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Every day people make common mistakes. These mistakes whether
personal or business can be deterred with simple awareness and
certain strategies. In business, marketing is a key ingredient
and it is important to be aware to the common mistakes usually
made. How many of the following mistakes in marketing have you
made?
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Lack
of product market testing
This is by far the
biggest mistake in the marketing today by small and even large
businesses. Great product ideas are always birthed from a
thought. Successful ideas are birth from the market with a
business ability to capitalize on the need. It is amazing how
many companies decide on the product they will sell before ever
checking to see if the potential market would be interested
whether it is business-to-business or business-to-consumer. The
reason for this common mistake is well placed in the question
"Whose idea is the best idea? Well, everyone knows it is
your own.". That's right, the seller falls in love with
their own product and assumes the market will too. This thinking
clouds the business ability objectively. It is better to take a
subjective position to determine the true potential of any
product market. Test the water and ask your customers and
clients what they think. Survey a portion of your current
clients and the general public. You owe it to the balance sheet!
of the business and the products success.
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Neglecting
to explain why your prices are lower
In today's market, low
price brings the question of how? How, can they sell it at a
lower cost than their competitors? If a business fails to answer
that question in their marketing strategy, customers immediately
become suspicious of the quality of the product. If they had
only given an explanation that would increase trust in the
selling relationship. Remember trust is a key factor in making a
sale.
Forgetting
to make it easy for the customer to do business with you.
There is so much
competition out there today; you should make sure the selling
experience is better than the product. To often businesses are
forgetting this important detail. Why make the experience of the
sale difficult and undesirable to do business with you when they
can go elsewhere. Make things convenience for the customer. It
is there hard earn cash, make the experience easy and enjoyable.
Do not consume the customer's time. If you want to lose a
customer, go ahead and waste their time or make them wait.
Today's customers hate to wait and would rather pay the extra
dollar or whatever with the competition if they can deliver
faster efficient pleasant service. Consumers expect their
shopping experience to be an enjoyable one. If you can make it
fun and entertaining to do business with you, chances are
they'll be back and possible bring a friend or two.
Don't
be a General Practitioner
If you do not have a
unique position, why would your customers be interested in you?
Find a unique angel to your business, be great at it and stick
with it. This is called a Niche. You can have a Niche product,
service or market. Not everything under the sun has to be for
the general market, it is not always the most profitable. But to
have an advantage over your competitors you better know your
Niche, know who your customers are, and how to target your
market.
Forgetting
to set the stage for the repeat business
This is an area where
many businesses lose money. Businesses look for the first sale
and rarely set the stage for repeat business. Remember to
develop a "back-end" sales strategy. It's extremely
important before you sell your first product to already have
your follow-up product at the door and waiting. If your customer
has purchased from you once, there is a good chance they will
again. You have already established a certain kind of trust with
your customer. Do not let them down and never rely on one
primary product to carry your business unless it is a daily
livelihood necessity like food and water. Product development is
an integral part of any business. If you want to stay in
business keep your present customers coming back for more
through product development and highly effective customer
service.
If
It's Not Broken. Don't Fix It!
Why do businesses feel
the need to change a marketing strategy that works? The fact is,
it happens every day. Businesses find a winner and hope they can
create a new one. Practice the notion of asking, "Is it
broken?" if it is not leave it alone and use the strategy
again. Now that is not to say that you should not test new
marketing ideas, but never drop a winner because you are tired
of using it or feel the market is tired of seeing it. If they
are, trust me, sales will go down and you may probably receive a
few emails or phones calls. Until those signs occur leave well
enough alone.
About the
Author:
Jacqueline Edwards is
a Business Development Specialist for BusinessPipeline.com, a
business development firm designed to assist microenterprises,
entrepreneurs, small businesses and corporations in key methods,
strategies, support and resources to help start, manage and grow
a business. BusinessPipeline.com is at http://www.businesspipeline.com
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