Steps to improve marketing intelligence in companies

According to Kotler (2009) a marketing intelligence system is a set of procedures and sources managers use to obtain everyday information about developments in the marketing environment. A marketing intelligence system also facilitates accurate and confident decision making in determining market opportunity, market penetration strategy and market development metrics. Hans Heldin (2010) noted that data must be integrated into the market intelligence systems through proper intelligence for corporate decision-making. In an article by Thomas Winninger (2006) he stated that the key is to gather quality information, the quality of information that a company gather will dictate the quality and success of decision, hence there are various steps a company can take to improve the quality of its marketing intelligence function. The various steps that should be taken by a company to improve the quality of its marketing intelligence are discussed by Kotler (2009). The first step is to train and motivate the sales force to pot and report new developments. It is imperative for companies to train its sales group or team to collect good quality information about existing and emerging markets. They need to gather information about prices and products. There are various types of motivational sales training, for example lecturing is used orally to communicate concepts theories and ideas. This style is provided with an outline that they follow and take notes. Discussion groups are also used in motivational sales training to discuss issues and concerns and to prompt questions. In an article by Kelley Robertson he stated that in order to motivate a sales team we need to give them the tools to succeed. He added that no team will stay motivated if they do not have the necessary tools required to do their job this includes equipment, internal support, inventory, marketing material and training. The information that can be gathered by the sales team will allow the

References: http://www.b2binternational.com/publications/guide-to-market-intelligence/ http://www.winninger.com/articles/developmis.asp http://www.ehow.com/about_6735658_motivational-sales-training.html http://ezinearticles.com/?Top-7-Ways-to-Motivate-Your-Team&id=9360 http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/encyclopedia/Clo-Con/Competitive-Intelligence-CI.html http://www.dobney.com/market_intelligence.htm http://www.ehow.com/how_11404123_set-up-customer-advisory-panel.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACNielsen Kotler, Keller, Koshy and Jha (2009)” Marketing Management, 13th Edition” , Chapter 3, Page 64 to 67 nielsen.com