Trend #1 Fighting for attention
The average consumer is bombarded with more than 4,000 commercial messages a day. And that number is even HIGHER for business owners.
Attention has become the scarce resource of the information economy. The clutter of advertising and information only gets worse when it comes to your email inbox, with countless hours wasted on spam.
More and more are joining the “Do Not Call” registry and many consumers are buying ad-blocking technologies. Consumers feel that they are constantly bombarded with too much advertising.
Trend #2 Customers leaving due to perceived indifference
Why do customers leave you…
1% Death 3% Moving 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 to 30 percent per year, and this number is GROWING annually.
“Most companies spend their hard-earned sales and marketing effort trying to attract elusive new customers when they probably have most of the business they’ll ever need in their database.” – Jay Abraham
A typical business hears from only about 5% of their dissatisfied customers. 95% just leave, most will never come back.
60%-70% of customers who complain to you will do business with you again if you solve their problem. If they feel you acted quickly and to their satisfaction, up to 96% will do business with you again and will likely recommend you to others.
If you do a great job, your clients will tell 2 people, while if you are unhappy with a client, they will tell 22 people.
It costs five to six times more to acquire a new (first-time) customer than it does to keep an existing one, and it takes 12 positive service incidents to make up for one negative incident.
Trend #3 Marketing Costs Rising and Effectiveness Decreasing
It now costs 3 times more in 2008 than it did in 1992 to reach your potential buyers. In 1992, it took him an average of 4 attempts to reach his buyer.
In 2008, it now takes 8.4 attempts. Therefore, half of the results of the same previous efforts are common.
As the popularity of search engine marketing has increased, so have the costs of playing the game. The costs of pay-per-click ads increase as the demand for online ad space increases. Organic search engine marketing is a long-term, uncertain, and often expensive endeavor.
The recent postage rate increase is imposing HIGHER COSTS on small publishers.
Newspaper advertising rates and Yellow Pages advertising costs are also rising.
Plus Brand Loyalty continues to decline, going from 56% in 2002 to just 39% in 2007.
Trend #4 Lagging behind with Internet technology
Now more than ever… businesses MUST actively use and embrace the newest technologies like: RSS feeds, social media, blogs, streaming video, webinars, etc.
Over 50% of surveyed Internet marketers now use or expect to try the following marketing channels due to recent market changes: – RSS – Podcasts – Interactive Banners – Online Video Ads – User Generated Content – Blogs – Social networks
Most small businesses are racing to catch up with companies that are thriving with web applications that establish interaction, dialogue, and deep connections with their customers, prospects, employees, and partners.
The internet has shifted the balance of power towards the customer, and companies that fail to empower customers risk losing them to competitors just a click away.
Trend #5 Increased Competition and Increased Business Bankruptcies
We are in the midst of the biggest business surge the world has ever seen.
Nearly 672,000 new businesses with employees were created in the US in 2005. That’s the highest rate of business creation in US history!
30,000 more startups than in 2004 and 12% more than at the height of the dotcom 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 order 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 you’re there find out How to double your sales in the next 12 months with the Profit Acceleration Systems training program led by international award-winning business growth expert Aaron Parsons.
