5 Ways to Improve Your Phone Skills

I don’t have to tell you that times are hard for companies these days. And that means hard on you, the sales rep, too. Now when companies tell you that they don’t have the budget, you really believe them, don’t you?

Well not the Top 20%.

Gear Up Your Marketing for Fourth Quarter

The fourth quarter of each year presents a huge opportunity for many businesses. Consumers often spend more as they prepare for the holidays, and many businesses increase their spending in the fourth quarter as they prepare for the new year.

All of this can mean increased sales for you and me... but only if your marketing is effective.

So how do you get your marketing in shape? Simple. Set some goals for quarter and create a plan to take you there. The following is a list of some activities that you might want to include as part of your fourth quarter marketing efforts.

Direct Mail That Works

Over the last few years, the growth of on-line marketing campaigns - especially email marketing - have pushed more traditional off-line marketing efforts to the background. While there are significant cost and immediacy advantages to online marketing campaigns, organizations can greatly benefit from keeping direct mail in their marketing program mix.

In fact, the Direct Marketing Organization notes interesting synergy between online and off-line efforts. According to their Fifth Annual E-Commerce Survey, the DMA discovered that direct mail is slightly more effective at driving web site traffic than email marketing.