Age of the customer Age of the customer is the concept that consumers are more empowered than ever because they can access information about products and services over the Internet in real time. The customer's ability to quickly access information has resulted in a sea change in the marketplace. In the past, vendors held the most power because they were the only ones who knew what the profit margin would be for a particular product or service.  Today, informed customers are able to r...

Sales Cycle Definition The sales cycle is the sequence of phases that a typical customer goes through when deciding to buy something. As a rule, the sales cycle is described from the customer's perspective. The first phase of the sales cycle may be either the customer's perception of a product, or a perception of a need that the product might satisfy. The following steps include research and evaluation; the last step is the customer's decision to purchase the product.  

conversion rate The conversion rate is the rate at which website visitors or potential customers take a specific desirable action. The actions desired in these conversion rates could include subscribing to newsletters, filling out forms, applying for credit cards, purchasing products or making service commitments.The conversion rate is used as a metric to quantify the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, sales, salespeople, website designs and other sales tools. The rate is calculated as t...

Social Media Marketing (SMM) Definition Social media marketing (SMM) is a form of Internet marketing that utilizes social networkingwebsites as a marketing tool. The goal of SMM is to produce content that users will share with their social network to help a company increase brand exposure and broaden customer reach. One of the key components of SMM is social media optimization (SMO). Like search engine optimization (SEO), SMO is a strategy for drawing new and unique visitors to a website. SM...

Pure Risk (absolute risk) Definition Pure risk, also called absolute risk, is a category of threat that is beyond human control and has only one possible outcome if it occurs: loss. Pure risk includes such incidents as natural disasters, fire or untimely death. There are four basic ways of dealing with risk: reduce it, avoid it, accept it or transfer it. Pure risk is often transferred by purchasing insurance coverage, which transfers the risk to an insurance company. Pure risk example...