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Marketing Nutritious Food Products at the Last 100 Meters: A New Report Explores the Impact of Direct Sales Forces
Nearly 800 million people globally are undernourished, and over 2 billion lack year-round access to adequate food. Many companies have attempted to address this issue by marketing affordable, nutritious food products in developing countries. But as Lucie Klarsfeld McGrath and Louise Berthault at Hystra point out, few of these companies focus on ensuring that their nutritious products are consumed consistently in sufficient quantities to produce positive health impacts. They share new research on how companies can leverage direct sales forces to bring low-income customers consistent access to nutritious foods.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship
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Understanding COVID-19’s Impact on PAYGo Solar: Data From a Pioneering Study Reveals Key Insights About the Sector’s Financial Sustainability
The COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on PAYGo solar, causing up to 23 million people and 600,000 enterprises to miss out on improved energy access. Drew Corbyn at GOGLA, Bill Gallery at IFC and Roan Borst at Triple Jump share the results of a first-of-its-kind study that measured the impact of the crisis on the sector’s financial performance, based on data collected from 13 PAYGo solar companies. They discuss what these findings mean for the industry as it works to emerge from the pandemic’s ongoing disruptions.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Energy, Finance, Impact Assessment
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Debunking Myths on the Impact and Income of Women Sales Forces: New Data Reveals Ways to Maximize Their Potential
The use of female sales agents to sell health-related products is sometimes seen as a panacea that can boost both healthcare access and women’s income empowerment. But little research has been done to prove or disprove these beliefs. Lucie Klarsfeld McGrath and Louise Berthault at Hystra discuss a new report analyzing data from 21 organizations that rely principally on women direct sales forces to sell health-related products. Their analysis sheds light on the role and impact that women sales forces can have, and suggests ways to maximize their impact.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Health Care
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Developing Social Entrepreneurs into Sales Leaders: Effective Practices to Adopt – And Common Mistakes to Avoid
Succeeding in social business requires entrepreneurs to exert strong executive leadership in multiple business functions. As Scott A. Roy at Whitten & Roy Partnership argues, one such area is sales, which is often a weak point for social entrepreneurs, even though it's the revenue generator for their companies. He shares some essential sales development practices – and common mistakes – that social entrepreneurs in emerging markets need to understand to optimize their own sales efforts and maximize their business success.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship
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Doing Good By Selling Well: How Social Enterprises Can Transform Their Sales Strategies by Boosting Customers’ ‘Decision Intelligence’
A social enterprise may have a brilliant product, local production and an affordable price point – but unless it has an effective and ethical sales strategy, it will struggle to fulfill its mission, says Roy Whitten of Whitten & Roy Partnership. He explains how traditional, pressure-filled sales methods can create distrust among customers and encourage bad behavior among salespeople, and explores the advantages of a more ethical approach based on boosting customers' "decision intelligence."
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship
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Creating Sustainable Last-Mile Distribution for Beneficial Products: Two Network Archetypes (and How They Can Scale Up)
Last-mile distributors (LMDs) are critical to getting beneficial goods to underserved populations in hard-to-reach areas. Lucie Klarsfeld McGrath of Hystra and the Global Distributors Collective shares the results of a detailed analysis of these crucial distributors, which fall into two archetypes: local livelihood LMDs and dedicated salesforce LMDs. She explains the characteristics of each group and discusses what they bring to manufacturers, service providers, funders and other organizations looking to work at the last mile.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship
- Tags
- distribution, entrepreneurship, sales, scale, SDGs, sustainability
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Farmers Turn to Mobile Apps as Traditional Markets Shut Down
Farmers and fresh produce traders in the South Rift region have turned to social media and farm-based sales to bridge the market gaps brought by the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Coronavirus, Technology
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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