Sales – Dutch Uncles

Steps to determine whether your stock purchase is a good buy

Anju Nambiar — Fri, 10 Sep 2021 03:35:08 +0000

When the stock price of a company rises, subsequently its revenue soars. However, based solely on these factors, an investor cannot be certain that it is a worthwhile stock to invest in. You need to dive into the growth rates of the company, its challenges and valuations to determine whether the stock is worth buying.

Characteristics of a worthwhile stock

Stock exchanges are riddled with too many listings, and it may be hard for a new investor to identify a worthwhile stock. However, the following characteristics that define a good stock will help you recognise one that’s worth investing in:

A good stock comes from a company achieving consistently increasing profits. The fundamental indicators of the company will give you this information.
A good stock comes from a company with low debt. A company with low liabilities will provide higher returns.
A worthwhile stock comes from a company with a good product. If you observe the stock performance of companies with a popular product, you will realise that innovative product stocks display phenomenal performances.

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Invest in a stock only if the parent company’s cash flow report is in good health.

Steps to determine whether a stock is a good buy

Check the health of the company’s cash flow report

Invest in a stock only if the parent company’s cash flow report is in good health. By ‘good health’ we mean that the company operations must churn enough cash to cover the expenses for the cost of doing business. Extract the company’s cash flow report. If it is positive, then it’s a green signal for the investor.

Evaluate company’s profits

The profits should be solid for the company whose stock you are planning to purchase. Analyse profit growth of the company for the past 5 years in their profit and loss accounts. A worthwhile stock comes from a company that exhibits consistent growth.

Evaluate the quality of sales

Evaluate the company’s sales quality by analysing the sales turnover for the last 5 years. Has the turnover increased or depreciated? You will be able to find the answer in their profit and loss accounts. The sales revenue must have grown consistently in the last 5 years.

Check the company’s profitability

A worthwhile stock comes from a company with high profitability. Evaluate their financial ratios and choose stocks backed by high profitability figures.

Choose stocks from a company with ROA (return on asset) greater than 10% p.a. (per annum)

Calculate the ROA for the company by dividing the company’s total profit by its total assets. The ROA reflects the company’s stocks’ abilities to generate profits.

Identify good value stocks

The most worthwhile stocks gain steady growth. They are strong, and are backed by robust valuations. You can identify these value stocks by diving into the financials of the company that’s issuing the stock. The best stock buys are backed by strong and sustainable financial statements and are not overvalued.

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Digital Marketing Automation: The Step-by-Step Approach

Abhilash Bapanasha — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 10:33:43 +0000

Digital Marketing Automation promises great outcomes; more leads, conversions and sales, all with less labour. Automation-using companies have seen their leads and sales grow, delivering sales productivity of 14% and market overhead reductions of 12%. Redirect Focus, Reallocate Budget, Support Customer Interactions and Gather Meaningful Analytics are some of the strategies to integrate digital marketing automation effortlessly into your marketing strategy. In order to address these, Mr. Ram Jalan was our speaker for MentorED, a weekly live 45-minute workshop where industry veterans share their knowledge and experience and discuss topics that are apt and relevant to the start-up and small business fraternity.

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I have always experienced that marketing is always considered as a cost centre. I think it is high time we consider marketing as a revenue centre, because your reason to exist is itself a cost.

Mr. Ram Jalan has seventeen years of experience as an entrepreneur, marketer, researcher and internet evangelist. He is Co-founder of DINTW, a Marketing Automation and Consumer Neuroscience Lead Digital Company; Executive Director of a hyper local news outfit Ten News; Angel Investor in a B2B Footwear ERP platform. He has served several brands like Emami, Reliance Industries, IMImobile-UK, AskMe-Malaysia, Batelco (Bahrain) and has successfully implemented Digital Transformation Projects at Askme, Wave Group and Omaxe.

In brief, the session had insights on the following:

Reactive Marketing, Database Marketing, Targeting and Segmentation, Trigger Based Marketing, Email Marketing, Social Media and Content, Lead Management, Sales Enablement and Business Intelligence

It is all about Customer and Consequences

“Fundamentals of any marketing or any customer outreach revolves around consumer and the consequences.” As Mr. Ram Jalan opined, digital marketing automation has gained momentum in the last several years now and the pandemic has further accelerated the process. A high usage of the internet, rather demanded by adversities brought by the pandemic during the last eighteen months has made it climb slots on the ladder. “There are internet first brands who have generated more than 2000 crore revenue.” Also, there is a paradigm shift Internet pure business with zero fixed costs coupled with low ownership and more subscription approach.

With many changes taking place, it is also a time for a transformation at the organisational front. Thereafter, he listed five different forms of customers and it needs to be streamlined in which category one’s target customers are located.

Thereafter, the mentor elucidated a typical marketing model framework. “I have always experienced that marketing is always considered as a cost centre. I think it is high time we consider marketing as a revenue centre, because your reason to exist is itself a cost. From day one, you are incurring a fixed cost. Therefore, marketing should be considered as a revenue investment.” He further talked about the different stages of marketing from the awareness stage where a brand introduces oneself to the prospective customer mainly registering their presence and offering a solution.

Engagement follows awareness wherein the prospect’s information has to be collected. But that appears difficult without selling a unique or emergency product. But again, to convert the prospect into a subscriber, social media outreach is the way. An advantage that social media automation offers is brand listening which is nothing but a means to know what prospects and customers think about.

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I always feel that insource and outsource is a great marriage, you should have the right combination of resources inside who are great managers, who can manage people, who can manage partners and run the campaign.

An integrative and consistent approach – Need of the hour

“You will find a common thing across all your marketing outreach strategies that your customer journey should be mapped, then your marketing to sales to customer service should be dating with each other. They should not be working in silos, they should be interacting and then only your marketing to sales to customer service handoff will be smooth, you must have a pricing strategy. Forget those days when we used to say that one size fits all, it does not happen for any e-commerce brand.” Thus, digital marketing has to be an integrated approach with each of the channels generating revenue in unison and not in isolation.

Consistency is vital too. “If you keep switching off and switching on your car frequently, you burn more fuel. It is better to hold on to a constant campaign or a digital marketing outreach rather than switching it on and off.”

Audience Asks

For me, marketing or promotion leads to better reach, But the number of sales is very insignificant. What should I do?

That is a problem that exists. See, I do not know the category of your business, whether it is B2C or B2B. But one thing is for sure, in B2B business, the sales cycle is long. Rather than assessing immediately what is the sales conversion, I think it is very important to assess how my prospect is engaging with the brand. Are the prospects opening your emails regularly? Are the prospects engaging with you on social media, all-in-one marketing plans help you gather that information about whether the person is visiting your website. So, look at those matrices, look at those data points, before you start, try to convert the prospect and that would also see and define your buying journey, the next set of sales.

Can OTT platforms help in reaching marketing goals? Isn’t it too expensive?

OTT is a great platform. I mean, with forty-five to fifty percent of the internet users active today. Going on an OTT platform, whether it is free or paid content, you definitely have your share of eyeballs coming there. I think it is a very good alternative to get pricing, which is very expensive. For a ten second slot, what you pay on OTT, is one tenth of what you pay on television, forget about the Primetime events like IPL, etc. But it is a great platform to start. It is not expensive at all, if you look at the ROI of language.

The mentor is hopeful of the arena as an effective means of client communication that is emerging with an upward thrust. He suggested, “A low resource or trying to impose all marketing activities on one individual or two individuals does not give you optimum performance. I always feel that insource and outsource is a great marriage, you should have the right combination of resources inside who are great managers, who can manage people, who can manage partners and run the campaign.”

Watch the complete video on YouTube to get the complete idea of how to actualise it in your business.

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Buy One, Get One Free: Can BOGO be your Sales Approach?

Aakash Sharma — Thu, 20 May 2021 08:35:05 +0000

In recent years, one of the critical retailing concepts to have emerged is the ‘Buy One Get One’ model for customers or ‘Buy One Give One’ for businesses. If you go by the book, Buy One Give One, or BOGO, is a social entrepreneurial model that encourages customers to buy products while helping those in need.

Founded in 2006, the Los Angles based Toms Shoes initiated the BOGO model by donating many items to needy children in developing countries for every item sold to a customer; thus, Toms Shoes is accredited for this model. Though Toms Shoes was embraced, the model has often been criticised by consumers and businesses alike.

Advocates of the BOGO model believe that it is sustainable to add more social and business value to society. Critics argue that these measures are used as nothing more than selling opportunities by commodifying low-income families. There are also various limitations to this model. For instance, it can be a promotion and branding experience however it cannot be a long-term viable business option for new ventures.

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Consumers place a high value on brands that try to serve those in need.

Buy One Give One Sale and which Businesses Use it?

The BOGO sales structure varies by industry. Although sold as buy one, get one free, in most cases, customers get both items at a 50% discount. In some stores, customers also receive a 50% discount when purchasing only one item. Afterwards, companies send the equivalent products sold under BOGO to charity and such related causes.

Most commonly, Buy One Get One sale is witnessed in supermarkets and retail stores. Most businesses use this format to clear their inventory or marked down goods which mean items approaching expiration date. Here in India, this practise is prevalent in Reliance Retail grocery sections such as Jiomart and Reliance Smart. Stores that sell perishable items as well as Fast-Moving Consumer Goods are more likely to have this sales model.

Pros and Cons of the BOGO Model

Pros

The Buy One, Get One model is an effective way to generate cash flow. Businesses can use BOGO if they want to earn more. Often, enterprises mould the terms and conditions so that people tend to buy more products to meet the BOGO criterion, which makes more money for the company.

This model has foundational lines in its ability to help those who have a set budget for the week and for the month or are living with the budget provided by the government. Despite, not having surplus for oneself or if the consumer wants to be a part of the philanthropic act (donation), BOGO can be an option. The consumer through this model feels they have made a positive difference.

Cons

On the other hand, the BOGO model effectively destroys local businesses while going against local industry and increases local unemployment. In terms of philanthropy, people living in poverty do not benefit much from it in reality. The benefits they get generally depend on the goods rather than getting empowered. Due to this, BOGO is rendered as a mere marketing gimmick and a sales promotion propaganda.

The Larger Limits of Buy One Give One Model

Most socially responsible companies cannot succeed by providing products and services for free. It is a mistake to consider that the BOGO model can solve the problem of economic inequalities. The buy one give one model cannot explicitly differentiate between companies’ nature and category, which could compromise the company’s long-term stability. This model is not concerned with supply chain equality but creates a simple short-term selling solution.

At the end of the day, an all-embracing business sells commodities that people want while inspiring employees to do their job adequately. Evidently, buy one give one model is not a sustainable business model. Donating goods or resources does not address the core underlying causes of poverty. In fact, donating stuff for free could potentially prevent any transition to a longer-term, deeper solution by creating dependence within a beneficiary community for external help.

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Sales Forecasting: Know how to predict the future sales

Tanisha Achrekar — Tue, 04 May 2021 07:35:04 +0000

Have you ever wondered why people go to astrologers? Why is everyone interested in knowing what the future holds? My theory is we all have the fear of the unknown. Similarity, in business too, it helps to at least get an idea of what the future looks like. Without indulging in any pseudoscience, there is a practical way to approach the likelihoods of the future.

Be it knowing the demand for your products or the sales you will make next year, everything can be forecasted. Now there is no magic here, forecasting is simply done by taking into account the data of the past along with several other parameters. Read on to further understand and know more about sales forecasting.

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The more realistic sales forecasts are created, the more likelihood of a company succeeding.

What exactly sales forecasting is?

Sales forecasting is a process of estimating and predicting the sales of your business in future. Here the term ‘future’ can be any period be it monthly, annually, yearly or even half-yearly. Businesses use sales forecasting to understand the sales they are likely to make in the near future and manage the inventory and cash flow accordingly. Forecasting sales becomes furthermore important if any business is aiming for expansion.

Individual sales executives, the sales team or the overall organization conducts sales forecasting to make smart business decisions. As sales of any company impact the revenue, the profits and overall every aspect of the company directly or indirectly. The more realistic sales forecasts are created, the more likelihood of a company succeeding.

Factors that influence sales forecasting

While several internal and external factors influence the sales you are likely to make in the future. As a company, external ones may not seem in your control, but the internal ones are. Hence, it is important to take those into account while forecasting.

Economic and industrial factors

The economic trends keep on changing and so does the market of every industry. When you are forecasting you need to remember that the economic and industrial factors of the future may not be the same as that of the past. They may be better or they may be worse, but in many ways, they keep changing and evolving. Economic and industrial factors are extremely impactful for any business.

Legislative factors

For any business you run in India, there are some mandatory laws and rules you are required to adhere to. The change in the law and rules have a grave impact on your business. Also, changes in the taxation and government policies may work or not work in your favors. The sales you assumed you will make maybe overestimated or under-estimated if any legislative changes occur in the future.

Product changes and competition

As forecasting is based on the products you sold in the past. If that product does not exist in the future or has been modified, the forecasting will have to be adjusted accordingly. Also, there are competitive changes that occur in every industry from time to time. Maybe in the future, your competitors will overpower you or you will be in the lead, in any case, it will directly impact your sales numbers.

Different methods of sales forecasting

Variety is the spice of life, and definitely when it comes to sales forecasting methods variety is available in abundance. There are several ways to go about forecasting the sales of your company. While there is no best in the game, the best decision would be to create multiple sales forecasts. Choose the methods that appeal to you the most and create a range of forecasts. Eventually, you can observe and understand which method has been giving you near to accurate results for your business.

Lead-driven forecasting

Lead-driven forecasting requires you to analyze the source of each lead and assign a value to it. The value you assign here should be based on how similar leads have performed in the past. By assigning a value to each of your leads, you will get an idea of how many revenue-generating clients a lead is likely to generate.

Data-driven forecasting is susceptible to changes as there are multiple factors involved. For example, as the trends keep evolving, the lead generation strategy of your company might also change. As the number of leads and sources of leads changes, there might be a change in the customer conversion rate as well. This fluctuation and change can be handled by taking into account the latest trends and their impact on your business while calculating sales forecasting.

Opportunity stage forecasting

Opportunity stage forecasting is a type of sales forecasting where the focus is on where the prospect is in your sales pipeline. A company here needs to break down their pipeline and calculate the probabilities of the deal closing. The prospect can be anywhere from the first initial call to the final call. An analysis of the past performance is needed in this forecasting method. It is essential to get an idea of the success rate of each stage of the pipeline.

The forecasting being completely data-driven, has no guaranteed accuracy. As opportunity stage forecasting does not take into account individual characteristics. As some leads may be longer in the sales pipeline while some may be quickly converted into customers. Just like in any data-driven forecasting the catch here is the more accurate the data, the more accurate the forecasting. However, if the data is inadequate or incorrect, the numbers derived would be way off the reality.

Length of sales cycle forecasting

This method of forecasting takes into account the data that reflects the time taken to convert a lead into a revenue-generating consumer. This technique is used by several businesses as it is very objective and is not impacted by subjective factors. As the data accurately speaks for itself. Also, several sources of leads can be divided into various buckets according to the time taken to generate them.

In this method, a company that tracks how and when prospects are entering the sales pipeline will be able to forecast sales accurately. This requires your sales and marketing team to be on the same page. However, this relentless tracking that is required by your sales team can be the drawback of this method. Also, minute inaccuracies can cause inaccurate forecast numbers.

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Sales forecasting will help in predicting your sales numbers and as a business help, you make better business decisions.

Historical forecasting

In this method of sales forecasting, as the name itself suggests, you use the data of the past to estimate the sales of the future. It is calculated by taking into account previous sales data for a certain period of time. The underlying assumption here being that your future sales will be the same or better. However, there are two components ignored in this method. It does not attribute the changing condition of the market as well as the change in competition.

Historical forecasting is one of the easiest and swift ways to conduct the sales forecasting of your company. Along with any other forecast a company wishes to conduct, this one is easy and serves as a strong base, to begin with. Also, it serves great for those businesses where usually the market is not much susceptible to changes.

Test-market analysis forecasting

Forecasting using data of the past is quite handy. However, what about new businesses or new products? The test-market analysis forecasting works perfectly for such companies and products. In this forecasting, you test the waters by releasing your product to a small portion of your targeted market and see how it works. By getting the numbers in from the testing, you would know how well your product is selling to at least a part of your audience.

Based on the results of the testing, sales forecasting of the product or company can be created. However, it is important to remember that all parts of the market may not react in the same manner. This method will also give you the time to make corrections and fix any issues before the final launch. Also, this method is a great way for small businesses and SMEs to increase their brand awareness.

Sales forecasting will help in predicting your sales numbers and as a business help, you make better business decisions. The information derived from sales forecasting will prove vital as it will spot any potential issues or problems that you are likely to encounter. The data helps in a great way to understand what is working for you as a business and what needs to be changed. It helps you understand your strengths and also the potential opportunities the future holds. Sales forecasting also helps in understanding if any resources or inventories are going overused or underused. Also, a forecast report helps a company to drive performance. It gives a goal to the business overall as to how much sales they need to make in the coming weeks, month or quarter. As times evolve, the way to generate leads evolves as well. Read our article on lead generation for a better understanding of how to convert leads into sales.

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Business Development – The Only Way to go About

Tanisha Achrekar — Fri, 19 Mar 2021 04:35:04 +0000

Waking up early, exercising every day, or eating more greens are some habits that we often try to inculcate for developing and bettering ourselves. No matter in which sphere of your life these habits fall into, anything that makes you better than yesterday can be termed as personal development. Similarly, in a business, there are various sectors and departments inter-connected to one another. Whether it be the new sales technique contributing to the revenue or the new product launch that will expand your audience reach, the business overall is affected. Any action that enhances your business will fall under the umbrella of business development.

What is business development?

The term business development is often used unclearly and the meaning changes according to the conversation. People often mistaken business development as something to do with sales. While definitely sale is a part of business development, is just one of the many spectrums of it. Business development is for all those ideas, plans, strategies, and activities that improve a business and makes it better than before. It can be defined as the process of creating long-term value for an organisation through its customers, markets, and relationships. Some of the day-to-day activities in your company that can be termed as business development are –

Brainstorming and coming up with new ideas for your business.
The sales teams working on how to get more customers.
The product development team enhancing an existing product.
Conducting market research for better understanding and expansion.
Improving and nurturing relationships with customers.

Some of these business development practices may be one department’s work. On the other hand, some are inter-linked activities involving several departments.

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The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.

- Vince Lombardi

What business development looks like in different areas of business?

Different departments take care of different things in the business. So, business development in each of them also looks different. Read on to know more about what it looks like in different areas of business-

Strategic partnerships
Strategic alliances and partnerships are a great way to grow your business and take it forward. Whether you are entering a new market or want to take your products international, partnerships can play a fruitful role. Here the legal and finance teams are an obvious part of the process. Along with them, here the business development team also comes into the picture. It will help you to weigh the pros and cons of your decision along with seeing the available partnerships options.

Sales
The sales team is focused on creating opportunities through market expansion, leads and bringing in product development along with diversity. The goals set by the sales department are in line with business development and the strategic objectives of the company. For example, the sales team is selling only locally and plans to expand in several other cities. Along with accessing the potential sales opportunities, a part of the business development will involve conducting research on these potential markets. At the end of the day, if your expansion is bringing more cost than profits, it is worth re-consideration.

Finance
At the end of the day, businesses run on profits and finance is a potent part of any business. The role of business development here would be to incorporate cost savings and minimise expenditure as much as possible. While the sales pipeline might have several existing opportunities, it is vital to also consider the cost incurred in turning those leads into sales. For example, the grocery store has several channels of distributors contacting them every day. While the grocery store owner will consider the quality, the price point can be a deal-breaker regarding who gets the distributorship.

Product management
Business development activities that go across borders need a lot of work to be put in especially regarding the markets and products. Such works usually need the involvement of project management, legal and manufacturing departments to work collectively. Developing a business by taking it international requires a lot of planning and effective execution.

Entrepreneurial or managerial level
No matter what business you run, communication is a part and parcel of it. As an entrepreneur, you need to communicate on an everyday basis with several people. Having expertise in your soft skills is needed in several matters. Whether it is coordinating with your employees, networking with potential clients or negotiating with customers, all are a part of the business development initiatives that you take at an entrepreneurial or managerial level. Any business development plan begins at this stage as it is the beginning of an expansion plan.

Marketing
The way a business grows and develops through its marketing team is by attracting prospects. The marketing team helps in expanding the business of an existing saturated market. A new market will lead to new customers and therefore a new revenue that did not exist before. The business development here will include analysing the market deeply, knowing the target audience, observing the existing competition alongside seeing the overall need for your product or service.

Vendor management
When you are planning to expand and grow your business, you need to consider the need for external vendors. Collaborating and managing these external vendors will have a cost associated with it. Also, there are several things to consider before finalizing the vendor and streamlining the entire process. This is where the business development team will take matters into their own hands and clear things up.

While conducting several activities in a business, the development team needs to ensure that they are adhering to fair practices and abiding by corporate governance. Be it the corporate social responsibilities or the business ethics set by the organisation, both need to be followed. Conducting work with utmost ethics will lead to an increase in trust of both external and internal people that are associated with the development team.

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Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.

- Jim Rohn

Why is business development needed?

Irrespective of the departments and roles, everyone is a part of an organisation’s business development. While some are hired to only cater to specific goals, others may need to juggle between their responsibilities. Being an inevitable part of the grind, below are the key goals of any business development:

Expansion of business
The business development goal is to expand the existing clientele and increase its reach as much as possible. Expansion may be physical or even virtual. For a local business attempting to take its first step in e-commerce, the expansion would be more virtual. Whereas, for some expansion would be an increase in mass production to meet more demand and negotiate raw materials prices due to an increase in quantity. Your business can expand in several ways depending upon the prevailing opportunities.

Better relationships with the consumers
The consumer is the king and the sooner the needs of consumers are met, the more likely they will keep opting for your products/services. The goal of any business development plan is in the end to retain the existing customers while bringing more in. This goal cannot be achieved if your relationship with your consumers needs some work. Evolving and improving the relationship with your consumers is an integral part of developing and expanding your business. Business development activities would look like coming up with ways to address consumers’ complaints and questions, training the customer service team and reducing the response time so consumers’ queries are addressed quickly.

Boost in profits
More profits equal to more funds. These additional funds can be utilised by your company to further invest in expanding your business. Whenever any business plan is formulated, in the initial planning stage itself it is considered how will the development profit the business. While some plans take time initially, they may have huge benefits in the long haul. Expansion of the market, introducing new products to the existing one or reducing the cost incurred in the production are some ways of boosting profits. Anything that reduces operational costs or increases sales is aligned with the business development goal of increasing profits.

Efficiently conducting operations
A business cannot reach heights by conducting lousy operations. Business operations running efficiently is aligned with all other goals of business development. This is because it directly impacts the customers, the profits and the course of expansion. Employees are more of an investment than an expense in a company as man force is needed in conducting most business operations. Bringing in talented employees, optimum machines and a well-versed manager will lead to the smooth and efficient functioning of any and every department in the company.

It is difficult to boil down a vast and narrow concept like business development into a thing or two. Any activity in your business that is adding value to it, in the long run, will account for business development. With the new ideas and transformation, the entire ecosystem of your business will witness overall growth. The development plan of any business needs to be aligned with its core objectives. Read our article on “business objectives” to know how you can set clear and well-established objectives for your venture.

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Lead Generation: An Art of Converting Curiosity into Sales

Tanisha Achrekar — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 03:47:54 +0000

Whether you have a newly established business or a successful one since generations, you will be constantly working on expanding your customer base. It is difficult for any business to grow and expand without new customers. One of the best ways of growing your business is accessing sales leads to get more customers. Read on to know more about leads generation –

What is a lead?

A lead constitutes anyone who has shown an interest in the product or service that you are selling. It can be a person, group of people or even a company. If you are a B2B business your targeted customers may be other organisations or sole proprietors whereas, if you are a B2C company, your target audience are likely to be individuals. Leads can be broadly classified in two ways:

Inbound leads

Generating inbound leads is a slow and organic process. The word-of-mouth reviews we give to our friends of a product/service is an example of inbound lead. With time, the inbound lead has become quite modern and upgraded. The posters and flyers made by designers and hosting exhibitions to communicate to a vast group of potential customers are all inbound leads. Even the popular referral and loyalty programs on various websites are a form of inbound lead.

Outbound leads

The notifications of offers and sales you get on your smartphone by Myntra, Amazon and such e-commerce sites are an example of outbound leads. It is an approach where leads are initiated to potential customers. The consumers here are contacted even though they have not voluntarily asked for it or showed any interest in a product/service. Outbound leads is a traditional approach compared to inbound leads. Back in the days, those telemarketing phone calls were also a way of generating outbound leads.

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Sales is not about selling anymore, but about building trust and educating.

- Siva Devaki

What does lead generation mean?

Lead generation is simply finding ways to get more customers. It is all about attracting potential customers to increase the sales of your organisation. Lead generation is an integral part of the sales process of any company. The intention of it is to gain the customer’s attention and their contact information to eventually make a potential sale. An independent survey conducted by Prospex.ai in the UK found that more than 58 percent of businesses face challenges in lead generation.

Lead generation earlier was limited to people selling door-to-door, conducting exhibitions or calling landlines. With the advent of digitalisation, lead generation has also witnessed an evolution. There are tons of digital channels used to general leads now. The Internet has made it possible to create effective leads using more specific information. Earlier, it was unsaid practice for sales representatives to educate potential buyers on their product/service. Nowadays all consumers have abundant information available on their fingertip immediately. A Google search or a YouTube video is enough for a buyer to know about a product/service these days. From traditional sales pitches, most companies are focused now on generating a strong internet presence.

What are the steps towards lead generation?

It is vital for your sales team to know how to go about generating leads. There are three primary phases involved in lead generation in the form of a funnel.

Awareness and discovery

On the top of the funnel is the first phase – awareness and discovery. The prospective consumers here have just got to know about the product/service. As a sales representative, it is important to create a long-lasting impression while introducing your product.

Interest and engagement

After the first phase, the second phase will be narrow as it will be focused on creating interest and engagement. Here you need to stand apart from the competition, to gain the consumer’s attention.

Decide, Buy and Adopt

This is the last phase of the lead generation funnel. The consumer is already interested in your product and well-informed about it. Now it is all about winning them and compelling them to buy your product/service. Use your USP to your advantage by encouraging the customer to make a purchase.

Why is lead generation so important?

The obvious reason why generating leads is important is to gain customers. These customers in turn increase the sales and profit of your company. Apart from these obvious ones, several other key benefits of lead generation include:

Creates brand awareness

One of the ways leads are generated is by creating blog posts, social media engagements and several other advertisements. It does generate leads but it also builds brand awareness. Your advertisement and promotions directly create an image of how people view your company.

Targeted nurturing

When you are generating leads the initiatives that you take also help in nurturing them. For example, a person downloads your brochure and after reading through it is keen to buy your product or opt for your service. In such cases, you have successfully managed to generate and nurture your lead simultaneously.

Product enhancement

When you are generating leads, you will have customer interactions. This will give you data regarding what is working for your products/services. You can use this information to enhance your product.

Competitive analysis

Lead generation activities do include conducting competitive analysis. This analysis helps in understanding how competitors are attracting customers. The strategies that they are conducting, the language they are using and their outbound and inbound activities. Along with generating leads here, you get a competitive analysis also.

How to create a successful lead generation process?

Generating a stream of leads is vital for any business to prosper and grow in the long run. There are several ways to go about in creating successful leads. Below are some tips that will help you while creating them –

Pick your target audience

Knowing who your target audience establishes the base of your lead. To successfully reach your customer and sell your products, you first need to know who your target audience is. Conduct research and gather data to find who you want to sell your product/service to.

Use Social Media to Connect and Engage

We live in a world where everything it’s all about “graming it.” Whether it is people’s political views or the vacation they took everything is available on their social media. Social media is a great tool for connecting with your target audiences. Along with promotions like giveaways, you can also conduct polls on your different products and get their views. Get on with your marketing team and figure out ways to use social media effectively.

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How you sell is more important than what you sell.

- Andy Paul

Use Email newsletters to your advantage

After getting in contact with a potential customer, the next step is to contact them to turn the lead into sales. A consistent and not so in the face way to do so is through email newsletters. It is a consistent way of communicating with your prospects without bothering them.

Choose promotional methods wisely

A promotional plan is needed for generating leads to get your products and services in front of your potential customers. There are several ways to target your audience to promote your business. Rather than indulging in all of it at once, be selective with the methods you choose to apply.

Stand out of the crowd

If you shop online, you may be aware of the typical emails that you receive constantly from e-commerce sites. You know they are those typical ones and you may not bother to even open them. However, if you receive an email that has a compelling subject and seems personalized rather than just a system-generated one, you are bound to be curious about it. Find ways to make your leads stand out from the rest of the typical one to win the attention of your targeted audiences.

Conduct research

Conducting research is a must before generating any leads. Do your homework about your customers, your industry, your products, your competitors, and the current challenges that exist. It will make creating leads a lot easier when you know what is happening in your industry.

Use sales signals

Converting leads into sales takes weeks and even months in some cases. Use sales signals like calling, sending out emails, creating demos, and other ways of communicating with potential customers. Also, sales signals will help you in understanding the potential your current lead holds. The potential customer’s next action will help you in knowing where exactly is your lead in the process.

Lead generation is an efficient system and a long-term continual process. Generating successful leads will make the rest of the sales process quite smooth and productive. Set up a well-streamlined process of lead generation and you will see an increase in your business growth. Also, read our article on ‘sales pitch’ to further enhance your sales and profits.

The post Lead Generation: An Art of Converting Curiosity into Sales appeared first on Dutch Uncles.

Why is Facility Location Planning Important?

Kiran Kennedy — Sat, 16 Jan 2021 10:11:54 +0000

When you go to the beach on a crowded day, you try to find the best spot to sit in. You look for an area that is not too crowded, but not too isolated. It should be just the right distance from the snack stalls as well as the ocean. The same concept applies in business when you are looking for the right place to set up shop – finding the facility location in the market that will give your business the best chance of success.

What Is Facility Location Planning And Why Is It Needed?

As the name might suggest, it is the process of finding and establishing the ideal geographical location for a facility. A facility in this case is generally a structure dedicated to a certain aspect of your business, be it sales or manufacturing or storage. This also includes facilities that provide a certain set of goods and/or services. The process is focused on placing these establishments in areas that would drive up the chances of commercial success and give that specific facility a competitive edge.

Apart from the fact that it provides a significant economic advantage, a business could find that there is a need for planning for several other reasons. For one, it could be because it already has a facility and is looking to expand or even relocate to an area that has a more active customer base. Planning is mainly needed for reducing the cost of transport and production. It should be close enough to the source of raw materials as well as the market to which the finished products will be sent.

Of course, this may not always be the case and the reasons could vary depending on the industry and other socio-economic factors. For examples, if the market was down in a particular area due to lack of customers, then the business would have to relocate to a place that was more responsive to its efforts.

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The growth of a business directly depends on its location. You can only have a successful business where people have a need that has to be met and somewhere accessible.

A Step-By-Step Guide On How To Identify The Facility Location

Step 1: Come up with a location analysis

Before setting out to find your future business locality, you need to assess the different factors that could affect the location’s decision. This gives you an initial idea about the limitations and boundaries within which you can do your search and it helps narrow down the entire process. There are two types of factors that you need to consider:

Controllable factors

- - Proximity to the market.
  - Supply of raw materials.
  - Access to transportation.
  - The availability of supporting infrastructure.
  - Ability to pay labour wages and the availability of said labour in the area.
  - Availability of finances to run the facility.
  - The type of industry you are active in.

Uncontrollable factors

- - Government policies.
  - Unpredictable or unfavourable climate conditions.
  - The lack of supporting industries or infrastructure in the area.
  - The community’s perception of the business.
  - Any competitors that exist or may come to exist in that location anywhere in the near future.

Based on the nature of the industry the business is in, the company needs to highlight and assign a weight to each one of those factors. The ranking is usually on a scale of ‘0’ to ‘1’, which indicates least important and most important respectively. This helps identify which are the factors that will most likely affect the search for your location and what you should consider before settling on any one location.

**Step 2: Find the ‘centre of gravity’**

Simply put, it is finding the right location relative to other locations. A centre of gravity in this context means to reduce the cost of transportation by determining the ideal location for the facility.

The cost of transportation depends mainly on the distance the materials and products need to be moved, the weight of the items and the time it takes to move it. By mapping out the location of the different suppliers in the area, the distance to the market and the distance to the facility from the suppliers, the centre-of-gravity technique allows you to find the most centralised location that would bring down overall transportation costs.

Step 3: Establish a backup plan

It is not a guarantee that even after all your research and analysis that your first choice will be finalised. As mentioned before there are unexpected and uncontrollable factors that may affect the end-decision and cause last-minute ripples. Having said that, you should come up with a couple of alternative locations, based on the same two steps mentioned above.

Keeping the criteria uniform ensures that the backup locations will more or less be ideal for the new facility once finalised.

Step 4: Time to make a decision

Once you have all the information at your disposal, make the choice and get to work. Remember, the location you choose should complement the type of industry the business is involved in.

Step 5: Visualise and execute

This step revolves around the actual manifestation of the idea. Turn the plans for the facility into a visual three-dimensional model or display based on the location and size of the area the facility is to be set up in. This process helps you evaluate the effectiveness of the facility and where improvements can be made before the business is operational.

Types Of Facilities To Consider When Planning

There are generally three categories into which facilities can be categorised. Consider these divisions and see which area your new business establishment falls into, as each section comes with its own set of challenges and advantages.

Heavy manufacturing facilities: These are the large commercial factories that you see on TV. They occupy an enormous amount of space and are very heavy on the cost in terms of maintenance and energy expenditure. You also have to hire a large number of people to help operate these behemoths. If your business falls into these categories you should prepare a significant budget to run the business for a minimum of 18 months where you might not see a profit.

Light industry facility: On the other end of the manufacturing spectrum, we have these light industries that operate on a much smaller scale. They specialise in products that are not so capital intensive, for example, matchboxes, spectacles, small electronic gadgets, kitchen utensils and so on.

Due to their smaller size, they have smaller maintenance and operating costs as well. These types of facilities are more customer-oriented as opposed to the large-scale mass production of the heavy industrial facilities. It would make more sense to have them located closer to your customer base and local retail stores where the products can be purchased.

Retail and service facilities: The last broad category to consider is retail or service facilities. These are essentially all your grocery stores, supermarkets, bakeries and restaurants. Compared to the other two categories, this type of facility is the smallest and least costly, relatively speaking. Being that its main function is to service the customer directly, it should be located right where the customers are.

Urban and suburban areas are great locations for these types of establishments. It also means that you need to select an area based on the amount of competition you may face there.

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It stands to reason that the type of facility you choose depends entirely on the type of business, and it is possible to have a hybrid of these facilities depending on your needs.

To sum up

Yes, this entire process of pre-planning the location of your new establishment is one that is centred on cost-saving and gaining an edge in the market. It does, however, come with its share of problems. Despite all the planning, if something were to unexpectedly go awry, for example, the COVID pandemic-lockdown, then that location would be compromised and all the planning and time invested in that one location goes to waste.

Another thing to watch out for – you cannot move locations often as this will be very cost heavy on the company. So, no matter what the location or business, you should anticipate as best you can for all the benefits and downfalls before proceeding with the location for the facility. At the end of the day, it all comes down to two things – the data from the planning and the nature of the business/facility. The point of these facilities is to be so ideally placed that they help develop the sales network of the business.

Read our article on sales development to learn more about how you can turn your business facility into a highly effective point of operations and sales.

The post Why is Facility Location Planning Important? appeared first on Dutch Uncles.

9 Lead Generation Challenges and How to Solve Them

Avijit Dutta — Sat, 16 Jan 2021 08:18:14 +0000

In the article- First Step to Generate Leads: Key Perspectives You Can’t Miss -we have set the context within which any digital marketing efforts play out. We have also identified three different segments of sellers based on the effort they can afford vis-a-vis the LTV they stand to gain in their respective business models. We have also drawn three different kinds of sales organisations that are required to address these three very different needs. In this, we will discuss about how to solve commonly faced lead generation challenges.

The three segments of sellers and successively three different kinds of sales organisations were:

1. No-touch lead generation for B2C
2. Low-touch inside sales for SMB
3. High-touch enterprise lead generation for large enterprises.

Here are the top nine lead generation challenges across these three categories.

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Every company should realise, no matter what is their end product or service, they are in a media business.

Top 9 Lead Generation Challenges

No-touch Lead Generation (B2C)

1. 1. 1. Poor content on website, landing page, blog, vlog
    2. High bounce rate
    3. Improper targeting
    4. Low or no virality in content

Low-touch Inside Sales Lead Generation (SMB)

1. 1. 1. Calls going unanswered
    2. No show for demo
    3. Unable to reach a decision-maker

High-touch Enterprise Lead Generation (Enterprise)

1. 1. Unable to reach a decision-maker
  2. Inability to establish credibility as a thought leader

No-Touch Lead Generation (B2C): Poor Content On Website, Landing Page, Blog, Vlog

Every company should realise, no matter what is their end product or service, they are in a media business. By that, I mean having a great product will not be enough for the incumbent to win in a given market. A good product is a ‘given’ in today’s marketplace. What is equally important is how, where and from whom your end-users discover you and your product.

With penetration of broadband and now 5G networks, expectations of customers are way beyond just a good product. Even the buying experience is part of the deal. Therefore, content rules the game. Your digital assets such as your website, campaign landing pages, product landing pages, content on social media, YouTube etc have become too ‘expensive’ to be ignored. Let’s discuss a few common mistakes vis-a-vis the best practices around such components of a lead machine.

- - Website content should be communicating the value proposition clearly and succinctly without triggering a doubt in the minds of a reader. Omit all the superfluous words. Cover the problem your product is solving, and for whom. Then answer this question why you? Take some time to differentiate from the other players in the market and justify your claim by using social proofs such as verifiable testimonials (consider G2.com) of satisfied customers.
  - Landing Pages should be optimised for intent. The content and design on the landing page should be commensurate with those in your website as well as other social media. Your brand identity and voice should serve as a guide. The form is the key element in a landing page. Have great design and text that appeal to prospects to share information. You may consider 3rd party SaaS products such as leadformly.com, unbounce.com etc. if you struggle with aesthetic design.
  - On Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Q&A forums such as Quora, Yahoo answers you should be prompt in response. Your messages on these platforms create engagement with your audience. Use these opportunities to consolidate your brand story, voice, themes and values. Use marketing automation platforms (HubSpot, Hootsuite, etc) to manage all social handles from a single source of truth. Moreover, social media management serves as a lever for managing the online reputation of your brand (ORM). Consider tools such as Google Alerts, Social Mention, Trakur etc.
  - Vlogs / Podcasts / Blogs serve many purposes for a brand. It can drive engagement, help build a community, establish the brand as a thought leader besides being a point of talk in the town hence bringing in a share of the attention of your target users. In other words, these are lead generating machines that ask very little in return. Only ask is the regular posting of relevant and valuable content without sounding salesy. Offer people genuine value and they offer you word-of-mouth.

No-Touch Lead Generation (B2C): High Bounce Rate

If you are spending a lot of marketing dollars on getting traffic on your landing page but the bounce rate is way too high, think about what you are promising on your marketing hooks (e.g., social media bytes, paid marketing copy etc) and what the landing page has to offer. Your content communication on all the platforms has to be in sync.

There could be other reasons for low conversion on a landing page, some of those are technical some are related to design and communication. You may want to take help from other SaaS platforms who have solved specific problems in the value chain. For example, if you can’t design a great lead form it makes sense to get it done from places such as leadformly.com who focus only on building great forms that increase conversion.

No-Touch Lead Generation (B2C): Improper Targeting

Today, digital marketing tools allow us to target for the niches without spending too much. This was not the case earlier. Today you may reach a super idiosyncratic audience (meaning, say, a group of people with rare taste) easily without incurring a lot of cost, making your niche product a viable one. This was unthinkable ten years back. The market only had hits and misses. Today we have hits and niches. The point of sharing all these is that no market is too small today if you can target them well. You have to unmistakably pin down where in the long tail of the market your offerings exist.

Another common mistake committed in digital funnel building tactics is to become greedy in attracting a lot of people. If you use too broad keywords in your targeting filters which eventually end up in putting a lot of irrelevant ‘leads’ in the funnel eventually increase the cost per acquisition often to unsustainable levels. Therefore, adopt a mindset of experimentations and iterate through your selection of keywords to arrive at those few razor-sharp keywords that ensure winning paid customers.

No-Touch Lead Generation (B2C): Low Or No Virality In Content

One unmistakable feature of some of the most successful brands in this segment is the ability to develop viral content consistently. The logic is fairly simple. Since the LTV does not allow for a lot of spend on customer acquisition, there has to be some other lever for growth. Viral content serves that role exceedingly well.

However, there is a catch, virality is often unpredictable or at least so is common knowledge. Having said that if your content research is thorough you should be able to find a fuzzy zone of content that is likely to go viral if executed well and in time. Things go viral for many reasons but let me offer the top two: they tickle your funny bone for no good reason, or they offer outstanding value at unthinkable price or no price. Therefore, you may want to keep some effort in that direction so that your content strategy increases your odds of hitting a jackpot once in a while.

Low-Touch Inside Sales Lead Generation (SMB): Calls Going Unanswered

You got a lead from your online campaign. The prospect has shared his email and phone number. However, she doesn’t respond to further nudges like a phone call, SMS, email etc. You seem to have caught a ‘dead-fish’, or is it?

There may be many reasons why a person is not taking or returning a call. Your number may be listed as spam on true caller, she may be busy, she might not notice that you called or she might not be simply interested in your product but only the information she gathered by sharing her email and phone number.

The solution may lie in automation. You might want to put her on decently spaced (not 5 calls in a day, maybe 1 call in alternate days for three times before you disqualify the lead) automated voice calls with an option to connect to a real human. You might send her a nice short and crisp email with some additional value (like a newsletter, an eBook, some lucky draw, etc) and hope she comes back. Many won’t but those who would are likely to be more qualified leads.

Low-Touch Inside Sales Lead Generation (SMB): No Show For Demo

If your product requires a demo before sale then you know how maddening scheduling and calendar management can become for your sales reps.

Firstly, delegate the scheduling task to the lead by using platforms such as Calendly with pre-decided slots for each of your sales reps. This will save an enormous amount of time for the sales reps so that they can focus on the ones who are investing their times on the demo.

Don’t forget to send automated reminders for the upcoming demo. Take these opportunities (reminder notifications) to pep the prospect up by giving more content that invokes curiosity in attending your product demo.

If somebody has not shown up for a demo even after you have applied all the previously mentioned tactics, you may put them on an automated email list for follow up for a reasonable duration and forget about her till she returns. In all these communications, show empathy, personalise your message and offer genuine value. Again, content is king here. It is not what you reach out to people with but how you reach out ensures response.

Low-Touch Inside Sales Lead Generation (SMB): Unable To Reach A Decision-Maker

It might so happen to an inside sales team that the prospect took a demo, showed interest in following up the deal but then takes forever to close. These are signals that she might not be the decision maker in the organisation. She might have forwarded the proposal to her manager or the business owner, in case of an SMB and then nothing happens. How do you avoid such traps?

If you find yourself in such a situation, then pause and go back to your SQL questionnaire (Sales Qualified Lead). If you are wondering what such a questionnaire is, time to buckle up and make one. When a sales rep gets a marketing qualified lead (MQL), the first thing she does is run the lead through a series of qualification which validates that they have a need that can be served by your product, you know who is the decision maker and who is the influencer/user in the organisation, and most importantly you are including the decision maker in your demo.

If you don’t follow this process it is extremely likely that the sales will take a very long time to close, if at all. So, be alert in the early phase of lead qualification to save time and energy later.

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If you are wondering what a questionnaire is, time to buckle up and make one.

High-Touch Enterprise Lead Generation (Enterprise): Unable To Reach A Decision-Maker

Most things mentioned in 2.c above applied here. Additionally, in case of a large enterprise, the approval hierarchy might be even longer and you might have to give the same demo to multiple people.

To save time you might deploy an asynchronous sales tactic, especially these days where everything is remote it is not necessary that all the decision makers are in the same room at the same time. In that, the sales rep shares some documentation and preferably a recorded video demo with the prospects. They can review/watch it in their own time (therefore asynchronously), note their questions and you may take their questions or objections on a separate call.

This structure along with a meticulously planned content is much more likely to yield you results.

High-Touch Enterprise Lead Generation (Enterprise): Inability To Establish Credibility As A Thought Leader

To an enterprise client coming out as a thought leader in your own product niche plays a significant role in sales closure. The ticket size is high, the reliability on your product is also high hence the impact of a failure or things going wrong is significant for the enterprise. For these reasons enterprise buyers always look for established service providers with proven history of performance. The way they assess these are through peer reviews, validations by other larger enterprises (social proof) and the seller’s position in the market in terms of thought leadership within the product niche.

In such high-ticket sales, it is even more important to include in communications detailed case studies with previous clients, white papers, any IP, patents etc related to the product niche well documented.

In Summary

In these two articles we have explored the context of digital marketing with a focus on lead generation, we have articulated the top channels for digital outreach, we have logically segmented the market as per three dominant sales organisational structures, and finally we have discussed top nine challenges in lead generation across the three sales organisational structures and explored few logical solutions for same.

The post 9 Lead Generation Challenges and How to Solve Them appeared first on Dutch Uncles.

Sales Pitch Fundamentals: Sharpening Your First Impression

DU Desk — Sun, 27 Dec 2020 22:11:17 +0000

Wherever you go nowadays you are bombarded with one sales pitch after another. Whether we are at the grocery store or a train station. Someone is always trying to sell you something. It has become such a frequent thing that most of these sales pitches get blocked out or become a sort of white noise that we just push to the background. What if you were the one trying to do the selling? How would you go about doing it? Let us have a look at what you need to do to successfully execute a sales pitch and stand out from the crowd.

What Is A Sales Pitch And Why Is It Important?

At its core, it is the announcement to the world, letting everyone know who you are, what you represent and what you bring to the table. Think of it like advertising your debut. If you are looking for a more by-the-book definition, then it is essentially a short presentation to the general public or potential stakeholders. It lets any future customers or investors know who you are and sells your brand in a way that will make them want to invest time and money in your business.

It is important because, in the world of business, a product or service needs to be marketed and advertised amongst the audience before it can be sold. After you deliver the initial sales pitch, you will get a certain amount of feedback. The feedback will let you know how marketable said product or service is. Only when you know whether something will succeed can you invest in it, otherwise the business takes the hit in terms of lost revenue and brand value.

It Is A Formula, Not A Natural Skill

The thing about a sales pitch is, at the end of the day, it comes down to being able to talk to people. It is as simple as that. On the other hand, it has many layers and techniques to it that make this simple concept a challenging task to execute without the right tools. You will often hear the phrase “He is a natural salesperson.” The truth is, no one is a natural salesperson – true some people are naturally charismatic and excel at interpersonal communication skills, but for the most part, it is a learnt skill.

The best sales reps have a developed and perfected formula that is repeatable and flexible for several different situations. That is how they win over the audience every time. They market the brand or the product to solve a problem, rather than trying to sell a solution. That is to say, they suggest different applications and scenarios where it can be used and let the customer make up their minds rather than forcing the solution on them. They try and understand the customers and approach them as people rather than the bottom line of their monthly quota.

The Essentials Of A Solid Sales Pitch

Research and create a hook

Even before you can think about pitching a product you need to do your homework. Think of the sales pitch as the stage where you try to get the green light for the product or service and this as the research stage to see if that effort of pitching the idea will pay off. You need to have a product or service that addresses a direct need for the consumer or investor. You must present a clear and concise plan in a very limited amount of time. People want to see that your brand can take this idea forward and scale it up. They also want to see how creatively you solve that problem. A good place to start is to look at what your competition is doing, set that as the baseline of the minimum you need to achieve and then build on top of that. Standing out is key.

Another aspect that the research helps you identify is the ratio of left-brain to right-brain thinkers in your audience. Left-brained people are more inclined towards facts and analytics, the right is more visual and takes the ideas in better if it is more graphically engaging. Knowing the ratio lets you adjust the sales pitch accordingly so everyone in the audience is equally engaged.

Try to have a conversation

When thinking of a sales pitch you might envision a man in a suit standing in front of a crowd or a board-room of investors giving a short PowerPoint presentation. While this is often the case, it does not make for a very appealing interaction. If you want to convince people you have a good idea, talk to them. Engaging in a dialogue with the audience is much better than monologuing and gives you valuable feedback on how the idea comes across off the bat.

This process helps sharpen the point of the sales pitch – identifying a feasible way to give the buyer what they want. At any point in this interaction if someone has a concern or a question try to back it up with facts and figures. People appreciate the concrete evidence; it gives them confidence that the product or service can work and is worth investing in.

Make some waves

Many times you will see repetitive sales pitches. What the audience and investors look for is something innovative that will revolutionise the market. Keep in mind that investors will be pouring in a significant amount of their money into your idea so it is important to give them something that is guaranteed to work out. Beyond that, you need to provide them with clear advantages that it will have over the competition and back it up with facts. Investors need to be able to see the marketability of the product or service.

A Few Good Ways To Stay Ahead Of The Competition:

- - Do surveys and talk to potential customers.
  - Read online reviews of your competition.
  - Get in on the latest trends by jumping in on social media groups and other online platforms.
  - Do keyword research and look into the latest in AdWords being used.

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The sales pitch is more dependent on people skills than on technical know-how. Master communication and you will breeze through sales pitches.

Proof Of Concept

This point is linked to the previous one. Showing people that this idea is a logical move and is worth investing in. One way to achieve this proof is to create a prototype of the product or a demonstration of the service. This not only shows the proof of concept, but it also displays the amount of research and thought behind the idea. This will improve their confidence in said idea.

Another way to provide proof is to do a focus group. A focus group is generally a group of people from various demographic backgrounds that are gathered to give all-round feedback on a particular subject. Conducting research this way helps determine how people in the market might respond to your idea. It has the same outcome as a survey, just on a much smaller scale.

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A sales pitch is not a one-off thing. It is a continuous process that needs care and attention in order to make sure the project comes through.

Follow-Up

Most sales pitches often go unheard if it is just a one-time thing. Yes, the initial pitch will help move the project forward when it comes to that board-room of investors, but what happens when it is to a public body? Your customers are not just your customers, they are bombarded by millions of suggestions, advertisements, brands and other sales pitches every day. To stand out in this chaos you need to be persistent and consistent.

Be persistent because the turnover rate increases after every follow up to the first conversation. This is why you see companies spamming their clients with email after email, chances are one of those who will grab the customers’ attention and get a response. In terms of being consistent, you need to stay on brand. Stick to the message you intended throughout the different attempts to reach out and engage, showing a consistent set of values and quality. This sends the message that your brand is not only actively engaging the customers, it is also reliable.

Having said that, it all just comes down to simple ‘marketing’, whether it is a product, a service or a brand launch, you need to sell it. It is true what they say, “The first impression is the best impression.”

The post Sales Pitch Fundamentals: Sharpening Your First Impression appeared first on Dutch Uncles.

The 7Ps of Marketing: The Foundation Your Business Sorely Needs

DU Desk — Fri, 18 Dec 2020 07:07:55 +0000

All your life, you had a dream to open a restaurant or start a new family business, something small but sustainable like a grocery store, that will pull in some income and ensure the security for your children and family over time. But the problem is you have never started a business, and the competition seems heavy in the area. People seem to prefer the big brands to your local, rather unknown brand. What do you do now? You cover the basics!

A strong foundation is the key to a successful business, and in this article we will cover what you need to achieve that. It all starts at the concept called ‘Marketing Mix’.

The Marketing Mix is essentially a business tool, which is used by industry players and business owners to help determine what exactly the product or brand is offering. Call it a plan before the plan, that aids in understanding the layout of what the business will be about. Now to properly understand how the Marketing Mix works, one needs to know ‘The 7ps of Marketing’. Originally conceived by E. Jerome McCarthy, in his book ‘Basic Marketing A Managerial Approach (1960)’, it was coined as the ‘The 4ps of Marketing’.

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In order to get the customers' attention, your brand needs to be very clear in terms of what it is offering them. Think of marketing mix as the right balance of elements for the perfect marketing recepie.

The Original 4Ps Of The Marketing Mix

Product

This is exactly what it sounds like, it is the physical product or service that the business offers to the customers, that is expected to perform a specific role. The product should live up to the expectation and give the customers exactly what they came looking for in the first place.

Price

A company or business’s ultimate goal is to make a profit and the best way to do that is to reduce production and manufacturing cost of the product. The aim is to find the right balance between providing a low-cost product/service while maintaining the quality and value of that product/service, to increase the perceived value of that product in the eyes of the customer. That is to say, give them value for their money. A core concept in profitable marketing is to provide such quality, that the customer is usually happy to pay extra.

Place

Convenience is the name of the game here. The service or product should reach customers where it is easiest for them to get it. This could be at a shopping mall where a lot of people come and go, or now in the case of COVID, through online pre-ordering and delivery services, to make them feel safe and secure while still having access to the product.

A good example of this is Swiggy, having re-branded their delivery services as sanitary, safe and easy – straight to your door. This screams of convenience and minimal effort from the customer’s side, while simultaneously appealing to their concern for safety.

Promotion

A business is nothing without its promotion (advertisement). This refers to all the different marketing tools that communicate your brand’s purpose and product to the masses in an efficient and wide-spread manner to provide the most reach. It can be print advertisements, social media posts, word-of-mouth sales, online marketing, e-mail marketing or even public relations to name a few. The point is to get the business’s name out into the world in a fast and effective way.

The Evolution Into The 7Ps

Given that these ‘Ps of Marketing’ were conceived in the 60s it stands to reason that the times have changed since then and will continue to change. This being the case, the marketing world as a whole believed that it was about time that these principles were updated. This led to the addition of the last 3Ps that make up a total of 7ps. In 1981 two economists by the name of Bernard H. Booms and Mary J. Bitner saw how effective the 4ps were and sought to add value to it in the evolving market situation of the time. They formulated the points: People, Process and Physical Evidence.

These principles were added as an extension of the original four and are seen as the ideal list of directives (a check-list) needed for a polished approach to the ideal business strategy. It is also known as service methodology because that’s the approach that most, if not all businesses take today in terms of their approach to applying these directives.

The focus is, as it should be, on the service to the customer because a business without customers is not business at all. Don’t let this confuse you, it all means the same thing. It’s about customer satisfaction and to what lengths the business should and could go to provide that service of quality.

The Extended List

People

A business is only as strong as the people who help run it every day. This includes everyone from the CEO to the receptionist at the front desk. It refers to all the people who work to promote the brand. Given that without them, the entire structure would cease to operate. It makes sense to include this as one of the seven core principles.

Process

The process has a variety of meanings within the marketing and business world but if we were to simplify, it means the process of communication or the interface that the customers have with the business. That is to say, how the service or product is delivered to the customer or the ‘process’ by which the company operates and upholds its practice of customer service.

Physical Evidence

The last ‘P’ on this list boils down to the material side of the business. The tangible elements like the building, which is the point of business, the products that the customer gets to take home in their hands or the benefits they get from your business. That which can be seen, touched or accounted for in the real world.

Is There An 8^th P?

Now, officially speaking there are only 7ps, but in some business theories and practices, there is the so-called 8^th P that stands as a directive, aside from the core seven that were mentioned above. It is a varied debate on what the 8^th P stands for, but the consensus seems to be that it stands for Productivity and Quality. In the sense, what are you as a business, bringing to the table and what do the customers get out of it?

It isn’t so much about the productivity in operations and productions as it is about the productivity with which the business brings top-of-the-line quality to the customers. If you stop to think about it, this directive is important. A high-quality product will perform better in a competition-heavy market, in-fact, that might be the make-or-break of the business at the end of the day.

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Quality is always a must in any line of business. So, more often than not, the 8th will come into play, even when you do not realise it.

How Does All This Tie Into The ‘Marketing Mix’?

The Marketing Mix is essentially like a soup, the soup whose ingredients are these seven, or in special cases, eight principles/ingredients. Every company has its unique blend of these elements at different ratios. Just like a soup, you put in certain ingredients at different ratios for your preferred flavour. The same applies to the Marketing Mix. Sometimes not all the points are included, sometimes only one or two. This all depends on what works best for your business.

Sony, for example, is a very well-known global brand. Their Marketing Mix consists of a product-centric approach where the product does the branding for them and carries the company name. They emphasise on physical evidence, which the customer can see and the promotion takes place automatically as the product sells because it carries the name on it. The key, however, is that they have employees across the globe. People are a big part of their strategy and they have a lot of them. This is their unique blend, that works for them because of the nature of their product.

How Do I Use All This To Help My Business?

Even though these principles were thought of in the 60s, and only updated in the 80s, they still remain relevant in today’s economy. The way you need to look at it is, as a guideline of sorts. Understand what the individual concepts are, that is, the 7ps or 8ps as you prefer. Then see where they fit into your brand’s identity. Which of them, at which specific ratio brings out the best for your brand? According to that, you need to form a ‘Marketing Mix’. Make it a unique blend so the brand can thrive.

To learn more on this aspect of branding and building up the business, go and check out our article, ‘Branding’.

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