“Database marketing is not a technique. It is a strategic point-of-view that drives a
company’s marketing agenda.” - (Craig Sharrow)
A. Sharrow’s
35/20/15/10/10/10 Theorem
Ed Mayer was one of direct marketing's leading practitioners in the 20th century. His 40/40/20 rule
states that 40% of direct marketing’s success is based on the list, 40% on the offer, and 20% on the
creative. The 40/40/20 rule no longer applies.
Good marketing and especially good direct marketing is driven by two key factors: analysis and
relationships. And it all begins with the former:
35% of a marketing program’s success will come from good up-front analysis
20% on then coming up with an appropriate strategy
15% on a compelling offer
10% on selecting the right list
10% on the right sequence of customer contacts and timing
10% on exceptional, on-target creative communication with customers and prospects
B. Sales &
Marketing Desires, Needs & Expectations
Increase efficiency and effectiveness of marketing expenditures
Increase efficiency and effectiveness of sales force
Increase efficiency and effectiveness of marketing communications
Increase customers’ purchase of products and services
Identify new sales opportunities
Evaluate and rank the value of customers and prospects and leads (i.e. “suspects”)
Identify new product and service opportunities
Maintain and grow existing customer base
Measure and rank the success of various sales and marketing strategies, programs, functions, staff,
etc.
Simplify sales and marketing management’s lives
C. The Elements of
Integrated Marketing
Sales & marketing management decision support system using relational database
Strategic and tactical planning, integration and implementation processes for product development,
pricing, distribution, customer/prospect communications, sales contact,and sales/marketing reporting
systems
Coordinated, timely communications & feedback among field and headquarters sales and
marketing personnel, dealers/distributors, customers, prospects, purchase-decision influencers and
strategic partners
Regular measurement of performance versus objectives
D. Integrated
Sales & Marketing Support Services
1. Strategic & marketing planning
Determination of corporate and competitive strengths & weaknesses
Evaluation of the impact of changes in the marketing environment on company marketing
strategies
Marketing opportunity identification
Impact of demographic & lifestyle changes on product & marketing mix strategies
Marketing & strategic plan development assistance
2. Marketing database design, development &
management
Database content & structure
Systems development, maintenance & access requirement
Data capture systems & processes
List management & maintenance
Report generation and data access capabilities at client/user level
3. Market research & analysis
Market segmentation analysis & modeling
Market, territory, account and prospect potential forecasting
Market penetration analysis
Direct marketing response tracking & media effectiveness analysis
4. Sales management & sales support
Sales lead generation, qualification and management systems & processes
Sales performance evaluation
Territory analysis, planning & design
Key account profiling
Account sales activity, product usage (yours/competitive), planned purchase timetable and sales
contact profiles/reports (i.e. Briefing Report and Contact Report)
Contact history (dates, type: phone, mail, in-person, results)
Inquiry history
Future purchase plans; budgets
Product usage (how are our/competitive products used?)
Competitive product/service usage
Product satisfaction feedback profile
Preferred contact method/times
Other research data
Current and historical sales assignment: rep, branch, region, dealer/in-house
3. Marketing Communications Campaign Data
Media, targets, costs, response data
Creative formats & offers
Lists/sources
Formats, tests
Links to telemarketing & lead tracking tables
Multiple contacts, follow-up
4. Sales Force Data (Own & Dealer/Distributor)
Name, ID, address, other basic classification data
Sales revenue production history
Territory & acccounts
Product sales and commission data
Lead utilization/disposition history
Sales quota objectives,category-specific and total-revenue ranking, & other performance
statistics
Similar data on dealers, distributors, franchisees, manufacturer’s reps
F. Typical
Database Analysis, Modeling & Testing
1. Areas of Investigation
Sales performance by any combination of variables such as: product line, geographic classification
of customer, sales contact, time of year, type of solicitation, special offers, previous history, etc.
Price elasticity; customer receptivity to price increase
Sales performance versus competitive intensity
Changes in sales revenue, rate of growth, rate of attrition, etc.
Analysis of customers or sales force by decile revenue performance
Market, territory and/or account potential by geographic, economic, psychographic,or other
classification variables (e.g. size of business, type of business)
Market penetration analysis
Site location (for dealers, distribution, warehousing, and sales operation facilities)
2. Methods Of Analysis
Regression on historical data for price elasticity, etc.
On-line models to perform “what if” analyses
Raw numbers
Demographics of distribution
Geo-coded distribution
Customized modeling programs for forecasting
Pre-defined reports and screens
Ad hoc inquiries (SQL or menu-driven)
3. Models
A. Sales Management Models
Sales module balancing (to determine the mix of prospect/customer/account types by sales rep)
Sales force management (to determine the number/type of reps required by branch, region or
country
Territory sizing (setting territories based on travel time, number of accounts/prospects, market
potential, sales rep performance/capability/incentive)
Sales goal setting (based on customer profiling data, competition, and micro-economic variables)
Improved sales lead qualification criteria
B. Marketing Management Models
Media mix optimization
Advertising intensity optimization
Geographic targeting and product niching
Product pricing
Competitive impact
G. A
Data-Driven Sales Management System
Purpose: To establish the optimal level/mix of annual
contact -- by phone, mail, and in-person -- of customers and
prospects
Support sales reps & sales management
with:
prospect targeting and product focus
planned promotions
tracking of sales by territory
tracking of purchase activity by account
measurement of selling effectiveness and profitability
definition of account worth and probable purchase by volume/product
fair, equitable and manageable sales territories
account purchase and contact histories
recommended account/prospect contact frequency
Detailed telemarketing-based lead qualification information which guides field sales to present
products, features and benefits tailored to the prospect’s order of importance
“closed sales loop” using computer-generated Contact Report form (or screen -- for computer
modem-linked sales forces)
Automated pre-call sales letter (rep personalized)
Automated sales call follow-up via letter (rep personalized)
Supplementary lead-generation, relationship-building mailings (scheduled and scripted based on
purchase profiles)
Sales force initiated “requested support” service to flag action required on behalf of accounts by
sales administration, production, engineering, parts & service, customer service & training,
accounting, etc.
Restricted Proprietary Information - The information contained herein is for use by Sharrow &
Associates, its authorized agents and representatives and such other individuals or organizations as have express
written permission. The intellectual property represented by this document is copyrighted under the laws of the
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Sharrow & Associates. It is provided free, in electronic form via the Internet, for informational and educational
purposes.
- Sales & Marketing Desires, Needs & Expectations 
- Elements of Integrated Marketing 
- Integrated Sales & Marketing Support Services 
- Sales & Marketing Database Structure 
- Database Analysis, Modeling & Testing 
- The Data Driven Sales Management System 
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