Sales/Repping

Don't ignore those duplicate leads, says Leads360 in a new study examining their (potentially unrealized) value. Analyzing about 100,000 leads from its customers that were flagged as potential duplicates, and comparing them to the performance of millions of others leads it managed, Leads360 found that those flagged as duplicates converted at a rate 167% higher than the average. Delving further into their analysis, the researchers show that dispositioned duplicate leads (those that are acknowledged and acted up on in some way, such as by being re-distributed, re-prioritized, or merged) convert at an even higher rate relative to the average. Read more »

40% of American adults claim to have checked out a product in a brick-and-mortar store before purchasing it elsewhere online ("showroomed"), according to a recent survey from Harris Interactive, although recent data from xAd and Telemetrics suggests that smartphones aren't being used that often for showrooming. Nevertheless, retailers concerned with showrooming who have adopted a permanent price matching policy might be slightly encouraged with the results from the Harris study, which found 57% of showroomers saying they would be much (20%) or somewhat (37%) more likely to purchase in-store as a result. Read more »

Perhaps the exhibitions industry shouldn't be too worried about younger, digitally-obsessed generations shunning face-to-face contact. According to a new study [download page] from the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR), 61% of Millennials aged 18-27 believe that exhibits at exhibitions, conventions and annual meetings are more valuable today than they were 2 years ago. That's the highest percentage of any generation, with older Millennials and young Gen Xers (aged 28-39; 53%) the next-most confident about the growing value of face-to-face interaction in this setting. Read more »

A survey of about 400 B2B salespeople and marketers around the world, conducted by Corporate Visions, has found that salespeople are not being armed with the right tools to deliver new product messages. In turn, almost 60% of respondents believe that only a minority of salespeople are delivering new product messages the way they were intended. Among the issues uncovered: only 38% of companies offer formal training to sales reps for new product launches at least three-quarters of the time, and only 22% said sales reps are required to demonstrate proficiency in message delivery. Read more »

Better make that first impression a good one. 56% of consumers believe that the first purchase or beginning of service is the deciding moment in establishing brand loyalty, according to results from the second brand loyalty survey conducted by ClickFox. In last year's survey, when asked the most critical time for a company to gain their loyalty, 48% of the consumers surveyed said it's when they make their first purchase or begin service, while just 1% said it's when they're considering switching to a competitor. Read more »

The magic number is $25, says Parago in a new research study that asked consumers what their time is worth when providing feedback on products or services, listening to sales pitches and providing personal information to companies and marketers via various methods of interaction. For $25, a significant majority would demo a product or service if approached in a public setting (96%), take a 10-minute survey via smartphone (91%), get a quote online (78%) or in-home (74%) for something like insurance or cable (78%), and participate in a 1-hour in-store sales presentation (77%). Read more »

There's some friction between marketing and sales departments when it comes to the sales tools (such as collateral, ROI calculators, proposal content) used to win new customers, according to a new survey from KnowledgeTree. The survey uncovered significant gaps in perception between both parties, with 87% of marketers believing they provide the right set of tools to salespeople, but only two-thirds of salespeople agreeing. Read more »

SMBs are putting their customer relationship management systems (CRMs) to work for a range of use cases beyond just management of prospect and customer contact information, finds Scribe Software in a new report. Beyond managing contacts (94%), 65% are using their CRM for lead nurturing, and 59% each for email marketing and sales forecasting. The results lead the researchers to conclude that "the myth that SMBs might need less or are less sophisticated is simply not true any longer." Read more »

Leads360 has released a new study [download page] examining the impact of text messaging in the sales process. The study, which analyzed almost 3.5 million lead records from more than 400 Leads360 customers across a variety of industries, found that while the use of text messaging is linked to above-average conversion rates, it also could have a negative impact. Specifically, the conversion rate of prospects texted only after a relationship has been developed was 112.6% above the average conversion rate of contacted leads. Read more »

Local ad sales should be strong this year, according to survey results from AdMall. The survey of 1,181 media sales professionals finds 89.3% projecting revenue increases of some degree this year, compared to just 5.9% forecasting a decline. While most respondents expect increases of less than 10%, almost 1 in 4 project larger revenue gains, including 11.2% predicting increases of more than 15%. Read more »