2423 Posts Found

Anyone who shops regularly online has encountered recommender systems that point out one or two other products or pieces of content we might like, based on past purchases or other behavior. In two new papers, Wharton operations, information and decisions professor Kartik Hosanagar examined when recommender systems work well, and when they don’t, and whether certain types of products tend to do particularly well … [ Read more ]

Content: Multimedia Content | Author: Kartik Hosanagar | Source: Knowledge@Wharton | Subject: Marketing / Sales

B2B purchasing decisions increasingly trace complex journeys, challenging the long-standing practices of many sales organizations.

Content: Article | Authors: Candace Lun Plotkin, Jennifer Stanley, Oskar Lingqvist | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subject: Marketing / Sales

New data and better coordination can create value in the sales channel.

Content: Article | Authors: Parmeet Grover, Roland John | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subject: Marketing / Sales

Mark Roberge, the Chief Revenue Officer at Hubspot, has spent 20 years in startups. As he told me a few days ago, he has observed the lack of sales management and sales execution skills as one of the most consistent deficiencies limiting the potential of early stage SaaS companies. Frequently, the first sales leadership hire is the hardest, because it’s difficult to ascertain the right … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Tomasz Tunguz | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Human Resources, Marketing / Sales

People are stuck between focus groups on the one hand and the Steve Jobs approach (“I will know what customers need before they know it themselves”) on the other. The Jobs way is compelling, but it’s risky. The challenge is the journey from today’s customer, whom most companies understand well, to tomorrow’s customer, whom they don’t.

Content: Quotation | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Customer Related, Market Research, Marketing / Sales

The business world is rightly obsessed with net promoter score and other measures of peer recommendation. What other customers say is incredibly influential on our buying behavior. But there is a touchpoint that is even more influential, which marketers rarely think about and almost never measure: observing what other customers actually do. So what can marketers do about it?

Content: Article | Author: Hugh Wilson | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subject: Marketing / Sales

Every market consists of customers with strong and weak perceptions of competitor’s levels of satisfying their specific requirements. Marketing in its simplest form is analyzing customer requirements in depth and then modifying your product offerings and related value propositions so that they “fit” better with the requirements of a certain segment of the market than your competitors.

Content: Quotation | Author: Robert M. Donnelly | Source: Chief Executive | Subject: Marketing / Sales

How can you optimize the price of a product or service? Julián Villanueva, José Antonio Segarra and Iciar Ferrer outline the variables to keep in mind and explain how to tailor your pricing policy. For starters, remember that most buying decisions are far from rational, as they are influenced by certain psychological factors.

Content: Article | Authors: Iciar Ferrer, José Antonio Segarra, Julián Villanueva | Source: IESE Insight | Subject: Pricing

Early adopters get most of the attention from analysts and marketers, but focusing on consumers who are resistant to innovations is another way to bring new products to market.

Content: Article | Author: Matt Palmquist | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Customer Related, Innovation, Market Research, Marketing / Sales

I notice increasing reluctance on the part of marketing executives to use judgment; they are coming to rely too much on research, and they use it as a drunkard uses a lamp post for support, rather than for illumination.

Content: Quotation | Author: David Ogilvy | Subjects: Decision Making, Management, Marketing / Sales

Content rules. It always has. It just changes form and value.

Content: Quotation | Subject: Marketing / Sales

Entrepreneurs often believe their new product or service is so exceptional that their customers will seek them out to acquire it. And like most people, entrepreneurs are uncomfortable with ambiguity, and selling involves a lot of it.

Instead of selling, entrepreneurs turn their energies to every other aspect of running their new companies. They conduct surveys, design prototypes, and tinker with their products until they … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Robin Mordfin | Source: Capital Ideas | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Marketing / Sales

Changes in technology and a greater acceptance of dynamic pricing among consumers are prompting more industries to consider deploying this type of pricing mechanism, even though the concept has been around for more than 30 years. This article highlights four types of dynamic pricing and three criteria to consider if using it.

Content: Article | Source: Knowledge@Wharton | Subject: Pricing

When you have worked as a UX consultant for 15 years and counting, you fix a lot of mistakes. In this article, I’ll cover seven mistakes that I come across regularly, and I will include simple strategies to help you overcome them.

Content: Article | Author: Subir Kumedan | Source: MarketingProfs | Subjects: IT / Technology / E-Business, Marketing / Sales

This marketing canvas is inspired by the lean startup canvas. It gets people thinking about the direction of their marketing and establishes a high level plan.

Content: Article | Author: Jon Westenberg | Subject: Marketing / Sales

We found no consistent correlation between marketing spending as a percentage of dollar sales and either marketing impact or ROMI. Brands that spent more on marketing as a percentage of dollar sales (that is, 30 to 35 percent rather than 20 to 25 percent) did not drive more volume, but they did realize lower returns on their investment. We therefore conclude that spending as a … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Boston Consulting Group (BCG) | Subject: Marketing / Sales

Marketing metrics should tie in some way to marketing’s ability to acquire, keep and grow the value of customers. Here are a few useful questions to ask about your metrics and some parameters for choosing them.

Content: Article | Author: Laura Patterson | Source: CEO Refresher | Subject: Marketing / Sales

Marketing is creating conditions by which others decide on their own that they want what you’ve got.

Content: Quotation | Source: OPEN Forum (American Express) | Subject: Marketing / Sales

There are two kinds of marketing: expensive and inexpensive. Expensive marketing is the kind that doesn’t work. Inexpensive marketing is the kind that works—regardless of cost.

Content: Quotation | Author: Jay Conrad Levinson | Source: OPEN Forum (American Express) | Subject: Marketing / Sales

Is it worthwhile for retailers to experiment with “pay what you want” pricing? Shelle Santana unmasks the surprising logic behind how much customers will pay, and when. One finding: sellers can dramatically change what some buyers are willing to pay.

Content: Article | Author: Michael Blanding | Source: Harvard Business School (HBS) Working Knowledge | Subject: Pricing