Marketing

Segmentation and Targeting Model

In this article, we discuss the concept of segmentation which is meant to offer a better fit between what is offered by your company and what your customer values most. The article discusses how a segmentation analysis reviews a company’s existing segments, if any, determines whether this process has been effectively accomplished, whether the segments make financial sense, whether additional segments need to be identified, and what those new segments should be.
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Positioning Model

Positioning is used to achieve strong brand recognition and identify those factors that need to be changed to make the brand more appealing to the target segment. The article discusses how a positioning analysis is conducted to determine how customers perceive the product in relationship to the competition, what product attributes the customer finds most appealing, and what needs to be done by the company to improve its customer’s perception of its product.
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Marketing Mix Resource Allocation Model

The resource allocation model is used to determine the optimal allocation of marketing dollars among the components of the marketing mix. The article details the steps in the analysis to arrive at an optimal mix.
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Predictive Modeling

The article introduces the concepts of data mining and predictive modeling. The tools are used to predict what may happen in the future based on historical patterns, customer behavior and quantitative analysis. The predictive power of the models comes from the market knowledge generated from the data gathered.
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Finance

Free Cash Throw-off Model

The whitepaper explains our approach to the generation of free cash flow from operations over multiple years to identify both issues of liquidity and underperforming working capital components. In addition, we use an actual company’s financial data to illustrate how the tool can be used to investigate working capital issues. The case study presented shows the spreadsheets and graphs used to analyze the company. The paper is a must read for any business owner who is concerned about how well they are doing. A company may be profitable but without access to adequate cash the future is bleak.

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Sales

Better Prospecting with the Lead Qualification Scorecard!

Lead qualification is critical to managing sales resources and meeting sales goals. The whitepaper provides a framework for using data mining of past customers information as a means of developing a profile of the ideal prospect. Instead of blindly calling on every prospect, the qualification process screens those “opportunities” based on criteria established from past successful sales. The criteria may include customer need, defined timetable for a decision, budget, competition, contact level, etc. Once the rep has scored the prospect and knows they are qualified, the real selling effort should begin. The paper provides a copy of first page of a scorecard used by past CRS clients (version shown is generalized for wider use).

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Increase Your Sales Output with the Pre-sales Planning Worksheet!

Most sales reps do not spend enough time in pre-sales planning. Evidence suggests the reps that do more planning and preparation see a higher return on time invested and better sales results. The whitepaper details the approach to planning and presents a worksheet used by a CRS client (version shown is generalized for wider use). The sections of the plan include defining the prospect’s business need and priorities, creating sales deliverables and responsibilities, identifying the sales team and roles, detailing prospect’s objections and resolutions, etc. The article is a must read for reps and sales manager who want a better way of organizing their research and coordinating the sales activities.

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