The Competitive Advantage

October 23, 2013

Hey small business owner! Time to get serious about marketing.

An independent research consultant (in business for 15+ years) reached out to me recently to learn about what we do.  In preparing for our call, I did a little homework on her firm.  Here’s what I found:

• A YAHOO email address
• An old, unattractive, homemade website
• Website text that is all internally focused
• No resources (articles, blog, etc.) available for website visitors
• An incomplete LinkedIn profile… no image, generic LinkedIn address, etc.
• No LinkedIn company profile
• No listing/membership in key association – QRCA
• No Twitter account that I could find

June 25, 2013

If your summer is slow, focus on marketing & sales for a competitive advantage; part 2 – get active on LinkedIn

This is the second in our series of blog posts outlining some ideas for taking advantage of the summer slowdown to work “on” your business.

Last week’s post was on planning for the fall conference season.  This week…

Summer tip #2: Spend some time on LinkedIn

From my perspective, LinkedIn should be the #1 social media site for firms in the MR industry… it’s ideal for connecting, promoting and engaging.  This summer, while you’re lounging by the pool, consider the following:

June 12, 2013

7 neat, little marketing resources… and they’re all free

Small companies – like Harpeth Marketing – with limited resources, need to watch every penny.  Because of that, one of the things I’ve done is to hunt for free online resources that can help me to do my job better – whether that’s running my business or taking care of clients

We all know about the big, well-known, free tools – like Google, WordPress, YouTube, SurveyMonkey and the social media sites. But there exists a lot of lesser-known online tools that might do only one thing… but they’re easy to use and can support your marketing efforts.

Continue Reading

April 26, 2013

Is the Market Research industry changing the way it feels about Marketing & Sales?

As I mentioned in last week’s blog, I had the privilege of speaking at the CASRO Management Conference this week in New Orleans.  By the way, if you run a research agency and haven’t been, you need to put it on your calendar for next year!

In addition to speaking, I also had the opportunity sit in on all the other sessions and panel discussions.  Interestingly, about half of the topics revolved around marketing & sales!  At a market research event?

April 17, 2013

Going to the CASRO Management Conference in New Orleans?

I’m privileged to have been invited to speak next week at the annual CASRO Management Conference, the only industry event that exclusively focuses on managing the business side of the research business.   Sessions are centered on such topics as marketing, sales, HR and finances.

The title of my session is, “12 Reasons Why Your Marketing & Sales Might Not Be Working & What You Can Do About It.”  The presentation is based on our eBook of the same name.

It’s still not too late to register.  For details, Click Here.

Hope to see you there!

April 2, 2013

Hiring your first sales rep? Answer these 3 questions first… (part 3 of a 3-part series)

This is part 3 of a 3-part series to help answer a few important questions for those firms in the Market Research industry that are thinking about hiring their first sales rep.

In part 1, we discussed the advantages and disadvantages of Inside vs. Outside sales rep.  In part 2, we talked about the Hunter vs. the Farmer role.  In this post, it all about the money…

Question #3: How to compensate salespeople?

March 27, 2013

Hiring your first sales rep? Answer these 3 questions first… (part 2 of a 3-part series)

This is part 2 of a 3-part series to help answer a few important questions for those firms in the market research industry that are thinking about hiring their first sales rep.

In part 1, we discussed the advantages and disadvantages of Inside vs. Outside sales rep.  In this post…

Question #2: Hunter or Farmer?

January 29, 2013

Sales Management… how are you defining your ‘sales territories?’

Remember back when you were 5 or 6 years old and you and a sibling or next-door neighbor would be fighting over the newest toy… “It’s mine!” “No, it’s mine!” No, it’s mine… gimme!” And back and forth it went… until your mother stepped in to mediate the dispute.

Well, if you work for a firm with more than one person responsible for sales – especially if they are compensated for new business growth – then unless you’ve got a very structured and manageable way to keep leads and clients separate for each rep, you’re going to end up with that same 5-year-old tug-of-war in your office.  And it ain’t pretty!  But there’s a fairly easy way to fix it…