Tweet

Jesse Hopps Articles

Written by: Jesse Hopps

Opening a New Office Location - Click To Read Article
Moving into a new office can be a very stressful task. Not only is it imperative to select the right location for your business, but it is equally important to ensure a smooth transition into the new space. In order make the right decision and be well prepared for the move, use our downloadable Office Evaluation Matrix and our Office Opening Checklist to stay within budget and meet timelines.

Assess Satisfaction to Retain Customers - Click To Read Article
Maintaining prices and retaining customers in competitive markets depends heavily on your ability to effectively service your accounts. Proactive organizations work with customers to identify their strengths and weaknesses to better serve their market. Use Demand Metric’s very concise Customer to benchmark current satisfaction levels, and improve these metrics over time.

Adopting Consultative Selling - Click To Read Article
How a prospect competitively positions your company is a critical factor when engaging in the buying/selling process. Fundamentally, positioning is about aligning your business with theirs, so that a clear synergy can be visualized by the prospect. When there is a perfect fit between organizations, selling becomes much easier because the in the early stages of the sales cycle the prospect mentally puts your organization ahead of the competition, in principle. Therefore, it is essential that the prospect is comfortable with the salesperson, and correctly positions your company.

Writing Business Strategy Plans - Click To Read Article
Build a Strategic Planning Team- engage a cross-functional planning team to represent each department's needs. Hold a kick-off meeting to set strategic planning goals, schedule meeting times, and get organized for the planning process. Introduce the Balanced Scorecard Approach- review and distribute our Research Note "Map Strategy with Balanced Scorecard" to provide a framework to work from. Develop a Strategic Planning Charter- use our Project Charter template to document the goals and objectives for the planning process, and set plan completion timelines. Document Strategic Planning GAPS- evaluate your current strategic planning process and add GAPS to our GAP Analysis Tool under the Strategy tab. You will be using this GAP Analysis Tool through the entire strategic planning process, so consider distributing this tool to the wh

Trade Promotion Best Practices - Click To Read Article
Trade promotion is any expenditure paid directly by a manufacturer to the trade or retail factors in a given industry as a set amount on a per unit basis or in payment for a merchandising value provided by the retailer.

Website Redesign Best Practices - Click To Read Article
Over 70% of mid-sized organizations are currently involved in a website redesign initiative, or have one planned for this year. Before you go to your CFO to get some budget for this program, conduct a brief website effectiveness audit to build the need.

What is your Marketing Effectiveness Quotient - Click To Read Article
Industry-leading demand generation platform provider, Eloqua, has developed a marketing maturity model designed to help organizations benchmark their current levels of process maturity, measure results from marketing investments, and demonstrate the effectiveness of their marketing department.

Selling Ideas with Business Cases - Click To Read Article
Your budget has already been reduced drastically this year. Expenditures are being examined very closely by Finance, and projects that do not provide a clear return on investment are being chopped. If this is your situation, you need to read this summary. When times are tough, it is critical that you demonstrate the value of every proposed investment in a clear, logical manner. Use Demand Metric’s Business Case Template to help you justify spending for additional staff or other needed resources.

Sharpen your Focus with Goals - Click To Read Article
There is no question that effective goal setting can improve the performance of your department. Top performing leaders in all fields use goals to increase confidence, extend vision, and stay motivated. Use Demand Metric’s downloadable Department Goals & Individual Goals templates to break your high-level strategic plan into smaller, manageable chunks.

Show Responsibility with a Sustainability Report - Click To Read Article
Regulatory compliance, climate change awareness, and strong corporate governance have lead to a rapid increase in the number of organizations who choose to provide a Sustainability Report to their internal and external stakeholders. Good corporate citizenry has many business benefits including cost savings, increased staff recruitment and retention, and improved customer loyalty and brand preferences.

Simplifying Search Engine Optimization - Click To Read Article
While direct marketing still reigns supreme in the world of demand generation, many mid-sized organizations have significantly improved their ability to generate quality leads with search engine optimization techniques. If you haven’t already, investigate this opportunity to support sales with a steady flow of qualified leads.

Staffing up for CRM - Click To Read Article
Having a data steward, report builder, user-training expert, and system administrator is essential for CRM success. Use Demand Metric’s downloadable CRM Administrator job description to formalize the role of CRM application support.

Standardizing Performance Reviews - Click To Read Article
Completing performance reviews on a regular basis is essential for maintaining motivation, assessing department capabilities, and managing your staff effectively. Managers who do not complete performance reviews or deal with performance issues reduce employee morale, decrease credibility of management, diminish organizational effectiveness, and contribute to increased costs for resources. Use Demand Metric’s downloadable Performance Review Template to help you standardize your employee performance review process.

Standardizing Project Management - Click To Read Article
Many organizations operate in a state of mild chaos because of poor project management processes. This summary will provide the business case for implementing a formalized project management policy, methodology, and toolset. Review the Action Plan to obtain 11 downloadable templates and tools to assist you with creating your own customized project management procedure.

Steering Committees Increase Program Success - Click To Read Article
Developing a strong governance process requires cross-functional alignment on marketing decisions. Implement a Sales & Marketing Steering Committee to formalize your strategic planning, prioritization, decision-making, investment, and performance measurement processes. Use Demand Metric’s downloadable Steering Committee Charter Template to kick-start the formation of your committee and establish your mandate.

Successful Blogs Improve Customer Satisfaction - Click To Read Article
Weblogs or blogs are online journals that can provide business benefits. This new online communication medium comes with risks that require management. Understand the opportunities & risks of corporate blogs before you proceed. Use Demand Metric’s downloadable Blog Policy Template to minimize your risk.

Target Market, Segmentation, and Positioning - Click To Read Article
From a high-level, the goal of a marketing strategy is to identify a target market and develop a marketing mix that will appeal to those potential customers. Decisions regarding the ideal marketing mix can be organized in terms of Price, Promotion, Product, and Price. However, the goal is not to just come up with a particular strategy, but rather to focus on providing value to your key market segments.

Preparing an Accurate Marketing Budget - Click To Read Article
Although every department is expected to prepare an annual budget, most do not understand the intrinsic value of effectively leveraging this management process. Take a step back from the budget and evaluate what your department will be expected to deliver this year. Next, identify which budget model will provide the most value to your department. Use Demand Metric’s downloadable Department Budget Template to help you prepare your annual budget.

Selecting the Right Consultant - Click To Read Article
Selecting the right consultant for your organization can be a very daunting task. Choose right, and you have a very successful project and everyone is satisfied; choose wrong, and you have a recipe for disaster. Use Demand Metric’s downloadable Consultant Evaluation Matrix to compare your potential consultants across 5 key dimensions.

Prioritize your Strategic Initiatives - Click To Read Article
Strategic planning is a great way to identify which initiatives can add the most value to your organization. The next step is to prioritize initiatives with a systematic method. Use our downloadable Priority Index Tool to guide you through the prioritization process, and help you drill down on the value added for each proposed initiative.

Product Management Tools and Techniques - Click To Read Article
Being market-driven requires organizations to build a strong product management capability. Most organizations struggle to create a role in their business that is exclusively geared towards listening to their market. Those who do, gain a better understanding of what drives VALUE, and incorporate that insight into the product development process.

Profile Customers to Manage Opportunities - Click To Read Article
Customer Profiles can be used in conjunction with Key Account Plans to strategize and report on revenue opportunities with senior management. Additionally, these tools can be further leveraged to internally communicate target customers for training purposes. The equivalent of this tool for external uses is a Case Study. Use Demand Metric’s Customer Profile Template to more effectively manage sales opportunities by providing a simple reporting tool for senior sales management.

Promote Corporate Events with Press Releases - Click To Read Article
Press releases are a very cost-effective and underutilized marketing tool. Read this report to understand when it would make sense to publish a press release. Additionally, use our Public Relations Plan and Press Release Template to guide you through the process.

Pull Prospects with Google AdWords - Click To Read Article
If you are looking to drive traffic to your website, Google AdWords is a cost-effective method which delivers measurable results to marketers. Visit the AdWords website to learn more, or read further to get a better understanding of the concept.

Reduce Employee Turnover Costs - Click To Read Article
There are many statistics and complex methodologies to support the notion that employee turnover costs are seriously affecting mid-sized enterprises. On the low end, the Hay Group reports that the cost to replace an employee is 50% of their total compensation, including benefits. On the high-end, Hewitt & Associates puts the cost between 100-150% of annual compensation. While executive management and sales staff are more costly to replace, churn in any function affects the bottom-line.

Risk Assessment & Analysis Techniques - Click To Read Article
Risk assessment is an area of concern for all senior executives, but many mid-sized enterprises do not have the skills, processes, or tools to effectively mitigate risks. Instead of reactively ‘fire-fighting’ and dealing with issues as they arise, consider adding simple risk assessment & analysis exercises to your project planning process. Download & customize Demand Metric’s Risk Assessment Tool, Risk Mitigation Checklist, and Risk Analysis (Fishbone) Tool, and add to your skills arsenal.

Running Effective & Actionable Meetings - Click To Read Article
When properly planned and executed, meetings can efficiently communicate ideas, solve problems, and generate action items. Unfortunately, many managers waste time by holding unnecessary or ineffective meetings. Read this summary to learn how to run an effective meeting, and use Demand Metric’s Meeting Agenda Template and Meeting Minutes Template to standardize your meeting process.

Sales Growth Teams Drive Revenue - Click To Read Article
Achieving ever-increasing revenue targets requires that new recruits and average performers are equipped with the right tools, resources, training, and knowledge. Establishing a Sales Growth Team can help you transfer sales & marketing Best Practices from your top performers to those who need them most. Use Demand Metric’s downloadable Sales Growth Team Charter template to set a mandate for this new team.

Save Money with Vendor Consolidation - Click To Read Article
Vendor consolidation is a business strategy whose goal is to provide the same or increased service & quality levels from vendors, while reducing operating expenses related to purchasing from that category of vendor. Sales & Marketing organizations should analyze their Printing, Software, and Consulting, vendor categories to determine where efficiencies can be gained by consolidating to one strategic partner.

Score Big with Lead Scoring - Click To Read Article
Lead scoring can rapidly improve the relationship between Marketing and Sales by driving measurable revenues. Quickly get up to speed on the concept and determine your best path to leverage this increasingly popular marketing tool. Use Demand Metric’s downloadable Lead Scoring Index to rate the quality of your leads.

Optimizing Websites with Heat Map Analytics - Click To Read Article
In the largest web browsing study ever conducted, University of Hamburg researchers leveraged ‘Heat Mapping’ web analytics software to record and visualize user click-activity to identify patterns of web usage. This technology is now available at a very reasonable cost for mid-sized enterprises and complements traditional web analytic software by helping marketers improve website usability & architecture.

Overhaul your Sales Support Process - Click To Read Article
Many organizations suffer from a lack of alignment between Sales and Marketing. Part of the problem is that most marketing departments don’t view sales support as one of their most important functions. Be proactive in your effort to work with Sales. Start by opening Demand Metric’s downloadable Sales Support Checklist to identify where your gaps are. Following is list of 16 tools and templates that you can use to overhaul or create an effective sales support process.

Performing a Solid GAP Analysis - Click To Read Article
Examining your current situation, proposing a new situation, and evaluating the gaps between the two, is central to the strategic planning process. Use Demand Metric’s GAP Analysis Tool to document gaps in areas that need to be core competencies.

Podcasting Best Practices - Click To Read Article
Examining your current situation, proposing a new situation, and evaluating the gaps between the two, is central to the strategic planning process. Use Demand Metric’s GAP Analysis Tool to document gaps in areas that need to be core competencies.

Measure your Sales Support Effectiveness - Click To Read Article
Providing marketing support to sales professionals is an equally challenging and rewarding task. Improve the value of your delivery by conducting a Sales Support Effectiveness Survey.

Monitoring Inside Sales Productivity - Click To Read Article
Most organizations have a very difficult time quantifying the productivity of their inside sales departments. If you don’t have a phone system that captures accurate dialing, contact, and other productivity metrics, use a simple manual process instead. Download our Sales Productivity Metrics(Daily), Sales Productivity Metrics (Monthly), and Sales Productivity Metrics (Quarterly) reporting tools. How can you Measure Inside Sales Productivity?

NDAs Reduce Business Development Risk - Click To Read Article
Business Development is an equally exciting and risky endeavor. Protect your organization by executing a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) prior to establishing relationships with unfamiliar vendors, potential partners, prospects, or investors. Use Demand Metric’s downloadable Non-Disclosure Agreement template as a starting point when drafting your various NDA documents.

Net Promoter Score and the Ultimate Question - Click To Read Article
If you are wondering about the fate of your customers and the long term growth potential of your business, look no further…all you have to do is ask!

Design a Lead Generation Scorecard - Click To Read Article
“Lead Generation refers to the creation or generation of prospective consumer interest or inquiry into a business’ products or services. Often lead generation is associated with marketing activities, such as cold-calling, targeted at generating new sales opportunities for a company’s sales force. Therefore a “lead” is correctly described as information regarding, or provided by, a consumer that may be interested in making a purchase. “Generation” is one of a myriad of activities that produces contact information and/or interest.” Typical Lead Generation Campaigns

Marketing Governance Best Practices - Click To Read Article
Marketing has the unenviable reputation as the line of business that is not held accountable for achieving specific, measurable, bottom-line results. Finding a bean counter that does not view Marketing as a cost center – producing intangible results – is a daunting task.

Measure your Marketing/Business Alignment - Click To Read Article
Being aligned with your business seems very simple and straightforward, yet many organizations feel that their Marketing department is not fully aligned with Senior Management. Measure your business alignment with Demand Metric’s downloadable Marketing/Business Alignment Tool and understand your current maturity level.

Focus Group Best Practices - Click To Read Article
A focus group is a controlled group interview of a target audience demographic. The interview is often led by a facilitator who covers a set series of questions or topics. Benefits of focus group sessions include: increased customer satisfaction & brand perceptions, and informing product development decisions. Focus groups are a key component to an effective market research program. Generating qualitative feedback in this medium can be more insightful than standardized surveys.

Extranet Best Practices - Click To Read Article
An extranet is an extension of a company’s internal network that allows authorized users to access information in a secured manner. Public access can be given to employees, customers, partners, investors, or other key stakeholders. Extranets generally reside on a company’s private server rather than on a public Internet server. However, they use Internet protocols so users can navigate with a web browser. Access from the Internet can be controlled through various architectures that are username/password specific, thus limiting users to pages relevant to their needs, while keeping other areas of the extranet private and secure.

Finding ROI with Online Advertising Campaigns - Click To Read Article
Search engine keyword programs like Google AdWords and other pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaigns have proven to be an exceptionally inexpensive method for generating web traffic, qualified leads, and online web-sale revenues. Determining how much daily budget to set aside; knowing the right amount to spend per-click; and assessing ROI, can be much more difficult tasks. Use our downloadable Online Advertising ROI Calculator for help with your next program.

Establishing a Brand Scorecard - Click To Read Article
Brand management is the application of marketing techniques to a specific product, product line, or brand. It seeks to increase the product’s perceived value to the customer and thereby increase brand franchise and brand equity.

Estimating Website Design Costs - Click To Read Article
As a result of new technology and an increase in competition, the overall cost of a website has decreased significantly in recent years. However, the cost of development is still dependent on functional requirements for your organization.

Evaluate Website Effectiveness - Click To Read Article
Websites have become the de-facto standard for communicating externally to customers, prospects, investors, potential employees, partners, and other key stakeholders. Surprisingly, since the boom of web activity in the dot.com era, many organizations have failed to maintain an effective website. As the executive responsible for managing website programs, it is your responsibility to drive this online channel forward and create a competitive advantage in online presence.

Evaluating Candidate Interviews - Click To Read Article
So you have just finished a round of 5 interviews, and most of the candidates seem to be competent enough; how are you going to select the right person? With so many factors influencing hiring decisions, and so much risk of making the wrong hire, you need a method for quickly, effectively, evaluating each of the candidates. Use Demand Metric’s Interview Evaluation Matrix to eliminate the guesswork.

Evaluating Hosted CRM - Click To Read Article
Until recently, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software had the unenviable reputation for being difficult to implement in many mid-sized enterprises. Reasons for project failure included high start-up & maintenance costs, I/T resource requirements, lack of user adoption, and large changes to existing business processes.

Examine Buy In with Stakeholder Analysis - Click To Read Article
Identifying the main stakeholders and their level of influence can be vital to the success of your project. Stakeholder analysis involves recognizing individuals and groups with the power to either sway or make a key decision. Mapping can be used to get a deeper understanding of the position and motive of each stakeholder involved in the decision making process. Use Demand Metric’s Stakeholder Analysis Matrix to document key influencers and to understand how your efforts can be channeled more effectively.

Email Marketing Best Practices - Click To Read Article
“E-mail marketing is a form of direct marketing that uses electronic mail as a means of communicating messages to an audience. This term usually refers to emails that are being sent over the internet and can include: • Sending e-mails with the purpose of enhancing the relationship of a merchant with its current or old customers and to encourage customer loyalty and repeat business. • Sending e-mails with the purpose of acquiring new customers or convincing old customers to buy something immediately. • Adding advertisements in e-mails sent by other companies to their customers.”

Documenting Sales Call Opportunities - Click To Read Article
Your Outside Sales Representative comes into the office complaining that their prospect wasn't in a position to buy your product. They have every excuse and objection, but you have a lingering feeling that a solid opportunity was wasted. This is a reality for many Sales & Marketing Directors in mid-sized enterprises.

Develop Customer Centricity with CRM - Click To Read Article
Contrary to popular belief, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is not a system, or a technology, or a simple application. CRM is a holistic strategy that places customers at the center of all business operations. Some call this customer-centricity; others coin this approach as listening to the “voice of the customer.” Regardless of semantics, CRM is the integration of people, processes, and technology, which allow a company to leverage its information assets to identify, attract, and retain profitable customers. CRM applications should not be viewed as the Holy Grail that will fix all your business challenges; they are simply facilitators.

Develop Leaders with Succession Planning - Click To Read Article
Developing leaders is a top organizational development priority for every company. Effectively managing knowledge capital is especially important in highly competitive industries. Understanding and deploying a succession management strategy is an excellent way to manage your department, groom future leaders, and mitigate risk. Use Demand Metric’s downloadable Succession Management Matrix tool to identify and develop the future leaders of your organization.

Develop your Team’s Strategic Skill-Set - Click To Read Article
Leaders of marketing departments are charged with increasing the knowledge and skills of their team, but many do not have a plan for educating and developing their staff. Use this summary to identify which skills you have, and what strategies you can deploy to engage your team and expand their strategic & tactical skills. Don’t miss our Marketing Skills Matrix which outlines simple, developing, and advanced tactical and strategic marketing skills required for marketing executives.

Developing Stronger Leaders - Click To Read Article
From an organizational perspective, leadership can be defined as: the ability to influence, motivate, and enable people to attain goals and contribute toward improving the effectiveness and efficiency of an organization. Use our Management & Leadership Maturity Assessment to evaluate your organization’s Management & Leadership Program Maturity.

Cold Calling Best Practices - Click To Read Article
“Cold calling is the process of approaching prospective clients, typically via telephone, who have not agreed to such an interaction. The word “cold” is used because the person receiving the call is not expecting the call or has not specifically asked to be contacted by the sales person.”

Collect Leads with City Tours - Click To Read Article
Field Marketing can be a very useful and inexpensive method for gathering large quantities of leads from a specific geographic region. There are many types of field marketing, but none are more effective than guerrilla marketing at City Tours. CRM industry-leader, salesforce.com, has perfected this lead generation channel, while targeting cities where their product has not gained much traction. Use our Event Planning Checklist to organize and plan your campaign.

Communicating Social Values Improves Brand - Click To Read Article
Fortune 500 companies have recognized significant benefits by successfully promoting civic virtues such as Sustainability, Community, Sponsorship, Charity, and Environment. Although benefits like improved brand integrity are intangible, they can have a long-term success. Increase brand value by developing a communication plan for the organization’s social values.

Conducting Insightful Interviews - Click To Read Article
Considering how important the interview process is for scrutinizing potential employees, it is surprising that most organizations do not have a formal set of interview questions. Don’t misread another hire because you didn’t take the time to plan for the interview accordingly. Use Demand Metric’s Interview Questions Tool to create a list of standardized interview questions from your perspective.

CRM Consulting Partners Revealed - Click To Read Article
Many mid-sized organizations are in the process of implementing a CRM system, but few have a really solid understanding of how to best approach the project. Use this research note to understand the benefits that CRM consultants can deliver. Additionally, use our CRM Consulting Services RFP Template to compare vendors in a systematic, business-requirement-driven, fashion.

Change Management Best Practices - Click To Read Article
Organizational change provides the opportunity for organizations to build more focused, disciplined, and mature businesses. This opportunity comes with significant financial risk if changes are not planned and managed proactively. Change management is primarily concerned with how to understand, engage, respond, and communicate with PEOPLE. A solid vision, senior management sponsorship, and having the right people in the right roles, are the key success factors for implementing a successful change management campaign. Use our Change Management Readiness Assessment to measure your readiness for a major organizational change.

Benchmarking your Core Competencies - Click To Read Article
All organizations claim to have “core competencies” but few actually benchmark their capabilities to track and measure improvements over time. Take the time to evaluate your business from a high-level, and commit to continuous improvement. Use Demand Metric’s Core Competencies Assessment to set a baseline for your organization, and work to improve your score before your next self-assessment.

Build an RFP for Web Design Services - Click To Read Article
Many mid-sized organizations are in the process of redesigning their website, but few have the required capabilities to design their website internally. Use this research note to understand the benefits that web design consultants can deliver. Additionally, use Demand Metric’s downloadable Website Design RFP Template to compare vendors systematically based on pre-determined requirements.

Assess Advertising Concept Effectiveness - Click To Read Article
While many advertisements have a chance to win graphic design competitions, most do not deliver on the simple, fundamental, characteristics required for effective marketing communications. Read this summary to learn the key characteristics of a solid advertising concept, and download our Advertisement Evaluation Matrix.

Are You Customer Centric? - Click To Read Article
Research indicates that when polled, 80% of your customers will respond that they are very satisfied with your products/company. Makes you feel great, right? Don’t be fooled by the common misperception that these customers are indeed loyal and plan to repurchase products, or endorse them to their peers & colleagues. The answers to these two questions are the real drivers of customer-centricity & loyalty.

Are you Prepared for CRM? - Click To Read Article
CRM projects are notorious for failing for a variety of reasons in mid-sized enterprises. Although there have been considerable CRM product developments, including the rapid growth of solid hosted solutions, there is still a need for a foundation built on mature processes, alignment with goals, and senior level buy-in. Use Demand Metric’s downloadable CRM Readiness Assessment to gauge how ready your organization is to tackle this initiative.

Achieving Brand Consensus - Click To Read Article
Successful branding, or re-branding, requires that key stakeholders are involved in a democratic process to agree on what the new brand will be. However, working with every stakeholder throughout the process is simply impossible. Read this Research Note to learn how you can achieve consensus on your brand. Use Demand Metric's downloadable Branding Selection Tool to help you provide choices for your stakeholders that are equally satisfactory for the brand champion.

Achieving Corporate Sales Targets - Click To Read Article
Read our 8-page Sales Planning Guide to learn how to: Prepare for the Sales Planning Process Engage & Align with Marketing Understand your Customers & Markets Benchmark and Improve Sales Talent Examine Previous Sales Performance Forecast Future Sales Results Motivate your Sales Team Develop a Sales Support Function Monitor & Measure Sales Results

Align Sales & Marketing with Lead Nurturing - Click To Read Article
Lead nurturing is all about having consistent and meaningful communication with viable prospects regardless of their timing to buy. It's not calling up every few months to find out if a prospect is 'ready to buy yet?' Lead nurturing is about building solid relationships with the right people. Read our Lead Nurturing Guide to learn how to qualify, score, and nurture leads that aren't quite ready to be handed off to sales.

Analyzing Competitive Ad vs PR Spending - Click To Read Article
Measuring the effectiveness of your PR process is not a simple task, especially if you don't have the budget for PR-coverage subscriptions. Just as challenging is demonstrating that your organization is better than the competition with leveraging PR to save on ad spending. Read our Ad/PR Spending Guide to start tracking your media coverage and benchmark your ad/PR-spending ratio against your competitors.

Analyzing the Profitability of Product Lines - Click To Read Article
Firms that do not analyze the individual profitability of their product lines risk wasting time and money chasing the wrong opportunities. Salespeople who spend the majority of their time chasing large, low margin sales, close the odd big deal, but do so at a very high opportunity cost. Does this situation sound familiar to you?

List Building Best Practices - Click To Read Article
Having a well qualified list of contacts is one of the most important factors in determining the success or failure of an email marketing campaign. Read the following summary to understand how you can build a rock-hard list.

Making a Logical Bid or No-Bid Decision - Click To Read Article
The decision to bid on a contract has profound implications on reputation, profitability, and the allocation of scarce resources. In many cases, these critical decisions are made following an informal assessment, resulting in low-margin or resource-intensive work being performed with associated large opportunity costs. Implementing a formalized decision-making process will help ensure that key considerations have not been ignored. To make the correct decision to bid on an opportunity, download and customize Demand Metric’s Bid or No-Bid Assessment.

Manage PR and Media with a Specialist - Click To Read Article
Fundamentally, the Media Specialist is responsible for media strategy and relations. Most Marketing Directors do not have the time to deal with journalists, create and place online/offline advertisements, or track and measure the results of campaigns. Use Demand Metric’s downloadable Media Specialist job description to formalize the role of media relations in your organization, and get a handle on this function.

Manage Results with Activity Reporting - Click To Read Article
Many low performers stay under the radar for months before it becomes apparent that they are not actually doing any work of real substance. Be proactive with managing results and implement a weekly or monthly activity reporting process. Use Demand Metric’s Activity Reporting Tool as a starting point for this initiative.

Map Strategy with Balanced Scorecard - Click To Read Article
Effectively developing and communicating high-level business strategy is essential for organizations looking to achieve market leadership. Additionally, creating a results-oriented culture requires a comprehensive management system. Use Demand Metric’s downloadable Balanced Scorecard Strategy Map tool as a basis for implementing a proven business performance management methodology.

Market Research Best Practices - Click To Read Article
Market research is the process of systematically gathering, recording, and analyzing data regarding customers, competitors, and market conditions, to help organizations make better business decisions about the development and marketing of new or existing products and services.

Marketing Dashboard Best Practices - Click To Read Article
Over the past 10 years there has been a distinctive shift in Marketing activities; budgets are only being allocated to investments that can produce measurable returns, such as sales support and lead generation. In a time of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, repeatable controls, processes, and policy & procedures, have been implemented to ensure accountability.

Lead Generation & Marketing Automation How-To Guide - Click To Read Article
Lead Generation is the top priority for marketing directors in 2009. More importantly, marketers are being charged with defending their budgets and demonstrating real ROI for their marketing programs. Use this How-To Guide to learn how other world-class companies are developing lead generation infrastructures that automate key processes, measure results, and provide a steady flow of qualified leads their sales organizations.

Leading Lead Generation & Inside Sales - Click To Read Article
At the highest level, the Inside Sales Manager is responsible for ensuring that the lead generation & inside sales department are exceeding their sales targets. Read this summary to analyze the responsibilities of your Inside Sales Manager, and ensure that your department leader is doing what needs to be done to get results. Use Demand Metric’s downloadable Inside Sales Manager job description to formalize the role of inside sales and lead generation in your organization.

Intranet Best Practices - Click To Read Article
An Intranet, or ‘portal’, is similar to an Internet website except that it is restricted to users within an organization. (Intranets that extend outside the company to partners or customers are called Extranets). Intranets use web servers to distribute information, and users view content with their Internet browser or by downloading documents.

Joining Insightful Marketing Blogs - Click To Read Article
With the explosion of user-generated content (UGC) on the Internet, it makes business sense to monitor what is being said about your brand; but also, to gain insights from experts who help others to learn by sharing their best practices.

Implementing a Marketing Automation Solution - Click To Read Article
According to the CMO Council’s Marketing Outlook 2008 study that polled over 820 senior marketing professionals, some of the top challenges for marketing leaders in 2008 include:

Implementing a Results Only Work Environment - Click To Read Article
Recently, Best Buy’s corporate office implemented a Results-Only Work Environment, following focus group sessions which revealed that employees most wanted TRUST from their leadership team. Best Buy has benefited so far from reduced voluntary staff turnover, a 35% increase in productivity, and immense improvements in employee satisfaction. Use our Employee Satisfaction Survey to get started on this path.

Increase Sales with Case Studies - Click To Read Article
Case studies are an excellent way to profile your target customers while demonstrating how you solved their specific business challenge. They are often used by Sales to illustrate how an organization has helped clients in a similar industry, size, or other relevant demographic. Use our downloadable Case Study Template to save time & effort with building an effective case study that can help you win more new business.

Governing your Corporate Website - Click To Read Article
You have just put the finishing touches on your new corporate website. Before you market your web presence and start attracting users to your site, be sure to implement proper governance policies to reduce the risk of expensive litigation. Use Demand Metric’s downloadable Privacy Policy template, and Terms of Use template as a base-line when creating these essential website policies.

Generate Leads with Webcasts - Click To Read Article
Providing on-demand webcasts to prospective customers is a rapidly growing demand generation strategy. Instead of having to call a salesperson at a potential vendor, your prospects can complete the research component of their buying process on their convenience. Evaluate your webcast requirements to determine if this tactic should be added to your marketing mix.

Formalizing The Sales Support Function - Click To Read Article
At the highest level, the Sales Support function is responsible for ensuring that the Sales & Marketing departments have the tools, resources, and systems they need to achieve current and future sales revenue targets. Use Demand Metric’s downloadable Director of Sales Support job description to formalize the role of sales support in your organization.

Free Web Analytics from Google - Click To Read Article
Google Analytics is a free application that provides website visit statistics, designed to help marketers track and optimize online advertising and search engine marketing (SEM) campaigns. If you are interested in analyzing where your website visitors came from, page navigation, how long they stayed on your site, and geographic location, Google Analytics can certainly help you.





Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Gas bills go up by 18% can we take any more

How Promotional Caps became a Fashion Trend

How To Be A Management Legend

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.