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Intelligently managing sales leads should be a top priority in the marketing plan of every company relying on field sales force selling. It's the first step in database and relationship marketing, the heart of the process of identifying potential new customers. And, it integrates the often fractious relations between corporate sales, marketing, and marketing communications departments. Companies actually have doubled their sales by managing leads better. Business marketers aren't the only ones who benefit from sales lead management. Vendors of considered-purchase products and services need an effective lead system to cope with the blizzard of inquiries arising from the interactive media revolution. INSET: Total Quality Lead-Management Checklist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents information on the small-office/home-office market (SOHO) in the U.S. SOHO is not a sealed-down version of big buying organizations replete with purchasing professionals, fussy technical experts, and accountants wielding sharp pencils. Rather, SOHO is a market where product functionality, reliability, and immediate post-sale service usually are more critical than in large office settings. Many savvy business marketers are cashing in and building profitable long-term business relationships in the SOHO segment. New channel distribution structures are evoking as SOHO expands.

Reports on the growing popularity of the ancient art of yoga in the United States due to the rising cost of medical care. Health-related benefits of yoga; Maximization of balance.

Reports on the performance of home fitness equipment retailers in New Orleans, Louisiana, during the 1995 holiday season. Preferred physical fitness equipment; Television advertisements and infomercials as a boost to sales.

In this article, the author discusses the state of b-to-b market research in the U.S. in 2006. The author asserts that academic researchers specializing in b-to-b markets do not receive the kind of public recognition that the mass media occasionally bestow on consumer market researchers. The reasons for this observation are indicated. Moreover, the author explores a tough balancing act facing business marketing researchers, citing a number of situations.

Offers tips on the marketing approach that should be adopted by business enterprises in the U.S. in 2005. Marketing issues needed to be addressed by companies; Use of marketing communications; Approach in dealing with publication editors.

Offers guidelines for business marketers in the U.S. Factors that should be considered by business marketers for an effective handling of the marketplace; Significant role of financial managers in marketing; Tools that may be used by a marketer to improve the company's entire marketing process.

The article presents information on the 2003 edition of the annual "Advertising Ratios & Budgets" report published by Schonfeld & Associates Inc. which deals with advertising spending predictions in the U.S. The report estimates historical 2002 advertising budgets, 2003 ad-to-sales and ad-to gross margin ratios, and 2003 and 2004 budget forecasts and growth rates for more than 300 industries and more than 5,900 companies, including some 400 foreign-based firms.

This article focuses on the need of manufacturers to pay close attention to dealers and distributors. The traditional approach to the market didn't pay much attention to dealers, according to Robert Bledsoe of CNH Group, in New Holland. CNH's initial attitude about dealers isn't unusual. If one asks dealers and distributors in many industries, they'll complain, often with justification, about manufacturers doing them wrong, or at least treating them with benign neglect. But, as Bledsoe said he learned, that can leave one extremely vulnerable to competitors with better deals for dealers, not only in terms of margins but, more important than money, marketing support. CNH is a best practices exemplar in a large study of customer value measurement practices now underway by the Houston-based American Productivity and Quality Center. Among the key findings so far is that companies find it easy to talk the value measurement game, but far fewer apply value metrics to their operations or can link value delivery to performance measures like sales, profit and market share.

The article focuses on Maximizing Marketing ROI, the report of an extensive 28-company probe of what the study's two managers call ROI-based marketing--MROI for short. The American Productivity & Quality Center, located in Houston, and the New York-based Advertising Research Foundation define MROI as the process of setting, allocating and managing marketing budgets for greater profitability. Their method compares the practices and results achieved by 24 businesses with extensive marketing activity to those of four leaders that APQC and ARF deemed superior MROI practitioners.

Focuses on the recommendation for marketers to think like purchasing professionals in the electronic business sector in the U.S. Consultation with real buying decisionmakers; Influence of purchasing dimensions on a company's marketing and financial success; Establishment of total value partnership with suppliers.

The article presents the "Business-to-Business Branding: Building the Brand Powerhouse," the best-practice benchmarking report published by the Houston-based American Productivity and Quality Center research organization. The report focuses on the use of the branding technique as a marketing tool of the business as well as the attitude of business-to-business organizations towards the use of branding, and the branding strategies of several companies, such as Caterpillar, Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard and Dell Computer.

Reports on the differences of marketing techniques utilized for consumers and businesses in the U.S. Details on business-to-business enterprises; Discussion on a customer chain model based on consumer preferences; Views on several advertising strategies.

Comments on the misuse of marketing tools by start-up companies, marketers and politicians in the U.S. Complaints of business press editors; Factors which affect investment value; Types of press abuse.

The article reports on the complaint of Joseph A. Riedel Jr., chairman and CEO of Beers Construction Co., against business marketers in connection to the credibility gap in his and other companies' marketing departments in the U.S. Riedel lamented that his marketing people sometimes do not know the critical details of construction. He advises young marketers to spend more time learning how the business works.

Presents the author's opinion on different aspects of marketing to business. Presence of big advertising, promotion and research bucks on the mass marketing to consumers; Percentage of all product and service sales volume in the United States constituted by purchases by business, government and other institutional buyers; Changes in business marketing's invisibility.

The article discusses the increasing use of the Internet as a business communication tool by companies in the U.S. The use of the Internet is expected to cause problems among company communications officers granting the free access provided by the medium to ordinary people. Some companies control external communications by limiting press access to approved company contact.

The article reports on free speech activists' denouncement of the 1995 Communications Decency Act (CDA). CDA extends telephonic decency legislation to cyberspace. Its proponents say it will protect children from the newest pornography distribution methods. The specter of hamhanded bureaucrats deciding what the Americans can say arouses constitutional debate, political invective, and Orwellian nightmares. A major problem is that CDA hides its attack on the First Amendment behind innocent children.

The article focuses on the importance of competitive strategy and teamwork in marketing as reflected at the fourth annual Southeastern Master of Business Administration Marketing Case Competition held on January 20-22, 1994 in the U.S. The competition is designed by the students at Wake Forest's Babcock Graduate School of Management to provide a semblance of real world business rivalry to contending team members as well as hone their skills in conducting an event.

The article comments on the marketing strategies of business enterprises in the information industry in the U.S. The author claims that there are several business-to-business advertisers who are running the business misguidedly. In addition, the future of media and marketing will have little use for any negotiations that cheats the potential consumers.

The article focuses on the Silicon Valley American Marketing Association and its Paul Sherlock Marketing Awards. The first Paul Sherlock Marketing Awards are the centerpiece of an active, primarily business-to-business-oriented program for the 245-member Silicon Valley American Marketing Association. Judges will choose the best 1993 marketing programs in several categories run by or on behalf of manufacturers or service vendors headquartered locally. The chapter is accepting entries through February 28, 1994 and will bestow the awards at a dinner on May 5, 1994.

Opinion. Comments on the results of the surveys of the Business Marketing Association (BMA) and McKinsey & Co. on the profile and status of marketing communications (marcom). Difficulty of shedding old-fashioned ideas; Absence of a typical pattern for business and marcom operations among marketing companies; Need for budgeting and research skills.

The author reflects on the newest management principle concerning world-class competitiveness through agile manufacturing and the agile enterprise in every of U.S. industrial, service and institutional productivity. Agility is regarded by blue-chip corporate, academic and consulting experts at the Agile Manufacturing Enterprise Forum as the noblest embodiment of the quality concept.

In this article the author discusses the role played by emotions in brand marketing in the U.S. The author cites some examples of marketing campaigns that used emotions to convey their messages, including a campaign conducted by Procter & Gamble. The effectiveness of the campaigns is indicated. In addition, this article states the complexities and contradictions among human emotions.

The article addresses some issues concerning business marketing communications in the U.S. It discusses some changes occurred in marketing communications, particularly in television broadcasting. The kinds of industrial marketing models that really used to matter are cited. It also enumerates the lessons the marketing field has had to learn.

Explains that marketing executives in the United States believe that achieving profitable growth is the challenge facing business marketers in 2004. Information on a study conducted by the Institute for the Study of Business Markets; Strategies which business marketers plan to implement to earn robust profits; Areas in marketing which business marketers focus.

Focuses on the measures of marketing process success in the U.S. Reliability of the results of Profit Impact of Market Strategy project; Relation between brand strength and stock price; Marketing factors that contribute to brand power.

Presents pieces of advise to marketing companies in the U.S. on how to deal with their customers at a time when the country's economy is in decline. Importance of considering price concessions; Explanation on how marketing companies should view their customers; Necessity of marketing expenditures to sustain customer partnerships.

The article reports on the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's approval of a national do-not-call telemarketing registry which gives the consumers the legal right to choose whether to receive telemarketer calls to their homes. Exempted from the policy are charities, politicians and researchers. The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) argues that the policy violates commercial free speech rights and creates confusing regulatory jurisdictions.

Discusses the use of statistical modeling as a tool for determining investment strategies. Linking of customer satisfaction ratings with stock prices; How companies such as Marketing Science Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts profile the investment effects of marketing activities.

The article dispels major myths about pricing strategy in the U.S. The major myths are categorized into three. First, pricing products to cover full costs will be profitable. Second, pricing products to grow market share is profitable. Third, pricing products to meet customer demands is profitable. As for the first myth, marketers often do not recognize the value they actually provide. They think in terms of product features and treat the service elements in a product offering as sales incentives rather than value-enhancing augmentations. For the second myth, marketers should consider what shares of the market can they profitably serve. The third pricing myth encourages customers to demand price concessions and trains salespeople to offer them.

The article reports on the pressures faced by business marketers due to the economic recession in the U.S. C-level bosses are demanding that marketing prove its value to the enterprise. Financial chieftains want larger return on marketing investment numbers. CEO demand that marketers prove how they can improve stock prices and chief operating offices reduce marketing budgets.

The article reports on developments related to market share in the U.S. With corporate finances being closely examined, financial analysts are looking more at market share data as they try to identify a company's strengths. Market share provides little direction for achieving it, even for consumer packaged goods makers and focusing on share as an objective with revenue and gross earnings can obscure a business marketer's best sales expansion opportunities. Market share becomes a meaningful metric for planning and evaluating marketing programs when marketers unambiguously define the markets in which they choose to compete.

Focuses on the service enhancement of the business-to-business marketers in the U.S. Service-oriented strategies; Citation of the advantages of the strategy; Smart competition.

The article discusses on the customer relationship management (CRM) of several companies in the United States. According to the Zacks Investment Research in January, the American Telephone & Telegrah Co. (AT&T) will have a 39 percent decline on profits in 2001. The AT&T has a revenue of about 62 million dollars with more than 160,000 employees. The AT&T telemarketers desparately dials phone numbers to meet quotas and do not record customers. A supplier who practices CRM would share a legitimate information and leave message to return call.

Compares the significance of marketing research to the election system in the United States. Discussion on the quality of marketing research; Factors that influence incongruity in marketing study; Significance of competent business research.

The article discusses the importance to observe the customers' customer (C-of-C) for business marketers as e-business revolutionizes the information flow in the marketing industry in the U.S. C-of-C encourage salespeople to discuss long-term trends with major accounts, particularly their innovative lead-user accounts. The e-business economy makes C of-C knowledge even more critical because of the instantaneous information flow. Through the information channels, all members of an industrial value chain are informed about new solutions, whose products and processes combine within each solution, who is providing superior value way upstream, and who is vulnerable to disintermediation or price-cutting.

Focuses on the mistakes committed by marketing communications managers in the U.S. Factors that make the marketing function difficult; Consequence of a poorly crafted incentive program; Ways on how to evaluate the performance of a dealer merchandising program.

Focuses on the moral responsibilities of companies in the electronic commerce business in the U.S. Avoidance of practices that defy the fundamental laws of business. Practice of the immutable Law of Good, Fast and Cheap in the electronic commerce competition; Efforts exerted by firms to gain advantage in the competition.

Discusses the problems faced by business marketers in balancing customer satisfaction and cash flow. Report that to settle a class-action lawsuit, Iomega Corp. and allegedly aggrieved buyers of its popular data storage products fashioned a support policy that all technology product marketers should study and perhaps adopt; Fact that among other features of the settlement, scheduled for an April 3, 1994 hearing in Delaware's Chancery Court, users will pay if their support problem is already covered in Iomega's product documentation and automated free-support services; View that Iomega will not charge a fee for a toll-free phone call to a live tech representatives.

The article focuses on the Edison Best New Products Awards. The complexities and challenges of business-to-business marketing make it impractical to include business products in the Edison Award judging as now configured. The Edison Awards are a major improvement over the usual best-of festivities, making them worthy of serious attention. Each new product expert on the Edison Awards Steering Committee is assigned specific product categories and spends a year watching innovations soar or sink. The committee selects the best candidates, and submits them to a panel of four to five thousand marketing executives chosen from industry databases.

The article presents suggestions for business marketers in the U.S. to track down their sales leads. Useful marketing information from a company's potentially best inquirers goes unrecorded and never reaches the sales lead management database. Phone inquirers are more likely to want to see a salesperson, make a decision, and buy now. Under battle conditions, fussing about attributing leads to single sources when an inquiry actually can be motivated by several different sources can seem like a waste of time.

The article criticizes the use fax as a form of direct advertising in the U.S. Firstly, it wastes fax paper of the receiver. It could also have a negative impact on the brand being advertised. A federal law has been implemented against junk fax. Moreover, consumers cannot be sure if the advertising campaign is real or a hoax.

The article discusses an efficient advertising campaign to boost taxpayer compliance by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. The campaign should put emphasis on the peripheral benefits of paying taxes. Expectations are need to be set and presented to taxpayers. One focus should also be on the quality the supplier delivers to consumers.

The article presents information on the problems that may arise in professional and business services advertising in the United States, by referring to the advertising practice of lawyers. The problem with lawyers is that they usually do not go far enough beyond hidebound conventions and speak directly and engagingly to the people they need to reach, that jury of prospective clients out there. Lawyerly custom favors word-of-mouth, referral marketing, the "white shoe" approach best practiced in clubrooms and golf course colloquies.

Stresses the importance of considering on-line word-of-mouth among customers and prospects pertaining to company and product information. Customers' and prospects' increasing control of the flow of company and product information; Bad-mouthing of companies; Controversy in Market-L's mailing list.

Provides resolutions to businesses' marketing strategies in the United States. Staying up to date; Integration of the company's marketing and sales activities.