Contact: Roger Fredinburg

Phone 714-927-0495

P.O. Box 5243 CentralPointOR 97502

radioroger@aol.com

Ho Hum Productions

 Checklist: Creating A Sales And Marketing Strategy

Small business owners who are concerned about their sales and marketing capabilities could begin to see improvement by breaking down the term “sales and marketing” into discrete, manageable elements. You end up with a checklist that can be reviewed in order to prioritize areas needing improvement – a checklist that will serve as the groundwork for an effective marketing strategy.

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?

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?

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)..

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?

PRICING. What is your pricing strategy? Are you charging for everything you do?

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, How do you know your customer service is satisfactory?

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 costs can be removed without affecting the value equation?

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?

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?

Obviously this is just a start for developing an effective marketing strategy, but suggestive. It feels good to be able to check “OK” next to some of these, but it should also be empowering to prioritize those few that need your attention.

Roger Fredinburg/Ho Hum Productions

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 at 3:49 pm and is filed under Advertising. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.