Sales Channel considerations for the 21st century

Written by Frank Williams


Increasingly, small and mid size company CEO's and marketers wake each morning to a barrage of bad news despite their best efforts. Chaos is everywhere and in everything we do. How can thinking CEO's and senior marketers create more shareholder value against a backdrop of advancing global competitive threats and an ever-increasing complexity in reaching, capturing and retaining customers?

First, - GET USED TO IT - it'srepparttar new business order. The so-called ‘norms' of price, product, promotion and placement no longer exist. If you think they do, then you have already lost. Realize everything is up for grabs. Next, understand that just surviving in this environment isrepparttar 120604 same as losing ground and will ultimately end in failure for your business.

Capitalism is brutal and measures CEO's in simple terms - growth and profits. These twin ingredients of success go to market leaders. Creating leadership is what your firm should be about. Leadership results by fearlessly embracing change. Leadership results by boldly accepting chaotic conditions and turning them into marketing wins. Leadership results through constant innovation that provides a corporate-wide and maniacal focus on ways to increaserepparttar 120605 value proposition to your targeted customer. Without this approach your business will ultimately fail.

Consider this new business axiom -- choice for many products and service has increased 100 fold! And will probably increase another 100 fold withinrepparttar 120606 next few years. Customers can reliably reach manufacturers half way aroundrepparttar 120607 world, yielding more customer value, accessed throughrepparttar 120608 ubiquitous world-wide-web, and seamlessly delivered to their front door by FedX orrepparttar 120609 boys-in-brown (UPS) in a few days. Can your firm compete?

Global Marketing, Inc. works with many small and mid size companies that are beginning to realize it's no longer about local competition. They understand that a parochial attitude towards a delivery system will not work inrepparttar 120610 21st century. However, they are not sure how to proceed.

To start with, your company mission must be driven by your customers preference forrepparttar 120611 time, form and place they choose for delivery. Your delivery systems must be smooth and uninterrupted providing unparalleled pre and post sales support. This may seem a daunting task, but one that must be continually pursued if your firm is to thrive inrepparttar 120612 21st century.

Do you know how e-traffic has affected potential delivery of your products and services? Have you maximizedrepparttar 120613 role of channel partners in your route-to-market and go-to-market strategies? Have you researched your customers' preferred purchase location? These are complex issues for most small and mid-size businesses.

Where to start First, recognize that in this complex world-market all channels to market must be utilized - web sales, direct selling, independent sale reps, international agents, distribution, VARS/SI's, and catalog.

A short description of each of channel should help.

Direct Sales are sales people directly employed byrepparttar 120614 manufacturer. Depending onrepparttar 120615 company, its products and customer requirements this may berepparttar 120616 main channel to market.

Independent Reps are a group of separate, independent companies (usually under exclusive contract) that represent a number of non-competing manufactures. Usually these companies sell in a protected geographical area or application specific market niche. They receive a commission fromrepparttar 120617 manufacture on each sale.

Distributors are companies that typically service a mature, well installed customer base forrepparttar 120618 manufacture. They work under a contract and usually take title torepparttar 120619 product through a discount program based on qty purchased. Other factors may effectrepparttar 120620 discount such as local support and customer training. The distributor may chargerepparttar 120621 customer whateverrepparttar 120622 market bears and, by law, cannot be prohibited from sellingrepparttar 120623 manufacturers' goods to anyone at anytime. Distributors normally hold some local inventory to meetrepparttar 120624 customer's immediate need.

System Integrators or VAD's are market enablers. These companies are local and usually focus on a particular application or product technology. They purchaserepparttar 120625 manufacturer's product as a customer and add value by incorporating it to a system or customer driven solution. Unlikely they would carry any inventory and usually purchase based on a specific customer demand. These enablers are essential in early introduction of new technology. However, they also fill an important ‘gap' blending hardware from hardware vendors and software from software vendors into a usable, supported solution forrepparttar 120626 end-user.

Catalog Sales has increased in importance inrepparttar 120627 channel strategy of most companies. More and more, products are becoming ‘commodity' oriented. Access torepparttar 120628 product becomes key torepparttar 120629 sale. Catalog sales are just that. Usually in hard print augmented by web sites. Catalog sales typically are lower in price than other channels however usually don't provide strong on-site or local after sales support. Catalog sales appeal torepparttar 120630 techie who already understandsrepparttar 120631 technology as well asrepparttar 120632 customer who has purchasedrepparttar 120633 product before and primarily needs replacement parts.

Internet sales are fast becoming a powerful force in any channel strategy. The technology is allowing very sophisticated products to be sold on-line to a wide variety of consumers. Internet simply allowsrepparttar 120634 customer access to your product line through on-line and secure purchasing methods. Prices, specifications and pictures ofrepparttar 120635 product are posted to help makerepparttar 120636 sale. Usuallyrepparttar 120637 targeted customer is one who already understandsrepparttar 120638 product and/or technology. The Internet sale is an excellent method to continue to retain present customers. Correctly built, Internet sales can reducerepparttar 120639 administrative purchasing costs, remind your customer what they usually purchase, and generally make it easy for them to conduct business with your firm. In today's time-crunch work environment, customers appreciate any firm that values their time and will reward them with their business.

Six Reasons Why Your Alexa Rating Is Still Important.

Written by Tinu Abayomi-Paul


Six Reasons Why Your Alexa Rating Is Still Important.

1. Additional Exposure For Your Site.

Atrepparttar end of 2003, Alexa.com's results were being closely linked intorepparttar 120603 listings of its' parent company, Amazon.com. This currently means that when someone reviews your site, it is linked to their amazon profile, which can be accessed when people browsing for books look to see what reviewers like them suggest. Inrepparttar 120604 future, it could mean that amazon.com will integrate your web site in other ways, such as showing a list of websites related to popular topics such as marketing.

2. Alexa's relationship with Google.com

See if you can name one major partnership that Google.com or Amazon.com has had whererepparttar 120605 other party came out worse off inrepparttar 120606 end.

Yahoo? I don't think so. Though their relationship has soured for reasons that aren't common knowledge, and Google.com does not supply Yahoo with search results any longer, it certainly didn't make Yahoo.com less popular a destination online. If anything, more webmaster like you and me, who could not affordrepparttar 120607 $200 fee for a commercial review to be listed, rush to Yahoo to see if our Google listings really were coming up number one there, too. Can't think of any other one, can you?

Let's discuss how this is relevant to you.

This little known advantage to having a good Alexa rating is fairly new. I was doing some research on Google, atrepparttar 120608 end of last year, to see what wasrepparttar 120609 fastest, cheapest way to get my brand new site good ranking and fast inclusion in Google's database. Using Alexa.com, I was able to discover one ofrepparttar 120610 biggest secrets online that showed me how to get a visit fromrepparttar 120611 Googlebot spider and included in their index in under a week. The Googlebot spider now visitsrepparttar 120612 home page of my site every day, re=spidering my site when I make significant changes.

While I was at Alexa, I noticed that very quietly, without a lot of hoopla or publicity, Alexa Internet began to include a Google search right in their toolbar atrepparttar 120613 end of last year. Upon further investigation, I realized that Alexa and Google were getting quite chummy. This relationship directly led torepparttar 120614 idea I had which uncovered a way to get Alexa and Google to help me get free, unlimited traffic for any keyword related to my site's topic.

The idea was so simple, so cheap, and so profitable that I started to write a book about it, which I finished this past January. Everything was great, I was getting great traffic. Then I woke up one morning and checked my email, and most of my online colleagues were ticked off about something calledrepparttar 120615 Florida update, which caused many small commercial websites to have their listings drop in ranking or disappear altogether.

Of course, I went to check on my site.

Not only did my ranking not drop, I had additional listings and improved exposure. One ofrepparttar 120616 several factors that appeared to berepparttar 120617 reason for my improved rankings, not just in spite of, but because ofrepparttar 120618 Florida update, was my Alexa ranking. Further testing on other commercial sites of fellow small business owners confirmed this.

This experience taught me to pay a lot more attention to my Alexa rating, as well as to have a new appreciation forrepparttar 120619 ratings of all my sites.

Your Alexa rating is still relevant to you because it appears to be a factor in your page rank at Google. Generally, anything that is important to Google is important to me, because I wanted to learn how to makerepparttar 120620 site an excellent source of traffic for me. And it worked.

Working to have a rise in my Alexa rating helped me in my quest for free quality traffic as well- every increase in my Alexa rating has coincided with a rise in bothrepparttar 120621 number of keywords I rank for andrepparttar 120622 likelihood that my site will appear onrepparttar 120623 first page of search results, first at Google, then with other search engines.

You'd never know that I haven't ever submitted them my link.

3.Your competitor's awareness is increasing.

Those of us who have been online sincerepparttar 120624 early 90's, beforerepparttar 120625 graphical interface we now callrepparttar 120626 World Wide Web, are well aware ofrepparttar 120627 Alexa toolbar, and there are many schools of thought as to its effectiveness as an indicator of your site's traffic.

Whether you believe it's effective or useful,repparttar 120628 fact remains that you can userepparttar 120629 Alexa toolbar andrepparttar 120630 resources at Alexa.com to give your site a competitive advantage. Your competition knows this if they have any marketing savvy at all.

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