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17/12/2009 14:06:26
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FunkyMonkey
Posts 6
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I would have though that sales would have climbed over the festive season but according to an article I read the sales have dropped since October rise of 0.6%.
I guess most companies did not give bonuses this year or gave less than usual. I have a friend who has now decided she is resigning her sales job because she did not get a proper bonus. Silly really as i have just taken a look at a job sites and there are not that many sales jobs out there.
Hopefully things will start looking up very soon.
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17/12/2009 14:22:11
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Chris Stock
Posts 8
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It would be interesting if others have some anecdotal feedback about the B2B market place. We here have seen signs of lots more activity and we have done a number of deals already this month. I find there is always a push to get deals done before Christmas so customers hit the ground running come January.
Anyway, it would be good to get feedback of how others are seeing the B2B market as well?
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17/12/2009 18:28:02
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NeilWarren
Posts 645
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In days gone by, most of us inhabited competitive market spaces and we grew a bit, or shrank a bit, based on how well we sold or marketed our products and services compared to the competition. Picture here a typical market-town centre (The Market Square – we have one in Dunstable), with several fruit & veg stalls, where a mixture of best produce, keenest prices, loudest shout and cheekiest chat (customer service) would produce the most repeat custom and best profits.
There were various layers of sophistication on top of this, of course, as the last century progressed, with numerous routes “to market” and various manifestations of a “market”, from shopping mall to dealer and re-seller networks or direct sales force. And the media that amplified your shout of “luverly ‘nanas” also grew, from newspapers and radio to TV, and hoardings to neon big-screens and painted buses. B2B also had “niche” and “vertical” offerings, from the trade press to specialised, researched databases, meaning that a bit of direct mail and telemarketing (or cold calling) could also reasonably effectively enter the mix.
B2C always was based on the premise though that, one way or another, buyers would be drawn to the killing fields, hopefully equipped, in their minds, with advertising induced pre-conceptions about which luverly nanas they wanted to buy. And B2B tried to emulate this, by pre-convincing the punter, with marketing/advertising, that product or service x, y or z was “best”. The difference being that they did not then leave it to chance, or timing, that the punter would wander into the market to buy it, preferring instead to go and knock on his/her door (or ring that bell) to convince them that “now” was a good time to do that. “Smart” sales people would, nonetheless, try to discover some indication of “readiness to buy”, for example by noting said punter buying those over-ripe nanas from the next stall.
The biggest, and best, were those companies selling the biggest and best products that most people wanted, like General Motors or IBM, who were also more than competent in this marketing and sales strategy. And a “brand image” of reliability, value, cool or what have you, was also very handy in this regard.
What I think is happening now, however, measured very coincidentally by the start of a new century/millennium, is the advent of a whole new “market place”. The internet, last century, was nothing more than an enhanced advertising billboard, hosting everyone’s corporate brochure – and reinforcing “we’re best” messages. Web 2.0, however, has been charting the rise of “interactive” websites, mostly fuelled by sites like Facebook and referred to collectively as “social media”. Now the new kids on this block, who provide the fundamental services, like Google, can rise from total obscurity to global dominance in the blink of an eye. And this is based on function, not reputation or “brand image”, meaning that anyone who can provide a relevant product or service has an equally big opportunity to bypass the “never heard of them” syndrome. Remember that it was said that “people never got sacked for buying IBM”? But can you even think of a comparable phrase for anything to do with “using Google”? They just instantly obliterated the Yahoo “brand” by being “better” (offering more of what people wanted).
continued...
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17/12/2009 18:28:39
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NeilWarren
Posts 645
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...continued
I’m working, right now, with two fantastic new product/service providers that will absolutely appeal to, and be adopted by any number of people in the biggest and best corporations in the land, both only invented/launched this year. And all the advertising and marketing blandishments of “the competition” will be skipped/spammed/junked away, where people now are drawn to recommendations from others about which is the best movie to see, band to follow, club to attend, clothes to wear, car to drive, software to use or bank to avoid. Or they go online to find some new “friends” to ask about whatever it is and, most importantly, then expect to “experience” the product or service without having to commit too much by way of time, or money, or both. Preferring instead to just ramp-up spend as and when they want more of it (like I probably spent £10 via Amazon in 2001, and, as a family, I’ll bet it’s nearer to £300 a year, these days).
So the clincher, for sales and marketing success in this new world, is to try to identify “the problem” (like someone just thinking ‘I’m hungry and I wouldn’t mind a banana’) and make yourself available as that new “friend” to discuss the best way that some nice, fresh, just-ripe bananas could be delivered to the punter’s door, faster than the pizza-boy could get there – even if those bananas do come from Never-Heard-Of-Us Wholesale Bananas.
It’s not “all new” and “either/or”, of course, in that the internet is not going to kill off the shopping mall (or those other B2B routes) any more than the shopping mall has killed off the street market. So you might well need your Tesco Lite convenience store in the market square, as well as your hypermarket, and an online/delivery alternative. But having just had a major B2B meeting with one of my biggest clients postponed because of the snow, and which was anyway going to be a multi-media affair, organised online and with some “attendees” “dialling-in”, I can’t help thinking that this is a significant shift taking place, and you’d better have a few e-Selling skills in your armoury if you’re aiming to keep up.
Examples:
Assuming you have some kind of connection to or interest in that website that you have (craftily) linked to FM, I can see the same there as with the thousands of vacancies I sort through and post on our main site. Search on “telesales” or “field” and you get half of the 19,000 (not really is it!?) vacancies coming back. But e-Sales, nada, albeit that “online” is starting to produce a few although not always “selling online”, just selling “online” services.
And can I see any element of your consultancy or training Chris, that points the way for sales people, and/or managers of teams, to start to incorporate these tools and techniques into their portfolio? You’re using the skills, right here, and admirably, if I may say – but are you teaching them to others? It also makes me laugh, in this context, to see the various USA “Kings of Cold Calling”, networking away on LinkedIn or wherever, suggesting that sales teams leaders join their webinars to find out the latest killer technique for getting past gatekeepers. I haven’t had an answer yet about why they don’t just pick up the phone themselves!
Hmmm – looks like a bit of a rant/lecture there so probably an accumulated “pressure” I needed to offload. Hope I haven’t swamped either of you with it though, and indeed that it might have helped some – as intended.
Kind regards - Neil
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18/12/2009 10:29:31
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Neelam
Posts 13
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Hi Guys,
I have been missing for a while sorry - been swamped at work these last few weeks barely had any time to think for myself!
For the business that I am in, this time of year is generally slow so we tend to catch up with all the things that we have not done throughout the rest of the year - admin and such. Most businesses we deal with close up for two weeks from today so there won't be much happening until January for us! Its just the time of year for us really!
Funky Munky I assume you are talking about retail sales figures here? Or are you generally talking sales here?
I think perhaps retails figures (assuming this is what you are talking about) will pick up this week and next as everyone grabs their last minute xmas bargains - in regards to B2B sales, I don't expect things to pick up until mid/end of Jan to be honest! But we are hoping the new year will bring better things for us..... Lets see hey?
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02/01/2010 20:50:35
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Rich34232
Posts 11
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I am involved with b2c typically the month of December is a slower time period for us people purchase for their family. This year the month of Dec ember was balls to the walls and consumers were spending more than we thought and that is a great sign that consumer confidence is up. These were not Christmas gifts that the consumer spent money on instead it was home improvements.
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