It is easy to be coerced into spending a lot of money on advertising – because we liked the sound of the deal or because the telephone sales person made it sound compelling.

Before you spend a penny on advertising or PR, write a marketing plan – and there are plenty of books out there on how to go about this task. Before you write a marketing plan, spend some time getting to know your audience. Aim to be certain of the basics:

• Who are the decision makers?
• Who are the decision influencers?
• • Advisers
  • Specifiers
  • “Experts”
• Who is going to pay – and are they a decision maker too?

In some business to business firms you might have six or more groups of people on your list – most of whom are easily able to say no to your offer but very few who have the absolute power of “Yes – here is the order”. When you are selling to private consumers your list of people should be a lot shorter.

Once you are sure of these facts, put yourself into the shoes of each group. Using your deep understanding of your market, write down:

• How do they feel about my firm or product now?
• Who do they rely on for advice about my kind of product or service?
• What does the adviser think about my firm or product now?
• What do we want each group to feel about our product?
• Where do they go for information when they are thinking about our sort of product or service?
• Will the salesman have a big influence on the product selected?
• What does the salesman think?

If you struggle with this list, start asking around – especially when you meet people who bought from your competitors.

Now you can start work in the ideal – what do we want each group to think about our firm and our product? Whilst remaining true to our values and our integrity, how do we move each group from their current perception of our products to our ideal?

What Next

• Get to know how your customers think.
• What is was that made people buy from your competitors?
• • Did they know about you?
  • Where did they find out about your competitor?
  • What was it that made the difference?
  • Is your product available in the places where they go when they are thinking of buying?
  • If your product is available in the same outlets as your competitors, which product does the salesman push – yours or your competitor – and why?
• How do we change things to our advantage?

This was a guest post by Paul Fileman of SPS who are a national team of proven senior management professionals, passionate about working to help businesses achieve their next level of development and performance. Whether they are facing market changes, financial problems, people/skills issues, or are preparing a major project, they offer dedicated support from a multi-disciplined team of experts.

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