Reza Rad

The Customer Buying Process (also called a Buying Decision Process) describes the process your customer goes through before they buy your product. Understanding your customer’s buying process is not only very important for your Salespeople, it will also enable you to align your sales strategy accordingly. The process has been interpreted by many scholars over the years; however, the five stages framework remains a good way to evaluate the customer’s buying process. John Dewey first introduced the following five stages in 1910: 1. Problem/Need Recognition This is often identified as the first and most important step in the Customer’s Decision Process. A purchase cannot take place without the recognition of the need. The need may have been triggered by internal stimuli (such as hunger or thirst) or external stimuli (such as advertising or word of mouth). 2. Information Search Having recognised a problem or need, the next step a customer may take is the Information

Posted by Sara Murali   Give Your Followers a Reason to Engage.  The goal with encouraging engagement on social media is to put yourself in your followers’ shoes. Does the piece of content spark an emotion? Does it give the viewer a much needed relief from the woes of everyday life? If the answer is Yes, they will be all the more likely to like, comment, and share the piece. And remember: Engagement is not always about self-promotion. Think Positive. The use of positive and inviting language is infinitely more likely to draw in the viewer than negative vibes. Remember to stay upbeat and steer clear of words that could turn off your audience. Remember to K-I-S-S (Keep it Simple, Stupid). Studies show that longer posts get very little engagement on social media. So, keep it brief and concise, and let image, video, or link do the storytelling for you! Have a Conversation. Your fol

Karie Willyerd NOVEMBER 18, 2014 Find this and other HBR graphics in our  VISUAL LIBRARY  A high performer can  deliver 400% more productivity than the average performer . Despite this, when most managers look at workforce statistics, all employees tend to be lumped together into a category so broadly defined that it becomes difficult to take meaningful decisions. If your average employee tenure is six years, is that good or bad? You could benchmark the Fortune 500 and find that indeed you would look pretty good,  tied at 40 th  place . But if the people you are keeping are the low performers and your high performers are leaving, would that be really so great? Last summer, my colleagues and I at  SAP conducted a study with Oxford Economics  across 27 countries to find out what the future workforce wants. We led twin studies of executives and employees and asked the employees how they were rated on their most recent performance appraisal rating. Of the 2,872 employees, thei

BY CHRIS BROWN For the last few years, HR professionals  have been criticized for being too administrative and not adding enough value as a strategic partner . American Management Association has conducted research to uncover how much time HR professionals spend on  strategic vs. administrative functions . At the SHRM 2015 International Conference and Expo, AMA polled over 300 HR professionals to learn more about their relationship with senior management. Here are some of the key findings and results. Finding 1: HR Already a Strategic Partner While there are many articles out there offering advice on what HR can do to  become  a strategic partner, they all seem to assume that HR  isn’t  performing a strategic role. The first question asked of respondents aimed to unveil HR professionals’ opinions of their own role. When asked whether they agreed with the statement: “At my organization HR is viewed as a strategic partner,” over 80% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed. Only

June 28, 2015  Pete Schauer Trying to figure out the difference between social media and social networking is like trying to fully understand every ranking factor that Google uses for SEO: it’s not easy. To really understand the difference between the two, we first need to define them. Merriam-Webster defines social media and social networking as the below: Social Media:   forms of electronic communication (as Web sites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (as videos). Social Networking:  the creation and maintenance of personal and business relationships especially online With that said, let’s take a look at the five biggest differences between social media and social networking. On social media, you’re doing all of the talking. You’re publishing content—images, videos, eBooks, infographics, white papers, and more—and trying to generate engagement with your