Know Yourself and Your Competition cont...

Last week, I wrote about the characteristics of successful sales people and I asserted that in order to succeed, you need to understand the environment you are working in, who you are up against, who your customers are and what they need before you can go out and capture their loyalty and their business.   To that end, you’d better start by doing your homework.  Following are some key points to cover as you build a sales plan:
1.    Identify your competitive position – Identify your competition and gather as much information on them as you can.  Use the Internet, the library, professional publications, groups, etc.  Based on your research answer this question: How do you measure up and what sets you apart from your competition?
2.    Identify your niche – Now that you have identified what sets you apart, use this information to define your niche.  Your niche is your competitive advantage.  It could be your service/product; the way you provide the service/product; it could be pricing or value.  The possibilities are limitless, but it must be something that will capture your customer’s attention and that they are willing to pay for.
3.    Describe your targeted client base - Based on the researched you have done so far and what you know of your product/service, describe your targeted customers.  What are their demographics, likes and dislikes, hobbies, how do they stay abreast of news, where do they hang out, etc.  All these things will be critical to building an effective sales and marketing campaign.
4.    Describe what you will offer these clients – This may seem like a silly step.  You know what you’re selling, but write it down in detail.  List out everything that comes to mind about your product or service.  All the features and functionality no matter how small.
5.    Identify what you will tell your clients about your product/services – Now take the information from the previous step and write out what exactly you will tell people about your product or service.  What is the benefit that your service or product is providing?  What are people willing to pay you for?  Remember, you aren’t selling a button; you’re selling a clothing closure device.

So, you’ve done all this, now what?  Well, you should now have an idea of how you will market your product/service. You should also know who your targeted customers are, as well as, where and how you might contact them.  It’s time now to use this information as the basis for your sales and marketing plan.  A good sales and marketing plan will increase your chances of success and it’s all about Building Business Success!