Thursday, July 22, 2010

Some secrets to marketing success that no one will teach you

  Several people ask me, " What are the secrets to marketing success" that we are missing out on. I pondered over this question a bit and it took me some time to pin-point specific areas for success, as every business has different requirements. The answer varied from business to business. 


Interestingly there was one point which came out very strong and i felt that it was worth mentioning. You can devise some great marketing strategies and may have some great ideas to engage with your existing and potential customers, but what is critical to success is the execution of the plans and that too with unerring consistency. Marketing operations are never managed overnight. There are initiatives and activities that you take up CONSISTENTLY  on a regular basis. 


Think about branding, lead generation, public relations, advertising, campaigns, key account management and you will realize that in all of them, consistency is more important than individual flashes of brilliance. 


Let me know your thoughts !

Friday, July 9, 2010

Achieve a sales closure in every client interaction

In every client interaction, you are usually selling something. Based on you closing all these conditional sales, the client eventually gives you the coveted PO and buys your product/service.

It is important to set expectations and objectives very clearly ahead of every client interaction. A set of expectations should be set for yourself and a bit conservative estimate should be reserved for your management as well, which is usually waiting for the sales closure.

For a typical product/service sale situation, here are some sample conditional sales that a sales person will have to go through
1)Customer accepts to receive more information from you, shares his email and other information
2) Based on information sent by you, customer accepts and commits to spend more time on a more detailed conversation/meeting regarding the product/service (to understand)
3) Based on the understanding of what you offer, customer shares his current concerns, problems that he is facing and gives you an opportunity to solve his problem
4) Based on your response (RFI/RFP) or demos, customer agrees to share more data, that will make the solution more relevant to his needs
5) You submit an estimate/price proposal and gain conditional acceptance from the customer to find out if it is as per his expectations
6) Negotiate to close the gaps and eventually close the sale.

A lot of sweat and efforts will go in every step, but it is good to warm up your client in every interaction and enjoy every moment of sales success (in every conditional sales). After all closing a sale is a tough job and expecations are very high.

All the best !
Atul
http://www.xenia-consulting.com/



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Friday, July 2, 2010

4 point essential marketing kit for small to medium software product companies

You have a great product idea and you have the best of technical resources to build your product, but what would be the 4 things(in marketing) that you can't miss out on,  while planning your marketing strategy?

Here are my thoughts
1) Get closer to your target market - Define your target market precisely, as narrowly as possible. You will be always tempted to keep expanding the target base, but the more precise it is, it will be easier to focus better with better messaging
2) Understand socializing habits of your target market - With social media & digital marketing offering so many options to you, you need to figure out, where your target market GOes-TO for credible information, reference information. Which are the trusted sources of information related to your product/service.
3) Get social in these forums/groups - Get involved in discussions, post updates, announcements that are relevant to the group. Build your own credibility in the group with authentic/ trusted information. Over a period of time, this loyalty will get transported to your sites/blogs/announcements/subscription lists
4) Engage with your current and potential customers - Engage with surveys, contests, mailing campaigns, announcements, article posts, blogs. Make sure that your message is valuable for your target audience. Deeper engagement will also allow you to get candid product feedback.

Any more must-haves - what do you think?
Feedback/comments most welcome

Atul
http://www.xenia-consulting.com/


Linked IN – http://www.linkedin.com/companies/1015090
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=129562663721686
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