813 792 8500
SalesAndManagement.com
Marketing Questions to Grow your Business
By: John Kypriotakis
Wouldn’t it be a better article if it were called: Marketing answers for growing your business? Maybe, but without asking the questions, better yet, without asking the right questions, you will never have the right answers. For this reason, the balance of this article contains a series of questions specifically designed to help you. The list is by no means "exhaustive" and it should only serve as a beginning point.
You will notice that a simple yes or no answer can not answer most of these questions. This is intentional. The objective is to generate dialogue between your management team, even if it’s a team of one as in a very small company.
So where do you start? (Wow, another question! Once you get going it’s hard to stop. It will be part of your culture.)
You begin by asking questions, lots of questions. And not just any ones mind you, but serious, thought provoking questions about your business, your customers, your competition, everything!
Here we go!
Your Business:
What business are you in? Let me rephrase this. What business are you "really" in? Think hard about this one. (Here is a clue. The answer to this question should be more than just a description of your industry.)
Do you have a clearly stated purpose and a realistic, written plan of how and when you’ll attain your business objectives?
How do you assure that your business, marketing, and sales plans are in sync with each other?
Can your business, at its present state, handle a sudden increase in customers and sales?
What is your benefit statement or unique selling proposition?
How do you measure the effectiveness of your present marketing program? How much business do you get for each $100 spent on marketing?
What image would you want your company to project? How is your image effectively portrayed to your customers?
What percentage of your business comes from referrals?
What training do you provide employees dealing with customers?
How do you evaluate your employees’ skills and behavior?
How do you assure that compensation properly motivates your sales staff?
What procedures are in place to assure adequate sales targets and performance?
Your Customers:
What method do you use for identifying new customers/clients?
Who are your most likely customers?
What magazines or papers do your customers read? What do they listen to on the radio? What do they watch on TV? Etc.
What method do you use for attracting new customers/clients?
How do your customers make buying decisions?
How do you use testimonials to attract new customers?
What is it that your customer wants? Do you "really" know or are you merely assuming?
How (phone calls, newsletters, private offers, etc.) and how often (weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.) do you communicate with your customers?
What is the lifetime sales and profit value of an average customer to your business? Are your marketing, customer service and follow-up activities commensurate to this value?
Your Product or Service:
What problem(s) does your product or service solve for your customers?
What benefits does your product or service provide to your customers?
What do you do that is different, unique, better or special? How do you let your customers and prospects know?
What products or services are the best contributors to revenue and profit?
What products or services are the worst contributors to revenue and profit?
Follow-up:
What are your follow-up procedures after a customer’s first purchase or visit?
How do you motivate your current customers to come back?
What is your method for soliciting testimonials?
Who could refer business to you?
Customer Service:
If a customer is dissatisfied, is the cause for returns, rejections and complaints investigated on a regular basis?
If yes, is there a policy to ensure follow-up and eventual customer satisfaction?
Competition:
Who is your real competition?
What advantages do they offer that you don’t?
What advantages do you offer over them?
Do you have a regular procedure in place for continually monitoring your competition?
Alternate Channels:
What are your distribution strategies and objectives?
What channels of distribution fit your type of business?
How do you use joint ventures to increase exposure and revenues?
One more thing…
As you can see, the list can go on and on. The most important thing you can do right now is to take a look at your organization as if you were looking at it for the first time.
Solicit input from your staff, your advisors and most importantly your customers. Challenge all assumptions and probe for better answers than what you would typically hear. Question everything and encourage creative input even if at first it seems way out of the ordinary.
Now it’s time to review your data and take action.
###
John Kypriotakis is President of Lysis International, Inc. a Tampa based sales management consulting firm specializing in Sales, Marketing, and Customer Service.
Phone 813-792-8500 - E-mail: need_info@salesandmanagement.com
