Irrespective of how appealing a product or service may be, the reason for the existence of any business or corporation is to strengthen its market presence.
Most companies are creative and constantly seeking better ways to grab the largest possible market share. It all comes down to one word: sales!
Increasing sales is all about knowledge. It is all about market research. And before launching new products a good marketer must spend time doing thorough research on their target market and segment.
Complimentary to this, here are the top ways - and things to know - to increase company sales:
Know the market and the market players:
It is important to know who your competitors are, their products and services, and what makes them relevant in the market. Know why those who are succeeding are flourishing. Ask what can your company do to also thrive in that same line of business.
Know your attainable/ reachable sales goals:
Use SMART strategy (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely goals). These goals should be precise, reachable, and timely. Project management skills come in handy here; so by the deadline, there can be accountability, and check if milestones were achieved.
Know your Positioning: premium or average?
Depending on the market, and the standard of living in the country, the marketer needs to know the best way to position a product as either premium or average. Or start off as average to have more sales and then transform to premium. For instance, Manor in Geneva Switzerland is a classic example of a company that has gone through phases of rebranding and repositioning. It transitioned from normal (average price) to superior (premium price) over the years.
Know your advertising angle:
Advertising should be customized for every market segment. Forms of marketing campaigns include sharing free samples of products (for companies that can distribute product samples), person to person, and distribution of flyers.
What about your pricing?
Be careful. If you’re a market follower don’t go fighting with the market leaders. For instance, a company may increase its sales by decreasing prices. However, this can lead to a price war, and the market follower or company with less financial strength can be easily crushed by the market leaders. Who wins? The consumers off course, while the profit margins of the companies in question shrink drastically.
No matter who wins, the combatants all seem to end up worse off before they joined the battle.
Know your competitive advantage:
A good marketing department will work with a SWOT analysis. This means studying the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Strength may be a competitive advantage, and weakness may be poor client services or low product quality. Also, external opportunities and threats need to be studied. When a company really knows its competitive advantage and utilizes it to its advantage, it will reflect in the sales.
Recognize the worth of your existing customers:
While trying to win new customers, it is vital that you keep existing clients. Customer services must create a strong culture of customer relationship management. According to Tricia Morris, a customer experience thought leader:
“It costs six times more to win new customers than to retain the old ones”.
Know your niche:
Do research to find out which part of the market is not being satisfied or where the needs of customers are unmet so there are fewer competitors.
Know how to be creative:
For instance, in packaging, be artistic when targeting your market group. Do things differently and make them more exciting.
Know how to respond to clients' needs:
If - after all the marketing campaigns and investments in packaging, rebranding, repositioning - the salespeople are not adequately trained, all plans will end in futility. How ready is your company to receive new clients and responses from marketing campaigns? Salespeople should anticipate clients’ needs as well as anticipate changes in the market.
Know your technology:
For instance, your website must be up to date and applications should be accessible and easy for clients to navigate. Online shopping, in particular, should be facilitated and made exciting.
Sources:
How to fight a price war, Akshay R. Rao, Mark E. Bergen, and Scott Davis, March-April 2000, Harvard Business Review.
It is 6 Times More Expensive to Win a New Customer than to Retain an Existing One, Tricia Morris, March 20, 2016, Business to Community.
Further reading:
Maximising A Company’s Human Potential by Eugenia Okoro
Image:
Canva
