Prioritize Strategies: Sales & Marketing

Business owners who are concerned about their sales and marketing capabilities could begin to see improvement by breaking down the term sales as it relates to marketing, into manageable elements. You end up with a checklist that can be reviewed in order to prioritize areas needing improvement

1) MARKETS: How much do you really know about your current markets or future market? Why do your customers buy from you? What could you offer that would attract more non-customers? How can you sell to more of the profitable customers? If you add features or services, will people pay more for them or will they attract more customers? Are there bulk, institutional, industrial, or corporate markets beyond normal retail that you are ignoring?

2) COMPETITION: Who are they and why are they after you? What is the overall market trend and how are you holding up in terms of market share and profit position? How do you really rank against competitors? What substitutes are there to your products and how much of a threat are they?

3) DISTRIBUTION: How can you get your products/services out to new outlets profitably? Are there unbranded opportunities? Can you bundle in your products with someone else's?

4) SUPPLY CHAIN: Are you at the mercy of wholesalers for your raw materials or product components? How can you manage suppliers and gain more buying power over them? Can you simplify your products and reduce your supply needs? Can you buy in bulk and store them somewhere in a cost effective manner? Can you buy some things pre-fabricated cheaper than doing it yourself (or vice versa)?

5) POSITIONING: Where do your products/services fall in relation to the total market? Is this truly the position you want? Are you "all things to all people," or should you move more toward a high-end position (charging a premium for a differentiated service), or a low-cost position (undercutting others' prices but at a profit, due to high efficiency)? If you are truly "in the middle," you should examine how well you're doing regularly (with the help of a good accounting system).

6) PROMOTION: Feel invisible? How can you change this? What promotion tools make the most sense to promote your products yet are consistent with the marketing image you want to project? How do you know if they pay off? Are you promoting on the Internet effectively?

7) PRICING: What is your pricing strategy? Does variable pricing make sense for different markets, perishable products, or time-based sales processes, or various customer types? Are you charging for everything you do?

8) SERVICE DELIVERY: How well and how consistently are you delivering/producing your products/services? What people problems must be addressed? Do you really train people in their overall role and mission, not just the mechanics of their job? How do you know your customer service is satisfactory? How can you use disservice situations to build customer loyalty?

9) FINANCING: What is your capital structure? That is, what are the proportions of cash, bank borrowing, other borrowing, invested funds, and net income to your operation? Do you produce an annual financial report and a monthly cash report? Are there other sources of capital you should look at? Are there cheaper sources for say, bank loans?

10) STRATEGY: How can you build customer loyalty? How can you increase sales to existing customers (more frequent use or buys, selling a broader product line to them) or new customers (existing and new products)? How can you penetrate into new areas profitably? What new substitute products are successful at Wal-Mart or other outlets that you have sniffed at as not being part of your traditional business? What costs can be removed without affecting the value equation?

11) MANAGEMENT: What risks exist today and which are on the horizon? What is the likelihood and impact of each? How can you reduce both? Are there alliances that make sense? Are there trade groups you should be in? Are there natural ties that no one is exploiting-- like a video store letting people order a video with a choice of pizza from the next-door pizza shop for a specific time? Or letting customers return their videos to a local Starbucks they stop at in the morning?

12) INFORMATION: What information is your accounting system giving you about profitable lines, costs, and margins? If "none," why not fix it and start making better decisions? What advice can you get from a trade group or local retail association?

If you concentrate on those areas which are most pertinent to your business structure and needs, it can only lead to a more focused resource management scheme. Stay consistent and maintain sight of your goals and just how close the business is towards meeting them. This model will naturally fall into a prized routine that can only spell SUCCESS! See you next time.

Plan a Winning Strategy

The key to effective sales planning is thinking and preparation. One of the keys to successful selling is having a written game plan. I won't say this is easy because it's not.

Because it's not easy to do it's easy to avoid doing - and that's huge mistake.

If you're ready to roll up your sleeves and get to work, let's begin.

Who are your existing customers? Prioritize these customers two ways. First prioritize your customer list based on sales revenue. Then prioritize your customer list based on sales potential.

Who are your prospects? Prioritize your list of prospects based on sales potential.

Develop a sales call plan based on anticipated sales call frequency. Determine how many times a year you want to visit your best customers. Determine how many times a year you want to visit your second-tier, or medium-size customers. Then determine how many times a year you want to visit your small-size customers.

Do the same thing for your sales prospects. Determine how many times a year you want to visit your large sales prospects, medium-size and smaller sales prospects.

Once you've completed this exercise you can begin to map out a sales call plan based on geography and sales potential. More on those specific topics to follow. Until then remember success equals sustained hard work and failure is just a tool to get there.

Winning the Customer Loyalty Battle

Knowledge is the key weapon to effective customer satisfaction. Know what your customers want, making sure your staff is well trained to provide the services offered. A great start towards successfully meeting customer expectations.

After that, service & product providers need to be well equipped with answers. For example, the multitude of vendors selling airline tickets and the frequent lack of communication leaves ground employees at a loss when trying to answer consumer questions. It is your responsibility to arm employees with knowledge so they can provide clear, helpful answers. If a client calls and your business consistently has the most helpful and appropriate answers you will win their trust and loyalty.

The key to good customer service, in any industry, is not winning a battle but winning the war, especially in a competitive business environment. For a business involved in sales, typically what is at stake when it comes to customer relations is time spent for services provided. Therefore, service providers need to determine how much time they can afford in the course of a month or year to expend for the sake of maintaining ongoing relationships. After all, service-oriented business (more than any industry) must follow the 80-20 business principle, whereby 80 percent of their business must come. You might not please everyone, but the clients that actually pay the bills will be in the loop consistently.

Give your customers a constant, active feedback process. Either online or via a rep, they should be able to, in an instant contact your company about any issues good or bad. Then make the return response as quickly as possible. Again this lets the customer know you care about their opinion and you are in a position to change and or augment a process to quell their worries. You can also communicate to them through newsletters, or regular blog posts. It's all about keeping in touch and making them feel your focus in on them and their satisfaction.

In summary product awareness, business particulars, expert sales staff, communication, and the efficient use of CRM will bring a bond that could carry your company through sale after sale from a customer that is truly satisfied you have a superior product or service and you’re willing to back it up.

The Sales Presentation Conundrum

Take a moment and think about how the typical conversation or meeting flows with a prospect? What does your presentation consist of? What do you talk about?

The basics - you may begin by giving some background on your company and who you are. You would probably talk about what it is you sell.

You may even discuss what your product or services are, or what you do and how it could benefit them. And if you have some time, you might share some technical data, a PowerPoint, or some marketing materials.

With all of these various topics to address, only one stands out as your core objective and the primary goal of delivering a presentation. Here are the most common responses I hear:

* To educate your prospect on who we are, the industry and the product I sell.
* To get the sale.
* To create rapport, build trust.
* To develop your competitive edge and become your prospects' vendor of choice.
* To give each prospect a good reason for buying from me.

While these objectives are critical to achieve during a well organized sales effort, none resemble the primary objective.

To illustrate this point, let me ask you a few questions. Based on the five objectives above and your approach when presenting during a meeting with a prospect, are you able to answer these nine questions after you present to a prospect?

1. What are their objectives?
2. What are their needs?
3. Who is responsible for making this purchasing decision?
4. What information do they want to hear from you?
5. What are their expectations of the conversation with you?
6. What is their biggest concern that would prevent them from buying from you?
7. How do they make a purchasing decision? What's their process?
8. What criteria do they need to evaluate to make a decision?
9. Are they "sold" on you, your company and your product?

Unless you did a stellar job pre-qualifying them during your initial contact and this meeting or conversation is actually your second contact with the prospect, then the chance of you being able to accurately answer these questions simply by delivering your content rich presentation (or lack thereof) is pretty slim.

That's why the primary goal when delivering a presentation is different from what you might have imagined. The core objective of a presentation is to uncover the information you need (through questions) to determine if there's a fit and then refine your approach so that the solution you present is now customized to reflect the unique and specific needs of each prospect - zeroing-in on what is most important to them.

As a result, the prospect is now in the best position to make an educated (or impulsive) buying decision based on the selling atmosphere that you created or take action regarding the next step in your selling cycle (proposal, demo, next meeting and so on).

The information that a prospect wants to hear is not necessarily dependant upon the questions they ask, but more so on the questions that you ask. The only questions that you can control and ensure get addressed are the ones you ask. The nine questions I posed above are just a few essential discovery questions to ask during every sales call or presentation.

If you're asking better questions up front, you may have noticed a change in the flow and direction of your meetings and more specifically, in the information you are hearing as well as presenting. You may have also noticed that many of the prospects you met with in the past were the same prospects that you now realize were not a fit, would never be a fit and you had no business ever meeting with or spending the time following up on them in the first place.

The Hunt is On!

On top of almost everyone's list I've found is networking. Don't keep your job search to yourself. Tell friends, family and former colleagues about the type of position you're looking for. It's a tough proposition for those who might be timid or introverted, but it has to be done. According to all I've read out there, this vital conduit can not only land you a position but provide for potential customers/clients in that new position.

Another area often tossed out is temporary positions. Don't be so quick to say no to temporary positions. Those temporary positions often turn into full-time jobs. Even if they don't, working temporarily still bolsters your résumé. It also is a great way to avoid doing nothing!!

When I set out on my hunt, there wasn't a company with an opening that didn't have a copy of my resume. I didn't care or think to care that blindly applying for every position out there wasn't going to bolster my chances of successfully attaining my dream position. On the contrary, I may have burned a few bridges by using what I call, "The blanketing".

Instead of blindly sending out résumés to every help-wanted ad in your field I found that targeting companies and positions that are the right match would be a far better approach. I tailored my cover letters accordingly and adjusted my resume to reflect specific requirements of the company. Yes, it's a job in itself. But landing the right position is worth it in the end. By taking the time to specifically address the person in charge of hiring shows you've done your homework as an example. It shows you're interested in the job because you're aware of their history, growth and achievements--not just because you want any job.

If you do happen to get an interview, knowing about the company's mission, strategy and competitors goes a long ways. The interview should be a conversation. The candidate is interviewing the company just as much as the company is interviewing him or her. That means you should ask smart, relevant questions that demonstrate your knowledge of the company. When answering questions, use examples from your past work experience that demonstrate how you accomplished a goal.


If you've recently graduated from college and don't have much work history, utilize examples from committees you've served on or leadership positions you've held. After the interview, send a thank you note to everyone you met. Hand-written notes especially help candidates stand out from the crowd, since they're so rare in this electronic age. Anything that separates you will go a long way toward landing the job.

Just a note on resumes and formatting. Companies prefer resumes sent online, keep the formatting simple with a Microsoft Word document. Avoid fancy formatting and bullet points since that gets lost in the process. I can't count the hours I've spent trying to make my resume presentable in the myraid of site formatting standards out there. If you want something to stand out, bold fonts work just fine.

Well that's it for now. My first blog in the wide world of cyber job hunting practices. If no one happens to read it that's fine too. It's painting by numbers and I can count so it's all good! Happy hunting!