etailinsights eCommerce Data and Sales Blog

Whether you’re a well-known brand in your industry or you’re still trying to find a niche, I think it’s safe to say that every company wants to stimulate as much interest as possible around their brand.  And when you’re competing for attention online, it’s easy to fade into the background where etailers can’t find you.

Sometimes it feels like the eCommerce industry is literally changing overnight. It’s hard to overstate how quickly it shifts, which is why I’m constantly keeping an eye on the latest studies and statistics out there.

Cary, NC - Babe Ruth said it best: “Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.” That philosophy couldn’t be more self-evident than for the Miracle League of the Triangle, a non-profit organization that provides children and young adults with special needs and disabilities an opportunity to play America’s favorite pastime:  Baseball. Founded in 2006, the league is growing by leaps and bounds, serving over 450 children and adults in the Wake County, North Carolina area. This player-centric league takes place on a specially designed baseball field that is both fun and safe for all. However, the Miracle League is about much more than just playing a baseball game. There’s also a strong emphasis on team participation, building confidence, and of course, having a great time! Each Miracle League player is paired up with a “buddy” who assists with the player’s individual needs and supports them with hitting the ball, rounding the bases, and most importantly, being there as an encouraging new friend. The best part: there’s no keeping score, no errors, and no glorified champion at the conclusion of the baseball game. Everyone wins at Miracle League; the players, coaches, families, and volunteers all leave the field with a smile on their faces and a positive new memory created.

The Salesperson’s Compass Rose

Most know me as the former basketball star from the powerhouse that is The Collegiate School.  Joking of course, but in truth - Basketball taught me some great lessons that I still apply to my sales career.  We ran a very simple flex offense and every time it broke down, I knew we needed to take the ball out to the top, calibrate our court locations, and restart.  I like to call this "Finding North."  In fact, it is this technique of finding north that later led me to develop "The Salesperson's Compass Rose."

More often than not, most of your lead nurturing is going to happen virtually, but sometimes—especially for larger opportunities—taking a trip on-site might be a necessity.

Starting a conversation the right way often takes effort and preparation. Casually approaching etailers usually leads to talking about the weather, and although that's a legitimate conversational topic in normal social settings, mentioning the dreary cloud cover doesn't drive you closer to getting the sale.

Blog posts, white papers, case studies, and customer testimonials all help to tell your company’s story and communicate the value of your products and services, but few sales tools are more effective at closing sales than customized demos. They’re effective because they don’t just tell a story, they put your etailer into the story.

With over 2.4 billion people surfing the Internet today, we have more data than ever at our fingertips, and as powerful as this can be for our sales teams, these large databases of consumer information can quickly become outdated.

In a perfect world, every qualified etailer interested in your products or services would eventually become a customer. Unfortunately, in this imperfect world only a fraction of the leads we receive turn into sales, which is why it’s important to make sure you’re getting the most out of interested prospects.

Like most things in life, quality is better than quantity. This is especially true when it comes to eCommerce prospects. The better you can identify quality prospects, the more efficient and effective your sales process becomes.