The Importance of Sales Analytics in Forecasting

The saliency of sales analytics in forecasting has not lessened over the past few years – in fact, many recent studies suggest that accurate sales forecasting is more important than ever.

According to research company Aberdeen Group, companies that were consistent users of sales analytics and forecasting tools outperformed companies who did not avail themselves of either of these tools by 1.46 times in the accuracy of their sales forecasts.

How can sales forecasting and analytics help a company?

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How To Sell Your Garage Online With Google

Your Garage Online?

Every once in a while I get a call from someone who’s decided to move their garage sale online.  They have oodles of semi-new, semi-interesting things to sell and they’re hoping to somehow ditch the middleman and have some fun setting up a website and selling the goods themselves.

Time goes on and after two or three visits by hackers and no sales; they end up giving me a call and asking in a timid voice for a quote for SEM marketing services.

I used to actually quote them service pricing.  No, really, I did.  There would be a long awkward pause, then some mumbling and then I would eventually end the torment with some advice and a pleasant goodbye.

I’ve decided to do my good deed for the day and just cut to the advice for those in need.

I can’t help it if they don’t find this blog and read it before calling.

Tips to those who wish to sell some stuff online:

1. There are multiple businesses that can do this for you.  I would first mention eBay, but for various reasons, which I didn’t really care to uncover, you dislike the eBay experience.  Online auctions are really your best option because your only leverage in selling is price point.  The reason somebody will buy from you vs. “Mega Merchant” is because you can sell it for less.
2. There are online classifieds such as craigslist.  The problem here is then you have to do the haggling yourself.  I say leave it to the auction.  Anyway, craigslist gets plenty of traffic.
3. Maybe it’s all about being a do-it-yourself-er.  You’re set on creating your site.  Okay, then you’re in luck.  I was just reading an article in Search Engine Watch about the release of Product Placement Ads from Google.  Instead of trying to find a firm to market your site, you can open a Google Merchant account (same goes for Yahoo! and Bing) and create product ads for the items you want to sell.  You only pay Google once an item is actually sold.

With these three options, you should be able to get some sales. Get to it.