Do Business Well

One of the most common objections you will get is: ‘I haven’t the time.’ Simply say: ‘I understand you are busy. Let’s draw up a prospect list right now of 10 friends of yours. [Take names, addresses and telephone numbers.] All I want you to do is phone them and let them know I’ll be calling on them. Leave the rest up to me.’

Contact these prospects: ‘Hello. Myrtle Turner? Pat Rogers and I were discussing a business opportunity and she said you may be interested…’ Now do the presentation. Continue Reading »

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It’s important to note, however, that marketing is not the same thing as selling or promoting. Those are separate tasks. Selling and promoting are essentially the implementation of your marketing plan. That is, once you have identified your customer prospects and determined how best to reach them, you then have to go out and make it happen. You make it happen through selling and promoting, which are covered in a separate section of the business plan—and of this book.

Clearly, you can’t do an effective job of selling and promotion unless you have identified who you’re selling to and how you can best reach the prospects to make your sales pitch. That up-front work requires the orderly accomplishment of several tasks, which are described in this chapter and become the basis of the marketing section of your business plan. Continue Reading »

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The best benefits are those that favorably affect either people’sfeelings or their pocketbooks. Entrepreneurs who can express the market impact of their business in those terms usually have an advantage. For example, I read a local newspaper article about two women who had started a highly successful mail-order business selling clothing for overweight children. The children were thrilled with the product because of the difficulties—and the humiliation—they encountered shopping for clothes at traditional retail outlets. As one of the women observed, “What we’re really selling is dignity for these children.”

And so this company was. Sure, their clothing was of high quality and they delivered in a timely way. But the real reason for their success was they made children feel better. That pleased both the children and their parents. Continue Reading »

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The 4-Ps are a useful framework for designing e-Marketing strategies — and have the benefit that they are clear and familiar to most managers. Successful e-¹Businesses bring together the elements of the marketing mix into an integrated, offer representing value to the customer. This can be illustrated, for example by outlining aspects of the 4-Ps of the marketing mix of the office supplies company Quill (www.quillcorp.com).

Place

Customers are offered the convenience of easy ordering — not just by Web but’ via many other routes, with expert personal assistance readily available by telephone. We have personally tested the service and found it fast and reliable. particular benefit is the UPS (courier service) order tracker so that custom can track the delivery status of their order.

Product

Quill offers a wide range of office and computer supplies, furniture and speciality products. The main selling point is the very wide range available from stock - almost everything imaginable for the office. This is a ‘hypermarket’ -type approach, offering customers far more choice than would be expected from most traditional suppliers.

Price

Competitive, discount prices can be offered. Low price levels are sustainable because of the e-Efficiency of the business, and also the economies of scale arise from successfully selling large volumes. Continue Reading »

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