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Category Archives: Industry Insights 
For years, I hosted a weekly poker game with my sales team. We worked for one of the biggest tech companies in the world at the time and the sales team was ultra-selective. These were some of the brightest people in the company. One of my teammates, who also was one of our best sales reps, was notorious for never folding his favorite starting hand, which was a Q and a 9. After weeks of hearing about how much he loved these starting cards, I finally explained that this hand was mathematically inferior to my favorite starting poker hand, two aces. He was certain that I was wrong. Continue reading
Posted by
Brian VanVliet
Thursday, April 11th, 2013
1 Comment
Being integrated with corporate marketing and a business development sales team has its advantages. Everyday I get to work with some of the brightest and most dedicated professionals within our industry. MarketStar partners with everyone from startup companies to the … Continue reading
Posted by
Brian Rogers
Tuesday, April 9th, 2013
2 Comments
6 Principles of Influence for Sales Professionals
How to Create Positive Change in Customer Behavior
As Director of Training at MarketStar, my efforts recently focused on teaching Robert Cialdini’s “Six Principles of Influence.” While persuasion is a tool to create influence, sales reps must understand influence is essential – higher sales only result from a positive change in the customer’s behavior.
Posted by
Mike Christensen
Wednesday, April 3rd, 2013
1 Comment
If you work in marketing, perhaps you’ve heard the news your department’s spending will pass IT’s spending on technology in the next year or so. Gartner’s analyst, Laura McLellan
, also staked the claim last year, and we’re still feeling it in the beginning of 2013.
So why does this tech-happy spending matter?
Continue reading
Posted by
Anne Shaneen
Friday, March 22nd, 2013
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As we prepared content for our Propel Your Cloud webinar, one of our executives in our client operations group challenged me with a very pointed question: “What makes us experts in selling cloud services and what thought leadership do we have to offer?”
At first, I kind of took this as a slight on the campaign we were creating, and, a slight on MarketStar in general. I think I bristled a little bit, but I found that my answer was very quick and just a pointed. And it surprised me a bit. Continue reading
Posted by
Phil Mickey
Wednesday, March 6th, 2013
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I have to admit it – I HATE “what to expect in 20##” lists.
I’m not all that keen on listening to people tell me “tablets are going to be hot this year” or “the PC will finally breathe its last gasp of oxygen in 2013.” I think both are kind of true, and both are kind of false. You really can never tell for sure what will or won’t happen, but for this blog post, I can tell you what I HOPE will happen. Continue reading
Posted by
Phil Mickey
Monday, January 7th, 2013
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Happy Holidays from our MarketStar family to yours! As you prepare for the new year and its encompassing strategies for new business, I propose to you retail folks a category of customers you might be overlooking. Continue reading
Posted by
Anne Shaneen
Thursday, December 27th, 2012
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Your mission, should you choose to accept it: Prepare yourself for next week’s haul with MarketStar’s “Black Friday Ops” infographic. With T-minus seven days ’til the big shopping day arrives, make sure you know the latest stats and trends for the 2012. With Targets, Recon, Tactical, Tech, and Spending, we’ve got your Black Friday covered.
Continue reading
Posted by
Adam Gunn
Friday, November 16th, 2012
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As a senior analyst for Business Development, I create models that closely resemble real problems. True to what they represent, models come in all shapes, sizes, and styles. Some models are intangible, some tangible. Ultimately, they’re human constructs used to better understand a real world construct. Continue reading
Posted by
Phil Rogers
Friday, November 9th, 2012
13 Comments
Fans of “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” will no doubt remember the 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California that plays such a memorable role in the film. Upon Cameron wrecking the car behind his father’s garage, Ferris quips: “It’s his fault he didn’t lock the garage.” This line perfectly captures the nonchalant carpe diem attitude of Ferris Bueller—a fast, beautiful car must be driven on a beautiful spring day off from school. Aberdeen’s research suggests that more marketers need to capture this spirit, though perhaps a bit less recklessly, and take their marketing automation Ferraris out for a spin.
“Doing more with less,” or more with the same, is certainly a cliché, but it’s a cliché for a reason; it’s the reality for the majority of firms. Perhaps driven by the lean growth mantra that risks becoming the new normal, 44% of companies in Aberdeen’s July 2012 Marketing Lead Management study said this budgetary stress was a top pressure driving their focus on marketing lead management. This reality means that firms must squeeze as much value as possible from their demand generation programs as possible – from smart execution of targeted programs at the top of the funnel, to lead nurturing and scoring mid-funnel. That’s why many are turning to marketing automation software to support greater lead management efficiency. Continue reading
Posted by
Trip Kucera
Tuesday, November 6th, 2012
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