Trend #1 Fighting for Attention
The average consumer is bombarded with more than 4,000 commercial messages per day. And that number is even HIGHER for business owners.
Attention has become the scarce resource of the information economy. The advertising and information clutter only worsens when it comes to your email In-box, with countless hours wasted with spam.
More and more are joining the “Do Not Call” registry and many consumers are purchasing ad blocking technologies. Consumers feel they are constantly bombarded with too much advertising.
Trend #2 Customers Leaving You for Perceived Indifference
Why customers leave you…
1% Death 3% Move 5% Buy from a friend 9% Sold by a Competitor 14% Product Price
68% Perceived Indifference
Major global corporations now lose, and must replace, HALF their customers every five years. A typical company’s customers leave at a rate of 10 percent to 30 percent per year, and this number GROWS annually.
“Most companies spend their hard-earned marketing and sales effort attempting to attract elusive new customers when they probably have most of the business they will ever need sitting on their database.” – Jay Abraham
A typical business hears from only about 5% of its unsatisfied customers. Fully 95% just leave most will never come back.
60%-70% of the customers who complain to you will do business with you again if you resolve their problem. If they feel you acted quickly and to their satisfaction, up to 96% will do business with you again, and they will probably refer other people to you.
If you do a great job your customers will tell 2 people about it, where as if you dissatisfy a customer they will tell 22 people about it.
It costs five to six times as much to get a new (first time) customer as it does to keep a current one, and it takes 12 positive service incidents to make up for one negative incident.
Trend #3 Increasing Marketing Costs and Decreasing Effectiveness
It now costs 3 X more in 2008 than it did in 1992 to reach your prospective buyers. In 1992 – it took an average of 4 attempts to reach your buyer.
In 2008, it now takes 8.4 attempts. Therefore, ½ the results from the previous same efforts are commonplace.
As the popularity of Search Engine Marketing has increased, so have the costs of playing the game. Pay-per-click advertisements are being driven up in costs as the demand for online advertising space increases. Organic search engine marketing is a long-term, uncertain and often costly endeavor.
The recent postal rate increase is inflicting HIGHER COSTS on small publishers.
Newspaper advertising rates and Yellow pages advertising costs are also increasing.
Plus Brand Loyalty continues to decrease, changing from 56% in 2002 to just 39% in 2007.
Trend #4 Lagging Behind With Internet Technology
Now, more than ever… companies MUST utilize and actively embrace the newest technologies like: RSS Feeds, Social Networks, Blogging, Streaming Video, Webinars, etc.
Over 50% of internet marketers surveyed, are now utilizing or expect to pilot the following marketing channels because of recent market shifts: – RSS – Podcasts – Interactive Banners – Ads Within Online Video – User-Generated Content – Blogs – Social Networks
Most Small Businesses are racing to play catch-up with companies that are prospering with Web applications that establish interaction, dialog and deep connections with their Customers, Prospects, Employees and Partners.
The Internet has shifted the balance of power to the customer, and companies that fail to empower customers – risk losing them to competitors who are only a short click away.
Trend #5 Increasing Competition & Increasing Business Failures
We are in the midst of the largest entrepreneurial surge the world has ever seen.
Nearly 672,000 new companies with employees were created in the U.S. in 2005. That is the biggest business birthrate in U.S. history!
30,000 more startups than in 2004, and 12% more than at the height of dot-com boom in 1996.
96% of ALL businesses Fail within the first 10 years… 80% of those Fail within the first 2 years.
Many Reasons Include: Lack of planning, Poor management skills and Failure to seek professional assistance.
The next step…
Visit The Business Commandos website listed below and claim your FREE copy of Aaron Parsons best new book: “How To Make A Million Dollars In Your Business In 3 Years Or Less” and while your there find out How To Double Your Sales In The Next 12 Months with the Profit Acceleration Systems coaching program led by international award winning business growth expert Aaron Parsons.
