Creating a successful business requires a lot of preparation, planning, research and luck. But one characteristic of any profitable business, large or small, is that the customers! The legendary Henry Ford once said this: "This is not the employer who pays wages Employers only handle the money it is the customer who pays a salary ..." quite understandably, does not? So, in order to sell, service and retain those customers, every organization regardless of industry or sector are there for the first to find customers. creation and success of sales and marketing arm in this way can be a major deciding factor in whether a company survives or disappears, or flourishes. The bottom line is, and always has been that without the marketing and sales, no customers or clients, so no income. Then stands to reason that without revenue there is no survival. So now we are clear that sales and marketing are essential, let us review where they began, discussing where they are now, and look forward to where they go.
a great author once said, "I find it useful to remember, everyone lives by selling something." OK, as you guessed Zig Ziglar? (If you do not know who he is, then you've never been in sales or are just totally not paying attention!). How many thought Tom Hopkins (see above)? Maybe not for sale guru, maybe it was a great Napoleon Hill, who wrote one of my favorites, Think and Grow Rich , right? Maybe it was a movie character, like Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas' unscrupulous character in " Wall Street ")? not even close. It's not even someone from the 20th century, even American! Would you believe that the prolific Scot who wrote the Treasure Island in 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson! Even before the industrial revolution, the importance of sales was evident.
If you think about it, even if you are in sales professions, which are sold every day. Are you a parent? Yep, you're in sales! trying to negotiate your seven years to go to bed, eat your vegetables, or the myriad other problems that face you make the sales person. Dating? Oh yeah, sales. Trying to persuade that person to stesavršen, compatible partner for them, whether it's for a night or a lifetime. Looking for a better test grades in school? Talk to a new job? pulled over for speeding? You dobiliideja.
In the old days, we heard many stories that make us laugh. As in the Old West, when people would travel from town to town in their wagon with the mysterious "magic" elixir, a mysterious drug, and even rainfall in drought-stricken farmers ever. heard the phrase "snake oil salesman?" It was right outside the time West lawless wilderness. So sales profession really had a great reputation kaorezultat, lively and sometimes amusing sales pitches were just as empty as piggy banks these charlatans behind. He got a little better after the turn of the century, especially with the industrial revolution. Very often it was a "bagman" who went where he had to get someone to buy something. While more prominent than their predecessors of the Old West, it was more than a few problems that are found in many different circumstances. I'm sure you've heard the one about the traveling salesman, a farmer's daughter, is not it? But these guys are the face of the company are selling for, and it seemed that it did not matter how they got it done, while the sales come in, heads are turned.
What techniques are used? Well, of course, as old-school and will benefit things like a fully stocked pattern case, very well maintained books, and a lot of shoe leather. Kadtelefon came along, it's a little easier to call their clients, and then to visit, but was still close and personal. and marketing has come primarily in the form of advertising. The early times were posters and other print media. As the media grew, so did the area of advertising, with catchy jingles on the old radio serials, the sweet early advertising and sponsorships from direct shows on television. It was only one way for a company to help sales. professional in doing their job, of course, was tried and true personal relationship that remains as valid as ever today -. Personal networking Just as was the case then, when someone you refer to someone they know is as valuable as gold bar in the safe.
Not all techniques were effective, and one in particular is still widely used today -. cold call comes in many forms, from door to door introduction is often used but rarely fertile phone call frenzy. in the sixties, cold calling is more the former, the guy knocking on the door, as a Fuller Brush man or the guy selling Encyclopedia Britannica. But as the phone grew more popular and was in every home and business, time saved by calling a whole bunch of locations, while sitting in his office seemed to make more sense. However, in reality, it is much easier to hang on to your phone salesman than a door slam on your business. While some Fortune 500 companies insist their vendors to be scared of flashing pool Jell-O by knocking on hundreds of calls a day, smarter or have ditched a cold phone call at all or is it part of a structured marketing strategy.
Even with the archaic reliance on some old ways, the business world could not predict the impact of the PC revolution in the way of sales and marketing work. Although there has been using computers for inventory and more using "dumb" terminals connected to mainframe, personal computer or PC allowed more information to be processed locally by the user. In essence, the mainframe has come to an end point! tools such as databases and tables follow the customer information, orders, and even preferences, all at the fingertips of the user. But it turned out that the tip of the iceberg, as well as the development of the Internet allowed more and more connections and greater reach. Suddenly, a magical world of electronic mail or e-mail, to speed ahead and leave the mail in the dust as a way to send information to customers and prospects. And with the advent of World Wide Web, the company started building web sites allow Internet users anywhere on the planet to see what they do or what they can provide. A web site is not just for customers, they started to become a smart tool for companies and their employees. It was the first custom built applications for tracking inventory, sales contact management, and financial operations, as well as billing, collections, and renewals. I'll expand on that later in the article.
This is a quantum leap forward with technology all the way to encourage the growth of sales and marketing will be more efficient and ubiquitous. In 1990-by the growth of mobile telephony is seen as a revolution in the way companies will work internally and externally. However, initial devices were bulky and not entirely reliable, requires large bags and frequent call drops. But in the years since, the technology has improved rapidly while prices fell and the size of the device, and access to all stable and reliable. So much so that even the mobile companies could not predict widespread adoption by general consumer space 15 years ago. When my stepson got his first phone at 12 years, I knew this was the end of the world as we know it! Go to the mall and see for yourself if you do not have children or are skeptical!
But the only mobile phone was just the beginning. The term "mobility" for small and medium business has grown from just the ability to achieve and be reached by phone, wherever you are, but an infusion of other office paper clips as e-mail that it was taken to a whole new level. While the office computers are increasingly becoming mobile as laptop computers, the ability to use them away from the main site grew as well. And developing a 'virtual private network "connection or VPN, made it possible for workers to connect to a computer creating encrypted, inaccessible tunnel from a machine on the corporate network and even the technology has improved, s. Early VPN client software on a PC that could be cumbersome and required frequent patching and maintenance. These clients have evolved into more or less "clientless" version, SSL VPN. This technology creates an encrypted tunnel, the same worker, but in essence using the web browser, requires far less overhead on the remote computer.
Sounds cool, right? But now the remote sales or marketing expert has two devices to work with and around the ear. Well of course the world of technology continued to develop and "smartphone" was born. Many thought the Research in Motion flagship product, the BlackBerry, with the launch of the Revolution. But in truth, honest, old-school IBM actually created the first version called Simon, who is shown as a concept product at a huge COMDEX in Las Vegas 1993rd BellSouth subsequently sold the device, which contained a calendar, address book, world clock, calculator, note pad, e-mail, send and receive fax, and games. However, the device without a keyboard is not good enough food, and other companies tried to exploit the market. From Nokia, Ericsson to Palm, RIM is entering 2002 with the BlackBerry that really a combination of e-mail and phone functionality in a small package enough to be functional. 2007 saw the ramp from the wars, with the release of Apple's iPhone, and in 2008 with the arrival of the Android open source-based OS. Today, the BlackBerry user base is well over 32 million users, but is seeing competition from the latest iPhone, Android devices and hard charging Windows 7 Phone Headset. This number can go nowhere but up, with preferences for each individual user and organization.
These devices are excellent tools, but applications that access have become just as important. Customer Relationship Management, CRM, or, is described as an information industry term for methodologies, software, and Internet capabilities that typically pomažupoduzeće customer relationship management in an organized manner. a little too techie definition, I would say to simplify application that allows you to track and stay in close contact with your best customers and prospects. From the early days of selling the book to the next rolodex, on computer applications such as ACT! and Goldmine. Now, with Microsoft CRM in the region and host applications such as salesforce.com, functionality that sales and marketing needs can be found in one place. maintaining contacts, set reminders, send e-mail, sign up quotes, even processing orders can be done in a self-contained system that is not a quick fix -. requires some skill and talent to implement and customize these applications, but when they are set to your liking, the sky is the limit to what can be done and of course, create marketing materials with Adobe Illustrator, Microsoft Publisher, etc., you can have every aspect of the project done, the common and approved;.? just need to find the right printer
One last thing to go away from the web networking tool of the new millennium - Social Networking Web tools like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter are created in the young people of the world, but now transitioned into the realm. business. More and more, businesses of all sizes are affected by the scope of this application, and even create specials targeted to those who subscribe, follow and / or chirp. I believe that we only see the top of the iceberg in this and the next decade will prove even more integration between these forms of contacting potential and existing customers and CRM tools. No longer affects the local Chamber of Commerce networking event enough. This is a bunch of business cards is much easier to manage as a list of "friends" or "supporters" in CRM and logged.
So, the bottom line is, technology is a key piece to what sales and marketing in today's business world, both large and small. and that more of them, have a trusted technology partner and staff is essential for their full use and availability. Or, you can go find the guy with the plaid coat and a cigar, and hope that he can get those prospects to believe in you ... about as likely as the taste of water ice on Mars found!
