Marketing Commentary from interlinkONE
Marketing. Web-to-Print. Warehouse Management.
Free Webinar: Making Money with Mobile
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on Thursday, January 19, 2012 
at 5:58 PM 
in 
Can mobile marketing help you to grow your business? I’m happy to share the news that we’ll be answering that question during a free webinar. The theme will be “Making Money with Mobile”.
This webinar will take place on January 25th, 2012, from 2-3 PM Eastern Time.
We’ll be sharing information about mobile websites, QR Codes, and strategies for selling mobile solutions. Please join us! Simply fill out the form below to register:
4 Essential Steps to Sales Lead Follow-Up
When it comes to the worlds of sales and marketing, there are always items that we can look at to improve our effectiveness.
In marketing, it may may be that we want to increase brand awareness and acquire more leads. Or, it could be that we want to do a better job of attracting leads that are more highly qualified before they are handed off to the sales team.
But when it comes to Sales, one of the goals that should always be high on our priority list has to do with our follow-up process.
Here are four tips to help increase the effectiveness of your lead follow-up process:
- Do your research: If we want a sales call to go smoothly and turn into a success, we must take the time to learn what we can about each lead before we call them. We don’t need to go overboard — but in today’s world, we can quickly find out key details about most of the people that we may be interacting with. We should look at the data on social networks and in our CRM system and marketing database. That data can help us to deliver a relevant and compelling message to each lead.
- Be ready to get to the point: Are people busier than ever before? While I don’t know the answer to that, I do know that this is true: people have more communication and technology options at their fingertips than ever before! Thus, we must ensure that we can deliver our key message to people in a short period of time. Sales reps should have a catchy “elevator pitch” at the ready so they can quickly start the follow-up conversation and get it moving down the right path.
- Recognize the difference between pushing and being too pushy: While sales does rely on doing what it takes to close deals, it is important not to come off as too aggressive or rude. Nowadays, people are quite apt to air their grievances or complaints about a company on their social networking profiles. If you are outsourcing your sales follow-up needs, or perhaps using someone with limited experience, help them to understand the consequences of their actions during the follow-up process. However, we must strike a balance. We need revenue too survive — and that doesn’t happen simply because we’re nice. We need to find ways to ensure that our prospects understand the importance of looking at our products and/or services.
- Be happy and passionate: People like interacting with someone that enjoys what they do. They also will be more willing to listen if they think you truly believe in the product or service that you are selling. The tone and content in our follow-up efforts can certainly leave a big impression on other people when they think about our brand.
These are just a few tips to help improve the sales lead follow-up process.
I hope that you find them helpful!
How To Say Thank You To Your Customers All Year Long
Yes, it’s certainly the gift-giving season.
Companies across the world are putting forth the effort to send cards, cookie & candy baskets, flowers, and other items to express thanks and appreciation to their customers.
But to truly develop deeper relationships with people that we do business with, we must look beyond just special seasons to express our gratitude.
A loyal customer base is the lifeline of any company. If you want to show your appreciation for your customers all year round, think about implementing one or all of the following three ideas:
- Saying thank you to your customers throughout the year. And when you do, consider dropping a hand-written note into the mail. Nothing says “We value your business” more than a heartfelt sentiment.
- Gifts are a great way to communicate your thanks, especially to your most loyal customers. Candies, company-branded tokens, and gift cards are excellent gift choices. But to truly make an impact, send gifts when people aren’t expecting them!
- Yes, we are saying “Thank you” because we mean it. But at the same time, we are also hoping that it helps to keep our company in front of the customer’s mind. Coupons and incentives can keep loyal customers coming back while showing them you value their business.
These are just a few ideas to say Thank You throughout the year. If you have other ideas, I’d love to hear about them in the Comments section.
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Tags cards, coupons, customers, discounts, gifts, ideas, Incentive, inspiration, relationships, Sales, Thank you Congrats to our Two SLMA Award Winners
After 7,113 votes were cast (22% more than the 2010 election) for 79 nominees by 4,656 people (each voter could choose up to three nominees) our very own CEO John Foley, Jr. and our VP of Sales Karen Sheehey DeWolfe both made the “Top 50 Most Influential People in Sales Lead Management” List.
Susan Campanale, VP of Marketing for the SLMA said, “These people are recognized by their peers as power players in the pursuit of ROI for marketing lead generation.”
Congratulations to both John and Karen!
The full list of 50 winners is available for viewing on the SLMA site. The SLMA served as the independent tabulator of votes and does not endorse the services of those listed. Voters were only allowed to vote for up to three people. Only SLMA members were allowed to nominate people to the nominees list. Non-members and members cast one ballot with up to three non-duplicated votes.
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Tags award, john foley, karen sheehey, leads, management, Marketing, recognition, Sales 4 Tips for Managing Inventory During the Holidays
While for many people the holidays are fraught with excitement, many companies – especially fulfillment service providers that manage a large amount of inventory – can fall into disorganization and stress during this season.
Fortunately, warehouse management does not have to be a nail in your proverbial coffin. Here are few tips to help you keep your warehouse running at peak shape throughout the holidays:
Consider Inventory Placement
If there are specific items — perhaps seasonal or clearance-related — that may prove to be far more popular than others during the holiday season, you may want to strategically place them in the warehouse to optimize everyone’s time.
Yes, this may mean that you need to do some heavy-lifting to move them now; but that should help you save a lot more time in the long run when people are grabbing those items to fulfill orders.
Use Web-based Software, Not Excel Files
If you are tracking purchases, inventory amounts, and orders through an Excel file, I have a better option for you: online software!
Web-based software for accepting, managing, and fulfilling orders can be affordable and easy to use.
Sure, moving to a different system may mean that your team needs to learn a new process; but the benefits far outweigh any temporary speed-bumps during the transition. Here are a few:
- Access the system at any time, from anywhere, via any web browser
- Automatically generate pick tickets, shipping labels, and more
- Set up automated email alert notifications in regards to backorders, reorder points, shipping notices and more
P.S. Looking for a web-based solution? I know of a great one that you might want to look at 
Keep the Lines of Communication Open
During the holiday season, sales and marketing teams are doing all they can to generate as much business as possible. This may mean that they are dreaming up and implementing ideas at the last-minute — including discounts and other promotions.
If you are responsible for ensuring that your warehouse can fulfill orders on-time during the holiday season, make sure to keep an open line of communication with the marketing and sales departments. You may need to be aggressive (and perhaps even a bit annoying) in order to be sure that you know about any promotions that will affect your workload.
Remember the chaos will pass by eventually
Sales is an ebb and flow business. The busy holiday season may no doubt mean longer days & nights, as well as many stressful moments as you work on packaging and shipping orders.
However, keep in mind that everything your doing will help your company… and that your hard work in getting an order out the door on time will put a smile on the face of someone, somewhere.
And of course, don’t forget that the busy season only lasts for so long.
