...writing your own marketing action plan. Introduction What are the main objectives you want your marketing action plan to achieve for your business (ie, more sales, more customers, greater market share, etc – try to be specific)? | | | | 1. Your market 1.1 Who are your customers? Answer the following questions: • Who are your existing customers? • What are their needs? • What motivates them to buy your offer? • Can you separate your customers into different groups of people with different needs or motivations? • Are there people who aren’t currently customers but could benefit from your product or service? | | | | 1.2 Who are your competitors? Answer the following questions: • Who are your competitors (NB, think about your direct competitors – ie, businesses who are selling a similar offer: and your indirect competitors – ie, businesses with a totally different offer but who are competing...
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...success within your business. * The audience for your business plan Many people think of a business plan as a document used to secure external funding. This is important because potential investors, including banks, may invest in your idea, work with you or lend you money as a result of the strength of your plan. There are many other benefits to creating and managing a realistic business plan - even if you just use it in-house. It can: * help you spot potential pitfalls before they happen * structure the financial side of your business efficiently * focus your development efforts * work as a measure of your success The following people or institutions may request to see your business plan at some stage: * banks * external investors - whether this is a friend, a venture capitalist firm or a business angel * grant providers * anyone interested in buying your business * potential partners You should also bear in mind that a business plan is a living document that will need updating and changing as your business grows. Regardless of whether you intend to use your plan internally, or as a document for external people, it should still take an objective and honest look at your business. Failing to do this could mean that you and others have unrealistic expectations of what can be achieved and when. * What the plan should include Your business plan is a statement of intent. It should provide details of how you are going to develop your business...
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...Strategies to Attract and Keep Customers Jody Padgham Farmers who sell their products by direct marketing need to take the time to reflect on successes and failures in the business. Reflection is not enough, however. Change can be difficult, but assessing what worked and what didn’t will provide successful direct marketers with the opportunity to anticipate and respond to customer needs and wants. Keeping customers satisfied ustomers are the lifeblood of your business, so it is crucial to maximize customer satisfaction. Some degree of customer turnover is inevitable, but successful food marketers will retain repeat customers. It costs about five times more to bring in a new customer than to keep an existing one. C If you answered “yes” to nine or more questions, you are a better-than-average market operator. Below six is poor; between six and nine is mediocre. Surveys show that a customer who has an unpleasant experience at your business will tell ten or more people about it. Building a successful, positive image with your customers enhances your overall credibility. Living up to that image creates valuable word-of-mouth publicity. Customers most often base their purchasing decisions on the advice of people they know. Keeping the customers you serve happy can be your best marketing tool. A successful direct marketer should work constantly to find out what the consumer wants and develop products that satisfy customer demands. When customers are satisfied, they will not...
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...Introduction to Customer Service – Customer service is an integral part of our job and should not be seen as an extension of it. A company’s most vital asset is its customers. Without them, we would not and could not exist in business. When you satisfy our customers, they not only help us grow by continuing to do business with you, but recommend you to friends and associates. It is an array of activities that are intended to enhance customer satisfaction. When a business is associated with a service rather than a product, customer service is of utmost importance. That is, in a service industry, client service is at the highest priority. Customer service can be provided by a person or may be provided by means of carefully-planned self-service. In recent years, industries have started offering their customers with feedback loops, by way of which the company can obtain an immediate feedback about their services. Attractive offers, and creative product promotions can draw in customers for a business, but for the business to retain the customers and achieve customer return, only a good customer service can help. Good customer service builds healthy customer relationships. It is about earning trust from the customers and catering to their needs and expectations to ensure customer return. Actions matter more than words. It is a company's duty to act upon its words and keep the promises it has made to its customers. Let's have a quick look at the keys to good customer service. Good...
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...Provide Mentoring or Coaching to your Team. Slide 2: Bushland Blooms is very aware of current Legislation governing its operation. Please refer to your Handout Booklet for the full outline of the Acts. • Occupational Health & Safety Act 2000 & the amendments to the Act in 2001 is to ensure a safe working environment for all staff. • Telecommunications Act 1997 governs personal particulars. • Age Discrimination Act 2004 governs that age is no barrier to employment. • Disability Discrimination Act 2004 ensures a prospective employee cannot be treated less favourably because of a disability. • Racial Discrimination Act 1975 legislates that origins of race, colour etc. cannot be used against you in the workplace. • Sex Discrimination Act 1984 seeks to eliminate such things as marital status, sexual orientation & gender identity in the selection of staff. • Privacy Act 1988 regulates how personal information is handled. Slide 3: Welcome to the Bushland Blooms Customer Service Workshop being presented to Customer Care Centre staff to reiterate the procedures and guidelines for Bushland Blooms customer/staff relationships and how to effectively and positively enhance the interaction between the 2. At the Bushland Blooms Customer Care Centre, our aim is to provide a supportive team environment so that we can provide the best service to our customers. This presentation will focus on understanding 'what is a customer" & 'what is customer service“ Slide 4: The objectives...
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...CHAPTER 4 THE CUSTOMER-DRIVEN ORGANIZATION Quality in a product or service is not what the supplier puts in. It is what the customers get out. Peter Drucker The corporate world has long understood the importance of serving their customers. Those companies that have neglected to do so effectively are probably no longer in business. This issue is no less important for the nonprofit development organization, although experience continues to demonstrate that customers don’t seem to get the attention they need or want from many of these organizations. Clearly, the development organization exists to provide a service. Potential and past customers, clients, and constituents call on an organization to have their needs met. They either believe that this service can help them or they want to discover if it can. How can an organization truly serve others if it doesn’t value their needs and desires, if it doesn’t understand them, and if it doesn’t strive to meet those needs and provide excellent value? If meeting customer, client, and or constituent needs is really the focus of the organization, then the belief must be held by all within that organization that the customer truly comes first and everything else must come second. If this is the dominant philosophy and culture, the staff will tend to value their work more and be less bureaucratic. The premise of this book is managing for excellence. “Excellent” customer service basically includes listening to your customer’s needs and desires...
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...Curve The life cycle concept may apply to a brand or to a category of product. Its duration may be as short as a few months for a fad item or a century or more for product categories such as the gasoline-powered automobile. Product development is the incubation stage of the product life cycle. There are no sales and the firm prepares to introduce the product. As the product progresses through its life cycle, changes in the marketing mix usually are required in order to adjust to the evolving challenges and opportunities. Introduction Stage When the product is introduced, sales will be low until customers become aware of the product and its benefits. Some firms may announce their product before it is introduced, but such announcements also alert competitors and remove the element of surprise. Advertising costs typically are high during this stage in order to rapidly increase customer awareness of the product and to target the early adopters. During the introductory stage the firm is likely to incur additional costs associated with the initial distribution of the product. These higher costs coupled with a low sales volume usually make the introduction stage a period of negative profits. During the introduction stage, the primary goal is to establish a market and build primary demand for the product class. The following are some of the marketing mix implications of the introduction stage: * Product - one or few products, relatively undifferentiated * Price - Generally high...
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...increase convenience for customers P5 (4) How you can set your prices in line with different market conditions P5 (5) Promotional activities for ‘Beauty not expensive’ P6 (6) Additional elements of the extended marketing mix P7 (7) The difference between consumer markets and organisational markets P8 (8) What is service? P8 (9) Cultural differences P8 References P10 Report for Mrs. Rice (1) Gaining a competitive advantage A competitive advantage is an advantage over other competitors in the market by being the business who offers greater value for its customers. For example, a business could gain a competitive advantage simply by offering lower prices, or creating better quality products compared to their competitors. Before anything you must first identify who your target market is, and who you’re competitors are. You must understand fully the services that you are providing and you must know who your service is aimed at and who is likely to use this service. Once you have identified who your target market is, you can find out which competitors are out there, that are providing a similar service and have the same or similar target market. You must do sufficient market research by looking up the profiles of your business competitors. Now that you have analyzed your target market and competitors, we can now use this knowledge to your advantage. Assess their business model, and improve on your own business with this....
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...In designing a customer-driven marketing strategy, you will probably want to direct your efforts toward a small specialized public or "niche." Niche marketing can provide a start-up with an opportunity to launch a business successfully even in today's crowded arena, according to marketing experts Dr. Afarin Bellisario and Peter Geisheker. For example, the successful Swiss company Laurastar has targeted people who want to press clothes at home to professional-level quality, selling them a high-end home pressing system. 1. FIGURE OUT WHO YOUR CUSTOMERS ARE If you do not already have a clear idea of who your customer is, you need to figure this out. Do not try to be everything to everybody. You are looking for a group of consumers or businesses that share a very specific need or want, according to Geisheker. Look around you, read magazines and trade publications, talk to people and study existing businesses and products to find a void that you can fill. If you already have a product, you'll need to "find the people who stay up at night worrying about the problem your product or service solves, and you have just found your niche market," Geisheker said. For example, if you have invented a new ergonomic chair that helps with lower back pain, your customers will be people with pain in their lower backs. 2. GET TO KNOW YOUR CUSTOMERS WELL Find out they live, as well as their habits, needs and desires. Go out and meet and observe your customers wherever you can find them. Talk to...
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...advertising and selling your products. Bizfilings.com states, “Marketing addresses all aspects of growing your customer base, and the more you know, the more successful your marketing and your business will be.” One marketing tool is to advertise to build your customer base. Another tool it to do market research. The last tool you could use is packaging your product. The first thought that comes to some peoples mind is that marketing cost too much money or that they are not good at marketing. Both of these objections can be easily be overcome. By using these marketing tools your business will be successful vs not having a market plan at all. Advertising to build your customer base is key when I comes to a successful business. The Economic Times says, “Advertising is a means of communication with the users of a product or service. Advertisements are messages paid for by those who send them and are intended to inform or influence people who receive them, as defined by the Advertising Association of the UK. Advertising is always present, though people may not be aware of it. In today's world, advertising uses every possible media to get its message through. It does this via television, print (newspapers, magazines, journals etc.), radio, press, internet, direct selling, hoardings, mailers, contests, sponsorships, posters, clothes, events, colors, sounds, visuals and even people (endorsements).” If you want your business to do well you need to advertise your service and products to...
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...Plan- Your T-Shirt! Every business must start at the bottom before they become successful. One of the first ways a business must work on becoming successful is coming up with a business plan. By preparing a business plan, a company will not only have an outline as to knowing who their target audience will be and what kind of funds will be needed for the business, but it will help the business keep track of the progress they made with the building of an empire. According to the journal entitled Starting a Business from Home, it discusses why it is important to have a business plan. The article states “As most businesses start without a business plan you could be forgiven for believing that preparing one is a luxury you can live without. Time is short and it surely more important to find some customers and get selling. Beguiling though this may sound the statistics is against you. According to research carried out at Cranfield School of Management, over 70 percent of the fastest-growing and most successful businesses started out with a written business plan.” (Barrow, 2008). This business entitled Your T-Shirt! A business plan must be created in order for the business to become successful. Your T-Shirt! Is a new business venture which allows people to design a t-shirt any way they would like. The customer can design the front and back of the shirt. Your T-Shirt! Not only provides the experience of designing your own shirt, but it also allows the customers to pick...
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...Tips in Motivating Customer Service Employees Customer service is a growing industry today, and it can be daunting to not only teach people how to face clients, but to actually expect them to get the courage to speak to clients at all. Customer service can be difficult since it operates on many different fronts, and you need people who are willing and able to take the stress of dealing with many different kinds of clients. From patient and gentle people to those who are short of insulting people on the phone. You will need to motivate your customer service employees on two principal fronts: in dealing with customers, and in staying on the job even after all the stress. As the leader of a group of customer service employees, you will need to constantly motivate your team to work hard, and to keep on working no matter what. It will be difficult to maintain their level of energy throughout their stint as customer service employees. Here are a few tips to help you motivate them. - First, recognize that you need to do motivation training, and motivate your crew, from the very beginning and through the job. You cannot simply motivate your people once, and then move on to other people and leave the team, expecting it to succeed after a single lesson. You will need to keep on motivating your team, especially since every single customer is different. You will have easy customers that can encourage your team, but there will be clients that will be extremely critical and angry...
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...Churchill 62 Amazing Customer Service Tips and Quotes Time tested ideas and suggestions to keep your customers happy and loyal. by Kevin M. Stirtz www.AmazingServiceGuy.com 62 Customer Service Tips & Quotes “Care more than others think wise. Risk more than others think safe. Dream more than others think practical. Expect more than others The New Era of Customer Service We are in a new era of customer service. In fact, at the risk of sounding cliché, I’d even call it a new paradigm. Because much of what worked in the old days is just not effective any more. Many of the attitudes toward customer service are no longer relevant or useful to people and organizations who want to be successful. The new paradigm of customer service calls for people and their organizations to work together better than ever before. It is embodied in two concepts. They are the fundamental values behind every action and every decision. They are: To Serve and To Connect. As we work with our customers, we need to make sure we are constantly meeting these two standards. We need to serve them and we need to connect with them. think possible.” -Howard Schultz www.AmazingServiceGuy.com Copyright 2013 Kevin M.2Stirtz 2 62 Customer Service Tips & Quotes “Customer service is just a day in, day out ongoing, never ending, unremitting, persevering, compassionate, type of activity.” To Serve When we serve our customers, we help them get what they...
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...Using a Website to Promote Your Business david | September 28, 2009 There are many different ways to advertise your business on the Internet. Placing banner ads, orchestrating an email marketing campaign and tactfully mentioning your business on industry related forums and message boards are just a few of the popular options for Internet marketing. But, before we go in deep details talking about Internet marketing strategy, a business must invest on a website to promote your business on the Internet. You can use your website in a number of ways. Some of these ways include providing more information about your business and the products or services you offer, letting potential customers know how to reach you and even selling your products and services via the website. This article will highlight the advantages of using a website to market your business and will outline some of the ways the website can be useful. 1. Online presence One great advantage to using a website to market your business on the Internet is that you can place descriptions and photos of the products or services your business offers. This is important because many consumers use the Internet when researching products and services. Having an online presence gives your business an advantage over the competition because consumers are much more likely to select your products or services over the products and services offered by your competitors who do not advertise online. 2. Selling your products/services online ...
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...Content Intoduction 3 Why do customers complain? 3 Complaints are a goldmine of information 6 Why is Complaints Handling Important? 7 Intoduction A consumer complaint or customer complaint is “an expression of dissatisfaction on a consumer’s behalf to a responsible party”. It can also be described in a positive sense as a report from a consumer providing documentation about a problem with a product or service. In fact, some modern business consultants urge businesses to view customer complaints as a gift. Consumer complaints are usually informal complaints directly addressed to a company or public service provider, and most consumers manage to resolve problems with products and services in this way, but it sometimes requires persistence. If the grievance is not addressed in a way that satisfies the consumer, the consumer sometimes registers the complaint with a third party such as association of the rights of the consumers , a county government (if it has a “consumer protection” office) and etc. These and similar organizations in other countries accept for consumer complaints and assist people with customer service issues, as do government representatives like attorneys general. Consumers however rarely file complaints in the more formal legal sense, which consists of a formal legal process. Internet forums and the advent of social media have provided consumers with a new way to submit complaints. Consumer news and...
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