▷Are 4P's a good Sales Strategy?

 🙿The Four "P's"🙿 

When developing a sales strategy, you need to consider the four P's of marketing. These are key areas that have a direct impact on how you sell your product or service.

👍Product

While you won't change your product every time you do a sale, you can target specific products in different areas.

For example, you can sell custom note binders, which can be marketed in specific school colors. If you sell custom-made products, understanding what your client wants will be the key to making the sale.

💰 Prices

Can you be flexible with pricing? Balance the value of gaining customer volume with the profit margin. This can be a critical factor when you have competition in the same market.

🕬 Promotion

What kind of promotions is useful for your product or service? Can you use coupons or discounts? Are you advertising where your target market will see and notice you?

۩ Place

Where are you selling your product or service? Are you using a website, a retail store, direct marketing, or some other places? Where does your target market look to buy your product?

The answer will assist you in determining what strategies will work for you.

What next? After you've identified the Four P's, you will need to find out what your customer wants or expects from you. By "listening" to their needs, you will be in a better position to sell.

📲 Marketing Research

There are two basic methods of marketing research: primary and secondary:

·  Primary research is gathering information directly from potential customers using surveys, focus groups, or other methods. You can perform primary research yourself or hire specialists to do it for you. Hiring a specialist is best suited to larger businesses because of the cost involved.

·      Secondary research is information that comes from business studies, statistics, reports, and other data from government agencies, trade groups, and other business associations. Secondary research will provide the biggest resource, and can often be found for free. Your local library and the Internet will provide a wealth of data on related trade associations and organizations, local population demographics, and other critical information.

 

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦Researching your Target

There are many avenues of research available to you through the Internet. Online search engines can be used to identify market trends, regional and local competitors, and available marketing avenues.

Informal conversation is the oldest marketing tool there is, encompassing not only word-of-mouth between friends and neighbors over coffee but also the much broader spectrum of social media marketing.

Direct contact can be made by speaking at local civic league meetings or community business leagues. There are a number of marketing survey services and even free online examples available to help you come up with your own.

You can use social networks to establish open and informal lines of communication for customers to express opinions and ideas.

Find out what the bottom line is for the people who actually do the buying of your product or service. Price is not always the most valuable asset to a customer - you may be able to offer delivery or service scheduling options that better meet his or her needs, or provide unique solutions to existing issues.

Look for special programs: Many large retailers and federal, state, and local governments have purchasing programs or minority allocation initiatives that allow managers to easily purchase your products and services. Some of these can be identified through an Internet search, but your best bet is to talk to regional and local managers at retailers who may be interested in your products or services or consult a business development specialist who knows your area.

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