Finally, your message has to pass credibility tests including:- Laugh test - if your claim is grossly exaggerated, implausible or unimaginable, it will provoke general laughter and you lose your prospect's confidence.- Yawn test - if your message uses conventional, hollow and boring business speak, you lose the prospect's attention and potential interest.- Blank eyes test - if your statement uses esoteric or fashionable expressions with obscure meaning, you probably irritate your prospect from the beginning.Then, your positioning message can serve as consistent basis for a series of documents such as:- Your marketing plan
- Tag lines and one-sentence statements
- One-page company / product briefs
- One-paragraph to half-page summaries
- Elevator pitches, 60-second speeches,..
- Website content (e.g. "about us" statement)
- Brochures, newsletters, direct mail, advertising
- White papers, manifestos, case studiesIn addition to its Sales Services, Sales Outsourcing | SFE, can help you on marketing matters, creating solid marketing foundations including positioning, and developing important materials and programs... to expand your sales outsourcing into new markets.
Sunday, November 2, 2014
Saturday, November 1, 2014
Competitive Intelligence for Your Business
Every business has competition and in many case executive leaders ignore competitors. Unless your business has an absolute monopoly on a life-essential product, there will be competitors offering alternative and substitute products and services. That level of competition is revealed in the competitor intelligence report. Competitive intelligence helps your company define and understand your industry and to identify their strengths and weaknesses. This includes the process of data collection, interpretation of the data, objective evaluation and dissemination of the data and defining productive methods for managerial decision making.A competitive intelligence report (CI) is an important requirement in any business plan because it (a) reveals the firm's competitive position in the "marketplace", and (b) assists you to develop strategies to compete. If you ignore or diminish the impact of competition, you will have an unrealistic and slanted approach to designing a strategy for sales perfection. The internet has dramatically accelerated the speed and availability to utilizing data and compiling a CI report. Do not fall into the trap of devoting too much time and effort to tracking this information. I have seen instances where company executive allot to many resources to this process thinking it will harvest a large reward, to the contrary, this exercise is designed to draw objective conclusions about the environment in which you operate. It will not provide you with detailed information on your competitors; only make you more aware of the environment and to avoid surprises by anticipating competitors' moves and decreasing reaction time.The success of your strategy depends on the quality and content of your CI report. This analysis utilizes the SWOT analysis as the initial stages to the process which will help you to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the competition. You will need to answer some basic as it relates to your competitors:
Who is Your Competition and identify the range and types of competitors that participate in your industry.
Categorize your competitors as direct, indirect, or emerging. Identify all the elements that create this unique profile list.
Finding your competitors is the easy part, you already know who they are for the most part and for those companies expanding into new product and business categories, there is a wealth of resources available.
Foot soldiers - your sales team, both inside and outside.
Suppliers who your company share in common.
D & B (Dun & Bradstreet) reports with a database of over 30 million companies worldwide.
Hoovers is a subsidiary of D & B which holds considerable information pertaining to public companies.
Patent databases such as Thomson Scientific's patent services or Google patent search.
Search engines, search utilities, etc.
Financial information sources (Company filings / public & private company data).
Legal documents - PACER (public access to court electronic records).
Newspaper and news resources.
Government sources.
Trade & industry sources.
Geographic / Country information & maps, satellite images, etc.
Trade directories.
Marketing research sources.
Legal information sources.
Competitive intelligence database software suppliers.
Other public information sources.
Analyzing your competition with the list of information you have compiled by populating data in a competitor intelligence grid (see below).
Writing up the results of your analysis.
Define Your Competitive Position, identify opportunities that were discovered and resolve any apparent threats uncovered during the process.
When we think about competitive intelligence, naturally, the first thing that comes to mind is social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and so on. You can derive a lot of information form these sites and you need to assign a member of your sales team (support person) to track your competitors on social media. It will provide you a wealth of information like who they are targeting, how they are interacting, if they are placing paid advertisements, and the frequency of their posts.In contrast, if you are paying attention to their social media presence, and if they are savvy business leaders, they are doing the same to your company. Pay attention to what is posted on your own social media sites and carefully monitor and analyze the content of the posts. The general rule is this, think about what you would say to an anchor person interviewing you on television, obviously you are not going to provide any sensitive or misleading information in this interview and you certainly should maintain the same policy as it relates to social media. More information on social media profiling, demographics and psychographics was discussed in chapter 2 under marketing.Competitive Intelligence has its drawbacks and limitations. First of all, you would most likely not take an automobile trip without a road map or GPS device, but let's assume you did. More than likely you are going to take a few, maybe even many wrong turns and even lost, but eventually will find your way to the destination. However, if you plan the trip in advance and rely upon past experiences, your journey will turn out completely different. The same is true in the process of gathering data on competitors, much of it could turn out to be useless and completely wrong leading you in the wrong path. A skilled executive manager will make decisions to eliminate erroneous information by pointing the team in the right direct and also disseminating the information to relevance and applicability.Conclusion: A thorough evaluation and competitive analysis will help you, your company, and your employees to grasp the intricacies of effectively defeating you're the competition day in and day out.Formulate a strategy to attain organizational uniformity. This is the concept of aligning and balancing the performance standards throughout your company. Organizational uniformity is based upon the assumption that all sales territories, sales and operating regions, and divisions operate in unanimity and consistent.A competitive SWOT analysis will help your company and your sales people operate with confidence.
Who is Your Competition and identify the range and types of competitors that participate in your industry.
Categorize your competitors as direct, indirect, or emerging. Identify all the elements that create this unique profile list.
Finding your competitors is the easy part, you already know who they are for the most part and for those companies expanding into new product and business categories, there is a wealth of resources available.
Foot soldiers - your sales team, both inside and outside.
Suppliers who your company share in common.
D & B (Dun & Bradstreet) reports with a database of over 30 million companies worldwide.
Hoovers is a subsidiary of D & B which holds considerable information pertaining to public companies.
Patent databases such as Thomson Scientific's patent services or Google patent search.
Search engines, search utilities, etc.
Financial information sources (Company filings / public & private company data).
Legal documents - PACER (public access to court electronic records).
Newspaper and news resources.
Government sources.
Trade & industry sources.
Geographic / Country information & maps, satellite images, etc.
Trade directories.
Marketing research sources.
Legal information sources.
Competitive intelligence database software suppliers.
Other public information sources.
Analyzing your competition with the list of information you have compiled by populating data in a competitor intelligence grid (see below).
Writing up the results of your analysis.
Define Your Competitive Position, identify opportunities that were discovered and resolve any apparent threats uncovered during the process.
When we think about competitive intelligence, naturally, the first thing that comes to mind is social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and so on. You can derive a lot of information form these sites and you need to assign a member of your sales team (support person) to track your competitors on social media. It will provide you a wealth of information like who they are targeting, how they are interacting, if they are placing paid advertisements, and the frequency of their posts.In contrast, if you are paying attention to their social media presence, and if they are savvy business leaders, they are doing the same to your company. Pay attention to what is posted on your own social media sites and carefully monitor and analyze the content of the posts. The general rule is this, think about what you would say to an anchor person interviewing you on television, obviously you are not going to provide any sensitive or misleading information in this interview and you certainly should maintain the same policy as it relates to social media. More information on social media profiling, demographics and psychographics was discussed in chapter 2 under marketing.Competitive Intelligence has its drawbacks and limitations. First of all, you would most likely not take an automobile trip without a road map or GPS device, but let's assume you did. More than likely you are going to take a few, maybe even many wrong turns and even lost, but eventually will find your way to the destination. However, if you plan the trip in advance and rely upon past experiences, your journey will turn out completely different. The same is true in the process of gathering data on competitors, much of it could turn out to be useless and completely wrong leading you in the wrong path. A skilled executive manager will make decisions to eliminate erroneous information by pointing the team in the right direct and also disseminating the information to relevance and applicability.Conclusion: A thorough evaluation and competitive analysis will help you, your company, and your employees to grasp the intricacies of effectively defeating you're the competition day in and day out.Formulate a strategy to attain organizational uniformity. This is the concept of aligning and balancing the performance standards throughout your company. Organizational uniformity is based upon the assumption that all sales territories, sales and operating regions, and divisions operate in unanimity and consistent.A competitive SWOT analysis will help your company and your sales people operate with confidence.
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
What Independent Manufacturers' Representatives Should Expect From Their Principals
1. Training. Unless the manufacturer produces non-technical products like brushes or socks, training is critical. Even non-technical products do not make a new representative exempt from being training on procedures, operations standards, customers support expectations, etc. In some cases, principals cover part or all of expenses for reps' training tools, courses (if necessary), or travel (if the independent rep is expected to visit the principal's office or manufacturing facilities).Manufacturers often try to alleviate the financial burden of travel for new hires. Depending on what is negotiated, they will either pay for some or most of the cost of travel when training new reps. This gives new reps greater confidence in the manufacturers' ability to support them in the field. And it signals economic strength.Independent sales reps fail when they do not have sufficient product knowledge to confidently and competently promote their manufacturers' products. The bottom line is, If a manufacturer's rep is not comfortable selling a product, they won't. And training should not be limited to just the initial stages of the relationship as products are upgraded or improved. So training must not only be comprehensive, but also ongoing.2. Initial Travel Period. A rep's first few months can be brutal, especially when pioneering a new market or territory. Many news reps need hand-holding. Principals should consider making a corporate employee available to travel with the sales rep to make the initial sales presentations easier. This assistance helps new reps develop a more profound understanding of the product line. It immediately exposes them to common customer questions or troubleshooting issues that they will have to respond to when out from under the proverbial wing of their principal.
3. Sales and Marketing Collateral. Independent reps should be armed with as much sales and marketing collateral as possible. Brochures, catalogs, color charts, pamphlets, fliers, product samples-all very helpful marketing materials. There is no legitimate reason why a principal would withhold this critical material.4. Fast Response. When manufacturers reps submit requests for quotes or troubleshooting feedback, the principal must respond as soon as possible! A rep's ability to successfully support customers is dependent upon their ability to respond to customers' needs in a timely manner. It may seem obvious that principals benefit, too, when responding quickly. Surprisingly, poor response time is one of the most common complaints from independent manufacturers' representatives.5. Sales and Order Tracking. Sales representatives do not have a guaranteed commission. They have to work for every dime they earn. Their ability to do so requires access to critical information that principals should provide, including:- Updated price lists
- (Back) order status
- Invoice copies
- Product literature and other sales collateral
- Shipping notifications
- Commission schedule6. Customer Lists. Principals should provide their reps with lists of existing customers. User lists or installation lists can be leveraged by independent sales reps when marketing to new customers. It helps demonstrate the compelling value proposition of the principals' products. Like most other items on this list, it is in the principal's best interest to provide this information to their reps.
3. Sales and Marketing Collateral. Independent reps should be armed with as much sales and marketing collateral as possible. Brochures, catalogs, color charts, pamphlets, fliers, product samples-all very helpful marketing materials. There is no legitimate reason why a principal would withhold this critical material.4. Fast Response. When manufacturers reps submit requests for quotes or troubleshooting feedback, the principal must respond as soon as possible! A rep's ability to successfully support customers is dependent upon their ability to respond to customers' needs in a timely manner. It may seem obvious that principals benefit, too, when responding quickly. Surprisingly, poor response time is one of the most common complaints from independent manufacturers' representatives.5. Sales and Order Tracking. Sales representatives do not have a guaranteed commission. They have to work for every dime they earn. Their ability to do so requires access to critical information that principals should provide, including:- Updated price lists
- (Back) order status
- Invoice copies
- Product literature and other sales collateral
- Shipping notifications
- Commission schedule6. Customer Lists. Principals should provide their reps with lists of existing customers. User lists or installation lists can be leveraged by independent sales reps when marketing to new customers. It helps demonstrate the compelling value proposition of the principals' products. Like most other items on this list, it is in the principal's best interest to provide this information to their reps.
Sunday, October 26, 2014
The Dead at 27 Club
Can anybody find me somebody to love are brilliant lyrics from Queen that say so much, but alas they may well have been his undoing. Freddie Mercury was out there - he was wild, untamed, in his heyday extremely promiscuous and in the end his partying and all the other antics that were part of his repertoire took him at a very early age. Far too young.This begs the question: did those who died young from partying and living in the fast lane go happy? Would they have changed what they were doing had they known it would bring a premature end to a glorious career and life? There exists the unfortunate " - Janice Joplin, Jim Morrisson, Kurt Cobain, Jimi Henrix and Amy Winehouse, all gone with so much more to give. Were they so disturbed and mentally imbalanced from the drugs and partying that there really was no way they could have come back to the straight and narrow? It could be said that Robbie Williams would have joined that club along with Russell Brand but fortunately both managed to turn the corner before falling into the abyss.You have those that hit the wall at high speed without a care in the world for any consequences to themselves or those around them and go young, or you have those who don't. A great friend of mine Richard Wilkins uses the phrase, "NLE" - Near Life Experience, those who have been alive but have never actually lived. Our challenge, I believe, is to find the level of living that is right for us - after all, hard drugs and rock and roll is not the calling for most of us. Counter that with those who never quite found the reason to try, the burning desire to have a go or were blocked by a wall of fear, doubt or self-belief which prevented them from even trying.
When I eventually go I do not want it to be said that I didn't try, that I sat back and watched, I was a spectator rather than a player, I could have achieved so much more. All of these phrases send shivers down my spine. I personally need to know and believe that I have given everything my best shot, had a go and played full out, and I know there are times when I fail to achieve this. We have all lost family friends, relations, parents and close mates far too early, I believe they all had more to give, help and provide. So if the same is said about you today by those in your life that you have so much more to achieve and deliver, what are you waiting for? You know the phrase "Carpe diem" - "Seize the day" There is nothing wrong with now, stop FAFFing about and get on with it.At any one time there could be 20-40% of staff off on holiday during the main holidays, any more than that and the company would have issues trading. Turn this around and this means that 60-80% of staff are still at work at any one time during the holiday season. How quickly do you need answers? Can they not wait two weeks until the decision-maker comes home from holiday? This doesn't mean you should give up trying to get hold of them; you should continue as normal and follow up as normal. Using seasonality as a reason not to make the effort is simply lazy, get on with business as usual, leave messages on answer phones and emails with assistants and stop FAFFing about avoiding doing business.
When I eventually go I do not want it to be said that I didn't try, that I sat back and watched, I was a spectator rather than a player, I could have achieved so much more. All of these phrases send shivers down my spine. I personally need to know and believe that I have given everything my best shot, had a go and played full out, and I know there are times when I fail to achieve this. We have all lost family friends, relations, parents and close mates far too early, I believe they all had more to give, help and provide. So if the same is said about you today by those in your life that you have so much more to achieve and deliver, what are you waiting for? You know the phrase "Carpe diem" - "Seize the day" There is nothing wrong with now, stop FAFFing about and get on with it.At any one time there could be 20-40% of staff off on holiday during the main holidays, any more than that and the company would have issues trading. Turn this around and this means that 60-80% of staff are still at work at any one time during the holiday season. How quickly do you need answers? Can they not wait two weeks until the decision-maker comes home from holiday? This doesn't mean you should give up trying to get hold of them; you should continue as normal and follow up as normal. Using seasonality as a reason not to make the effort is simply lazy, get on with business as usual, leave messages on answer phones and emails with assistants and stop FAFFing about avoiding doing business.
Friday, October 24, 2014
Increase Sales This Holiday Season
The holiday season really brings in more sales than any part of the year but you can still leverage more by using some practical tips that can further boost your sales. Sales rep software can also help you maximize the sales potentials by effectively managing and monitoring your sales leads. Here are the ways to increase sales appropriate for any kind of business:1. Promoting one Product/Service at a time. This limits the customer's buying decision to just buying or not buying. This leads to immediate sales, of course. Try to avoid promotions that will require the buyer to make more choices after deciding to buy. They might confuse them and end up not buying at all for the fear of making the wrong choice. If you really like to make promotions, create a promotion for each product or each service separately; or combine products and/or services into one package. The aim is to just get a "yes" or a "no" from the prospect, no more, no less.2. Make your benefit your lead start at all times. Your benefit is your strongest selling point. This is your unique selling point that your prospect must immediately see in your promotional messages. Put the benefit of your product and service in your banners, leaflets, flyers, brochures, sales letters, emails, posters, and other ads. Use it also in your audio and video campaign so that your prospects will continue listening and watching. Sales rep software can help you monitor the leads.3. Make your approach personal. People buy from salesmen who make them feel that their specific and individual needs are addressed. Customize your sales message to each prospect you meet to cater the particular interest of each client in every market group you are targeting. You can also do this online by creating special web pages that meets the needs for each market group then link to your home page.
4. Give specific description of your product and service. Do not just say your product is affordable, or you give quality service, or the printer you are selling is reliable, or you turn in your finished product fast. You have to be more precise with your description. Say how fast, what kind of quality, how reliable, and many more. Do not give dull descriptions like "You will print more with this printer." instead say "Your printing output will increase by 70% more." This stirs curiosity and excitement to the prospects and will take the time to look more into your offer.5. Dramatize feelings. It is found that people buy on impulse and not on logic. Their buying decisions are based on their feelings about the product or service. Aim to make them excited about what you are offering and you will surely increase your sales. Design your promotional ads, sales letters, and web pages with emotional rewards. Use vibrant images that can make your prospect imagine how he would look like while enjoying the benefits of the product or service.
4. Give specific description of your product and service. Do not just say your product is affordable, or you give quality service, or the printer you are selling is reliable, or you turn in your finished product fast. You have to be more precise with your description. Say how fast, what kind of quality, how reliable, and many more. Do not give dull descriptions like "You will print more with this printer." instead say "Your printing output will increase by 70% more." This stirs curiosity and excitement to the prospects and will take the time to look more into your offer.5. Dramatize feelings. It is found that people buy on impulse and not on logic. Their buying decisions are based on their feelings about the product or service. Aim to make them excited about what you are offering and you will surely increase your sales. Design your promotional ads, sales letters, and web pages with emotional rewards. Use vibrant images that can make your prospect imagine how he would look like while enjoying the benefits of the product or service.
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Are You Suited to a Property Career?
As there are a lot of different processes involved in the buying and renting of homes, there are lots of different kinds of jobs available from secretarial roles, to surveyor positions to branch management. This also means that it is possible to work up the career ladder or transfer your skills to other parts of the property industry. Although that sounds like there is a job for everybody, when you search property jobs and read the prerequisites, there are various skills and attributes that are required.Like most jobs, some skills can be learnt and developed over time where as some are more like personality traits, such as attention to detail and negotiation skills.One of the most basic skills required is, like most sectors nowadays, computer literacy. As well as having basic Internet, email and typing skills, it helps to be able to pick up computer programs quickly to learn in-house systems. Another basic skill that can be transferred is customer service. When people are dealing with their potential home or looking to rent out a property that they have put a lot of time and money into, they expect to deal with somebody who goes the extra mile for them. When people are dealing with such a major aspect of their life, it is more reassuring to deal with somebody who proves that they are reliable and dedicated to doing a good job. For some people, this comesnaturally and it is a skill that can be learnt and developed in other industries, but this is not the case for everybody.Negotiation skills also do not come easily to everybody and these are necessary for sales-based jobs in the property industry, such as sales managers and consultants and other negotiator jobs. Not all jobs in the industry are sales-driven and require a different set of skill sets. For example, there are administration-based roles that are more suited to people with excellent computer and customer service skills who can also organise and work well in a team but perhaps don't have the sales or industry experience to work in letting agent jobs for example, or any other roles in the industry.
Other roles in the property industry, such as property surveyors, require industry experience and specific training, so you wouldn't be able to slip into it from a completely unrelated previous job. One thing that all jobs in the property industry have in common is that you need to have the drive and determination to work hard and succeed. Some might argue that this is the most important attribute.As well as skills and experience, there are certain stresses and pressures that come with a career in the property industry. For example, people looking for a new home will often want to view properties at weekends or after their working day, so estate agents and letting agents need to be available outside of normal office hours. There is also the pressure of trying to make sales and negotiate the best deals whilst the country is still suffering financially and dealing with rejection. If you have been recently made redundant, just leaving education or simply feel like a change in career path, it may be worthwhile to search property jobs if you have the drive and determination as well as people skills and the ability to thrive under pressure.
Other roles in the property industry, such as property surveyors, require industry experience and specific training, so you wouldn't be able to slip into it from a completely unrelated previous job. One thing that all jobs in the property industry have in common is that you need to have the drive and determination to work hard and succeed. Some might argue that this is the most important attribute.As well as skills and experience, there are certain stresses and pressures that come with a career in the property industry. For example, people looking for a new home will often want to view properties at weekends or after their working day, so estate agents and letting agents need to be available outside of normal office hours. There is also the pressure of trying to make sales and negotiate the best deals whilst the country is still suffering financially and dealing with rejection. If you have been recently made redundant, just leaving education or simply feel like a change in career path, it may be worthwhile to search property jobs if you have the drive and determination as well as people skills and the ability to thrive under pressure.
Sunday, October 19, 2014
Are You Using Your Sales Data Effectively?
So, you find yourself glancing over last month's sales figures and you're not too impressed. Well, we are in the worst recession since the 1920s; lower sales figures must be reflective of low consumer confidence, right? Wrong. The market may be down, but customers are still buying. What has changed is that they are more sophisticated and demanding in their buying habits than ever before.The range of purchasing options and product information available in this information age will not disappear along with the recession. The former is here to stay. So, lower prices? Sell more of a particular product? No. The key, particularly for smaller businesses, does not lie in attempting to increase quantity or slash prices to bolster sales; it lies in identifying the key drivers of sales. Enter predictive analytics.Predictive analytics, simply put, is a powerful mode of business intelligence that allows businesses to analyse the factors that maximise the probability of future product sales and use this information to make more viable business decisions. Analysing past sales figures is not of much help if one cannot determine how that relates to the future. Predictive analytics has the capability of building statistical models to determine the probability of future events. For instance, a regression model might describe projected monthly sales data in this way:SALES = 5,000 + 50(PRODUCT A*CUSTOMER B) - 20(PRODUCT B*CUSTOMER B)Let's put some real English behind the jargon:• 5,000: Refers to the minimum sales your business can be expected to make per month based on past trends.
• 50(PRODUCT A*CUSTOMER B): Illustrates that when 1 unit of Product A is sold to customer B, revenues rise by €50 each time.• -20(PRODUCT B*CUSTOMER B): However, for every unit of Product B sold to Customer B, revenues drop by €20 each time - showing an overall net loss of revenue in our equation due to the opportunity cost of selling Customer B the product that is in more demand by this segment, in this case Product A.Without the above regression analysis, businesses cannot pinpoint where the loss in revenues lie. Here, a loss in revenues would be due to the fact that we are selling the wrong product to the wrong customer. It is not simply a matter of overall sales. Without knowing the cause behind lower revenues, a manager might decide to increase the sales of Product B to Customer B, without knowing that the opportunity cost of fewer targeted sales in other products is what is actually hurting revenues.Ultimately, it is a mistake to make a blind attempt at increasing overall sales. Business owners must discriminate in the combination of product and customer segments targeted to determine how to maximise overall revenues. For many business owners, persistently lower sales figures means that identifying the root cause is critical in order to remedy the problem. Predictive analytics is the ideal tool to do this, and is one that business managers increasingly cannot avoid.
• 50(PRODUCT A*CUSTOMER B): Illustrates that when 1 unit of Product A is sold to customer B, revenues rise by €50 each time.• -20(PRODUCT B*CUSTOMER B): However, for every unit of Product B sold to Customer B, revenues drop by €20 each time - showing an overall net loss of revenue in our equation due to the opportunity cost of selling Customer B the product that is in more demand by this segment, in this case Product A.Without the above regression analysis, businesses cannot pinpoint where the loss in revenues lie. Here, a loss in revenues would be due to the fact that we are selling the wrong product to the wrong customer. It is not simply a matter of overall sales. Without knowing the cause behind lower revenues, a manager might decide to increase the sales of Product B to Customer B, without knowing that the opportunity cost of fewer targeted sales in other products is what is actually hurting revenues.Ultimately, it is a mistake to make a blind attempt at increasing overall sales. Business owners must discriminate in the combination of product and customer segments targeted to determine how to maximise overall revenues. For many business owners, persistently lower sales figures means that identifying the root cause is critical in order to remedy the problem. Predictive analytics is the ideal tool to do this, and is one that business managers increasingly cannot avoid.
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