The minute you start worrying about whether or not you are going to succeed, you’ve already cut your chances in half. The end result of worry and doubt is more doubt and more worry. Make yourself lucky by thinking “I’ll see it when I believe it!”…not, I’ll believe when […]
Marketing
One of the most important aspects of becoming a top-producing sales manager is getting your priorities straight. Evaluate your company’s present situation; is sales working up to its potential? If not, you may need to re-organize. Knowing how to establish good working relationship with your sales force and clients […]
The single most important ingredient for a successful business is having a customer. A customer is more important than a business idea, the technology, financing, management, or anything else. Marketing superstars get and keep customers. Customers (people) buy to feel good, or solve a problem. Customers value the solution […]
Demand is a measure of how much of your product your customers want. (Supply is a measure of the availability of the product to satisfy the market demand.) Direct demand is driven by end customers who consume the product and do not use it for any type of resale. […]
This story may be apocryphal, but it is valuable nonetheless. Pablo Picasso, the painter, was dining at a fancy restaurant in New York City. A fan, feeling prominent enough socially to introduce herself to Mr. Picasso, did precisely that. Standing by Picasso’s table, the socialite gushed how thrilled she […]
Customers don’t buy products; they buy the benefits they get from the products. Customers don’t wake up in the morning and say, “I’ve got N10, 000. Let’s buy some bearings or drills or gaskets or glue or water pumps!” Rather, the customer has a problem (a.k.a. a need) and wants […]
The oldest marketing cliché is “The customer is always right.” The cliché is wrong. The right customer is always right. The wrong customer, the “Not okay” customer is not right for the selling company. Every organization must have its own definition of a good customer, an “Okay” customer. And every […]
Smart marketing starts with smart segmentation. Knowledge of your market shapes your product positioning, branding, communication claims, sales approaches, channels, pricing, and packaging.
Everyone in every organization works for the customer. Everyone works to make customers happy with the values they receive for their money. To a customer, good value is based on product quality, timely delivery, hassle-free exchange, fresh fruit in the room, an extra ear of corn with a dozen, a […]
Pricing goods and services is one of the most difficult tasks in the business arena. Many small businesses fail to make profits simply because they don’t consider all the factors needed to make prices competitive and yield that elusive profit. Before setting prices, you must understand your market, distribution costs […]
