IMPLEMENTING A SALES and marketing strategy is often considered a tough job, compared to the actual development of a prospectus for a new product. The need to create and implement new sales and marketing plans is made necessary by three factors:
- The need to generate higher sales
- The need to sustain current sales volumes
- Failure of a previous plan
In any of the three scenarios, it is important to ask yourself what kind of things will need to be done differently or in a unique way while still arriving to the intended outcome of generating the expected sales. Draft a list of the new things that you wish to try out in your strategy, discuss them with your in-house experts, and choose the ones that are considered by other members of your management team as the most viable.
Once you have established what to do differently, decide what actions need to be carried out to test the new strategy. While doing this, it is important to establish concrete indicators that will be used for monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of the new strategy. It is at this level that the management needs to make decisions regarding the types of platforms that are to be used in the implementation of the new marketing strategy.
Such platforms may include brand activations or integrating various forms of advertising. The most important thing is the incorporation of new platforms that were not incorporated in the previous plans. Among the emerging platforms, for example, web-based social network marketing and mobile marketing has delivered in terms of reaching a larger number of people and a corresponding increase in the volume of sales than traditional marketing tools such as print media.
Similarly, sales managers should make an audit of the human resource capacity of their sales team. What sales managers should look for is the qualities, skills and capabilities among their existing sales staff that will be needed in the realization of the new strategy. At times, it is necessary to retain experienced staff members and only retrain them on the new selling techniques. The overall success of a sales force and marketing strategy can be summarized to include these three important elements.
Once you have established what to do differently, decide what actions need to be carried out to test the new strategy. While doing this, it is important to establish concrete indicators that will be used for monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of the new strategy. It is at this level that the management needs to make decisions regarding the types of platforms that are to be used in the implementation of the new marketing strategy.
Such platforms may include brand activations or integrating various forms of advertising. The most important thing is the incorporation of new platforms that were not incorporated in the previous plans. Among the emerging platforms, for example, web-based social network marketing and mobile marketing has delivered in terms of reaching a larger number of people and a corresponding increase in the volume of sales than traditional marketing tools such as print media.
Similarly, sales managers should make an audit of the human resource capacity of their sales team. What sales managers should look for is the qualities, skills and capabilities among their existing sales staff that will be needed in the realization of the new strategy. At times, it is necessary to retain experienced staff members and only retrain them on the new selling techniques. The overall success of a sales force and marketing strategy can be summarized to include these three important elements.
- The first is to allow creativity and innovation to flow freely. As previously explained, the failure of a strategy can be attributed to the use of marketing or selling techniques, which though relatively effective, do not give the business the leverage it needs to beat the competition.
- The second is proper planning and paying due attention to proposed marketing and selling activities. This increases the chance that all activities will be carried out as intended. Proper management and delegation of duties ensure that timely feedback exists to provide information on all indicators in real-time for monitoring and evaluation purposes.
- Lastly, sustained focus makes up the final essential element needed to make any sales and marketing plan a success story. A typical percentage that it takes to change a buyer’s mind from their current customer is 20%. Studies have shown that if you can compete with your competitor by a difference of 20%, they will switch over to you.
The 80:20 Rule: To achieve maximum impact, the marketing plan must be clear, concise and simple. It needs to concentrate on the top 20% of products or services, and the top 20% of customers, that will account for 80% of the volume and 80% of the profit.
The 8 P's: This rule plays a large part of why a consumer will purchase a product from you. Please take these examples into consideration when selling your product or products.
- Price - The amount of money needed to purchase the product from you. Are you competitive with your current competitors?
- Product - The item that ideally satisfies a market's want or need
- Promotion (advertising) - Getting the product well-known in the marketplace
- Placement - Where the product is located and/or seen
- People - Represent the business in a positive and respectful way
- Physical environment - The ambiance, mood or tone of the environment. This will help your customers feel comfortable and want to continue buying from your organization
- Process - How do people obtain your product in a stress-free environment?
- Packaging - How the product will be protected; is it aesthetically pleasing to the eye? Like it or not, packaging is a very large reason why some people may choose your product over your competitors
While every business is different, in general, if you are selling tangible products, this model will help you. While marketing isn’t the only facet that matters, it’s a big one. If you want to learn more about turning these helpful ideas into reality, please take a look at our other articles titled, How to Sell to Consumers and How to Acquire More Customers.
