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Acqui-hiring or Acq-hiring or talent acquisition, a combination of the words acquisition and hiring, is referred to the process of acquiring a company to recruit its employees with or without showing interest in its current offerings or their continued operation. Those companies that engage in buying say it is talent acquisition and it typically comes with a per head price. The process also provides a relatively favourable exit strategies for employees with the prestige of being bought by a bigger company which is combined with the typical hiring process. Acqui-hiring has been increasingly becoming common in VC-based startup companies especially within the tech-sector. As of March 2013, Facebook was the largest performer of this process with over 12 in the last five fiscal quarters. Other brands like Twitter, Yahoo and Google are also ranked alongside Facebook for similar practices. This activity is facilitated by acqui-sourcing which is the process of identifying organiza...

A qualitative methodology that is used to describe consumers based on psychological attributes is called as psychographics. It has been applied in the study of personality, values, attitudes, opinions, interests and lifestyles. Though psychographics is often equated with lifestyle research, it has been argued that it should apply to the study of cognitive approaches including attitudes, interests, beliefs and opinions while lifestyle should apply to the study of overt behaviour.   As this research method focuses on interests, activities & opinions, they are sometimes abbreviated as ‘AIO variables’. The study of individuals or communities using psychographic can be valuable in marketing, demographics, opinion research, social research and prediction. Psychographic attributes can be contrasted with the variables of behaviour like purchase data and usage rate, along with organizational descriptors or firmographic variables like industry, number of employees and fu...

A management term linked to an element that is necessary to achieve an organization or project’s mission is called as Critical Success Factor (CSF). It is also known as the Key Result Area (KRA) or Key Success Factor (KSF). CSF is a critical factor/ activity required for ensuring an organization’s success. CSF term was initially used in data analysis and business analysis. For example, the critical success factor for a successful IT project is user involvement. It should not be confused with success criteria as they are outcomes of a project or achievements of an organization that is necessary to consider the project or organization as a successful one. Success criteria is defined with the objectives and key performance indicators (KPIs) may be its quantifying unit. The concept of success factors for CSF was developed by D Ronald Daniel of McKinsey & Company in the year 1961. John F Rockart refined this process into critical success factors during 1979-81. And in...

Behavioral cues indicating a prospective or existing customer’s intentions in terms of their readiness to buy is called as Buying Signal. This helps in making sales process more efficient and high-yielding than before. Companies often rely on tolls like leading scoring, predictive analytics and account-based marketing (ABM) technologies to identify buying signals. It is often triggered by a change in a customer’s attitude or behavior. For example, a company which signed a lease just now to rent office space in a building and hired a CIO may demonstrate the right buying signals to show that t is ready to buy server hardware or networking gear. In this example, buying signals may not be directly related to the product or service but indicates the prospect’s readiness based on secondary factors. While companies might have enlisted tools previously like direct mail or cold-calling to identify new prospects, other tools like analytics and ABM can be used to identify a more ta...

Account-based marketing or in short ABM, known as key account marketing also, is referred to a strategic approach to market business based on account awareness. Here, the organization considers and communicates as markets of one to its individual prospect or customer accounts. It is typically employed in sales organizations belonging to the enterprise level. ABM helps companies to increase their account relevance; engage in deals earlier and higher; align the marketing activities with the strategies of the sales team; get the best value out of marketing; inspire customers with compelling content and to identify specific contact areas at specific markets belonging to a specific market. ABM brings together industry, product/service or channels like direct, social or PR to focus on individual accounts. As the market becomes more commoditized, customers can only see little or no difference between the suppliers and its competitors regarding price as the only obvious differen...

Top-of-mind awareness (TOMA) refers to a technique to measure how well brands rank in the minds of consumers. It is an important concept in consumer behavior, marketing communications and research. In Marketing Metrics, it is defined as the first brand that comes to the mind when a customer is asked an unprompted question about a category. The percentage of customers for whom a given brand is in their top of the mind can be measured. Top-of-mind awareness is more often defined as the most remembered or recalled brand names. It is a special form of brand awareness built by companies through media exposure via media like Internet, radio, newspapers, magazines, television and social media. In a survey conducted among nearly 200 senior marketing managers, 50% from the total responded that they found top-of-mind metric very useful. Top-of-mind can be achieved through social media by targeting a niche group of customers and then building brand awareness with regular ...

Solution selling is a methodology used in sales where a salesperson focuses on the customer’s problems to address it with appropriate offerings of the company rather than just promoting it. Here, the solution for the problem is linked to the product and its benefits received from using it. Solution selling is usually used in sales where products are a part of the elements making a solution to a customer’s problem. The term was developed by Frank Watts in the year 1975. He began teaching “solution selling” as an independent consultant and then presented his sales process to Xerox Corporation as a one-day workshop in the year 1982. Next year, Electronics magazine portrayed his method as an unmistakable trend in the distribution of systems-related products. Solution selling has become somewhat a generic topic in the marketplace with its core brand carrying distinct characteristics. Those brands that follow this method generally apply an approach like that of consultative sa...