Business Plan Part 7, ICBS Knowledgebase, small business resources, www.icbs.com

Business Plan - DIY- Part 4

MARKETING TIPS, TRICKS & TRAPS

1. Marketing Steps

Classifying Your Customers' Needs

Targeting Your Customer(s)

Examining Your "Niche"

Identifying Your Competitors

Assessing and Managing Your Available Resources

Financial

Human

Material

Production

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NOTES AND STRATEGIES FOR YOUR BUSINESS

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MARKETING TIPS, TRICKS & TRAPS

2. Marketing Positioning

	Follower versus Leader
	Quality versus Price
	Innovator versus Adaptor
	Customer versus Product
	International versus Domestic
	Private Sector versus Government

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NOTES AND STRATEGIES FOR YOUR BUSINESS

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MARKETING TIPS, TRICKS & TRAPS

3. Sales Strategy

Use Customer-Oriented Selling Approach - By Constructing

Agreement

Phase One: Establish Rapport with Customer - by agreeing to discuss what the customer wants to achieve.

Phase Two: Determine Customer Objective and Situational Factors - by agreeing on what the customer wants to achieve and those factors in the environment that will influence these results.

Phase Three: Recommend a Customer Action Plan - by agreeing that using your product/ service will indeed achieve what customer wants.

Phase Four: Obtaining Customer Commitment - By agreeing that the customer will acquire your product/service.

Emphasize Customer Advantage

Must be Read: When a competitive advantage can not

be demonstrated, it will not

translate into a benefit.

Must be Important to the Customer: When the perception of competitive advantage varies between supplier and customer, the customer wins.

Must be Specific: When a competitive advantage lacks specificity, it translates into mere puffery and is ignored.

Must be Promotable: When a competitive advantage is proven, it is essential that your customer know it, lest it not exist at all.

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NOTES AND STRATEGIES FOR YOUR BUSINESS

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MARKETING TIPS, TRICKS & TRAPS

4. Benefits vs. Features

The six "O's" of organizing Customer Buying Behavior

ORIGINS of purchase: Who buys it?
OBJECTIVES of purchase: What do they need/buy?
OCCASIONS of purchase: When do they buy it?
OUTLETS of purchase: Where do they buy it?
OBJECTIVES of purchase: Why do they buy it?
OPERATIONS of purchase: How do they buy it?

Convert features to benefits using the "...Which Means..."

Transition

	Sales Maxim: "Unless the proposition appeals to their INTEREST, unless it satisfies their DESIRES, and unless it shows them a GAIN-then they will not buy!"
	Quality Customer Leads:

Level of need
Ability to pay
Authority to pay Accessibility
Sympathetic attitude
Business history
One-source buyer
Reputation (price or quality buyer)

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NOTES AND STRATEGIES FOR YOUR BUSINESS

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Next Topic: CONVERT FEATURES INTO BENEFITS

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