In today's challenging business environment, "arm chair" selling or marketing of goods and services is no longer fashionable. Any enterprise that wishes to remain in business and be PROFITABLE must be willing to think out of the box and take decisive steps to reach out to customers/clients.
Before now, customer's loyalty was tied to monopoly of business, absence of varieties/substitutes, communication gap between customer and companies, lack of information on the part of customer, and so forth. Today's customer has access to information of products and services, have varieties or substitutes available to him/her and can reach as many sellers as he wishes.
To this end, marketing and selling have become an issue of creativity, innovation, price, quality, after sales services, etc. Considering all the above qualities or features or benefits into a single product and still sell at competitive price in the market becomes an uphill task to the entrepreneur.
Be that as it may, an entrepreneur believes in the going concern or continuity of his business. To achieve this, I have briefly discussed the steps to take below in order to take charge ahead of your competitors. As it were, marketing and selling come to the entrepreneur's mind after cash. But marketing and selling stimulate sales and sales bring in cash.
Step 1. PRICE
Market research and survey will always reveal that pricing is a key or determining factor in having customer loyalty and securing new prospects. Based on this premise, it is highly recommended that a foolproof and flexible pricing mechanism or plan by Management should be in place to encourage and accommodate a wide range of customers. Customer's continuous patronage and referral is an assured way of selling and ultimately making profit.
Step 2. QUALITY
Yes, quality is the entry point when you are marketing and selling a product or service. It may be quite difficult to maintain high quality product and still expect a low price. But the rule is to balance price and quality to ensure customer loyalty and patronage. After all, long term profitability and existence is the idea behind every business venture. Remember, quality is the surest way to deliver value to the consumers and beat your competitors in the ever-increasing saturated marketplace.
Step 3. AFTER SALES SERVICES
My first hand experience in most businesses indicate that Warranty and after sales services are incentives to want to buy. Call it value for money, if you like. No person who has earned his money
will want to throw it into the garbage. Hence a money back guarantee is a great way of saying: I trust my product, it is of high quality! It is only reasonable for the entrepreneur to weigh the customer's
complains closely and see where he can be helpful. This discretionary action is of paramount importance in a competitive market and to enthrone customer loyalty and referral.
All the above features are becoming more crucial in online business success today. For example, web hosting of your web site should not be treated with kid gloves. The success or failure of your online
business lies solely with your web hosting provider who ensures that your business is online 24 hours a day. For peace of mind, it is advisable to do first things first in order to guarantee success.
Doing those few things well will not only catapult your sales to high roof but earn you healthy profits that is sufficient to make your business a going concern. After all your business was BUILT
TO LAST.
To Your Success!
