The A to Z of Small Business Sales Market Planning
The A to Z of Small Business Sales Market Planning
Along the way, awareness of and openness to receive and take advantage of new opportunities helps a small business person create financial success. In life, we may not be able to change the wind, but we certainly can adjust our sales.
Detailed and comprehensive Market Plans are the purview of large corporations. They are needed to motivate and control a large organization employing many people. Large organizations tend to have substantial volume, overhead, dependencies, variables, low margins, and investors, al of which require a level of detail not required in small business.
The key to a small business is to keep it small and simple and sweet. KISS.
Every small business though needs a Market Plan, a Sales Plan (included in the Marketing Plan) and a Business Plan. These plans set up your short, medium, long term plan to meet your growth needs and expectations. They help keep you focused. They help to keep you on track. They help build confidence. They tell you when you need to make some changes.
As much as anything Plans form a practical and pragmatic side of visioning that enable you to start working on your future now and stay away from the past. Why reinvent the past? Move forward in a positive vein with some good, basic planning.
For your marketing Plan, you can find all your minimum requirements from Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0793159717/104-3297382-0458331?v=glance&n=283155} and purchase “Market Planning Guide - Creating a plan to successfully market your business, product, or service” by David H. Bangs Jr. (author also of “Business Planning Guide”). It will only cost you $15.61 new or as little as $7.15 used. What a deal!
Mr. Bang Jr.’s book gives you everything you need in 240 pages, It includes forms and worksheets to fill out, examples, explanations, definitions and more. It covers everything from vision, mission, products, services, customers, prospects, advertising, publicity, promotion, pricing, competitors, segmentation, tools, differentiation, targets, strengths weaknesses, strategies, sales and more.
I can’t say any more than buy the book and work your way through it. You’ll self discover everything you need to know about your business and everything that you don’t know but need to know and need to research. Small business is an ongoing and ever learning process. If you’re not endlessly inquisitive about your business, you probably should try something else.
As you’re going through the process, may I suggest you keep the following points necessary for people who work on their own and for themselves, in mind:
1. All your problems can be solved or made better by relationships and by people. Therefore make people and nourishing relationships #1. Include yourself as a relationship to nourish.
2. Be committed to endless curiosity and learning from everyone and every situation and have a process where you record what you learned.
3. Do not be afraid to fail but take small and simple steps. Most progress in and throughout life is made with small hardly noticed steps - evolutions not revolutions.
4. Be prepared to be disciplined and discipline yourself with necessary good habits, and learn about that as well.
5. Stay positive all the time.
How detailed a Marketing, Sales, and Business Plan you need depends on your needs for money from investors or banks who will tell you what THEY need. They probably will need more paper in order to get approval from their superiors. Work through their needs and consider it a learning experience. It will surely teach you a lot about business and your business.
I have an exquisite, detailed, lengthy plan in front of me now. An old friend of mine had it prepared by a consultant and accountant team. It cost big bucks. The business failed by the way, and within three months of start up. it was the wrong business, at the wrong time, in the wrong location. But the real reason it failed was the partnership soured. The relationships failed and neither side was committed to success in that area.
The lesson to learn here is that plans are not the be all, end all. They are tools. new information and your intuition may often override your original plans which will then need to be changed. The changes using the planning format and process will provide you with a benchmark for your new ideas and make sure you do not overlook important details.
Someone once said, friendship isn’t just one big thing, it’s a million little things. Plans are just one thing, but not the main thing.
What IS marketing? According to Mr. Bangs Jr., it is “the process of creating customers for your products and services, in enough numbers and rapidly enough so that you can make your business successful and profitable.” Marketing, even more simply is about getting and keeping profitable customers and then getting them to do more business with you. The Marketing Plan documents why customers will do business with you. If you don’t know why, you’ll never be able to sell to a customer.
The difference between marketing and sales is quite simple. Marketing is the relationship. Selling is the transaction. In fact long term success depends entirely on the relationship as we have described in earlier articles on the Sales Process. And that’s why I think relationship and relationships are #1 in most peaceful human endeavors.
The A to Z of Small Business Sales Market Planning - To learn more about this author, visit Norm Tucker's Website.
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Behind most successful people is a vision and mission for their life and work and a series of plans and processes by which they implement their vision. For those of you that laugh at plans, they do not need to be complex. They’re merely a roadmap and perhaps more importantly they put down on paper the positive steps that are required to achieve success.
Along the way, awareness of and openness to receive and take advantage of new opportunities helps a small business person create financial success. In life, we may not be able to change the wind, but we certainly can adjust our sales.
Detailed and comprehensive Market Plans are the purview of large corporations. They are needed to motivate and control a large organization employing many people. Large organizations tend to have substantial volume, overhead, dependencies, variables, low margins, and investors, al of which require a level of detail not required in small business.
The key to a small business is to keep it small and simple and sweet. KISS.
Every small business though needs a Market Plan, a Sales Plan (included in the Marketing Plan) and a Business Plan. These plans set up your short, medium, long term plan to meet your growth needs and expectations. They help keep you focused. They help to keep you on track. They help build confidence. They tell you when you need to make some changes.
As much as anything Plans form a practical and pragmatic side of visioning that enable you to start working on your future now and stay away from the past. Why reinvent the past? Move forward in a positive vein with some good, basic planning.
For your marketing Plan, you can find all your minimum requirements from Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0793159717/104-3297382-0458331?v=glance&n=283155} and purchase “Market Planning Guide - Creating a plan to successfully market your business, product, or service” by David H. Bangs Jr. (author also of “Business Planning Guide”). It will only cost you $15.61 new or as little as $7.15 used. What a deal!
Mr. Bang Jr.’s book gives you everything you need in 240 pages, It includes forms and worksheets to fill out, examples, explanations, definitions and more. It covers everything from vision, mission, products, services, customers, prospects, advertising, publicity, promotion, pricing, competitors, segmentation, tools, differentiation, targets, strengths weaknesses, strategies, sales and more.
I can’t say any more than buy the book and work your way through it. You’ll self discover everything you need to know about your business and everything that you don’t know but need to know and need to research. Small business is an ongoing and ever learning process. If you’re not endlessly inquisitive about your business, you probably should try something else.
As you’re going through the process, may I suggest you keep the following points necessary for people who work on their own and for themselves, in mind:
1. All your problems can be solved or made better by relationships and by people. Therefore make people and nourishing relationships #1. Include yourself as a relationship to nourish.
2. Be committed to endless curiosity and learning from everyone and every situation and have a process where you record what you learned.
3. Do not be afraid to fail but take small and simple steps. Most progress in and throughout life is made with small hardly noticed steps - evolutions not revolutions.
4. Be prepared to be disciplined and discipline yourself with necessary good habits, and learn about that as well.
5. Stay positive all the time.
How detailed a Marketing, Sales, and Business Plan you need depends on your needs for money from investors or banks who will tell you what THEY need. They probably will need more paper in order to get approval from their superiors. Work through their needs and consider it a learning experience. It will surely teach you a lot about business and your business.
I have an exquisite, detailed, lengthy plan in front of me now. An old friend of mine had it prepared by a consultant and accountant team. It cost big bucks. The business failed by the way, and within three months of start up. it was the wrong business, at the wrong time, in the wrong location. But the real reason it failed was the partnership soured. The relationships failed and neither side was committed to success in that area.
The lesson to learn here is that plans are not the be all, end all. They are tools. new information and your intuition may often override your original plans which will then need to be changed. The changes using the planning format and process will provide you with a benchmark for your new ideas and make sure you do not overlook important details.
Someone once said, friendship isn’t just one big thing, it’s a million little things. Plans are just one thing, but not the main thing.
What IS marketing? According to Mr. Bangs Jr., it is “the process of creating customers for your products and services, in enough numbers and rapidly enough so that you can make your business successful and profitable.” Marketing, even more simply is about getting and keeping profitable customers and then getting them to do more business with you. The Marketing Plan documents why customers will do business with you. If you don’t know why, you’ll never be able to sell to a customer.
The difference between marketing and sales is quite simple. Marketing is the relationship. Selling is the transaction. In fact long term success depends entirely on the relationship as we have described in earlier articles on the Sales Process. And that’s why I think relationship and relationships are #1 in most peaceful human endeavors.
The A to Z of Small Business Sales Market Planning - To learn more about this author, visit Norm Tucker's Website.
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Dr. John OdaJohn Oda Ph.D NLP is a business peak performance expert, an author, and speaker frequently called upon to provide corporate training, workshops and seminars for many companies in the United States. He is an expert in coaching sales and business professionals in overcoming the behaviors and obstacles that may impede their sales results and affect their bottom line. Since 1995, John has created a speaking bureau such topics, which include: time management, sales training, human diversity, leadership programs and etc. He provides companies with a strategic plan to increase their bottom line by over 25 percent yearly. - Visit Dr. John Oda's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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Michel NerayMichel Neray has over 25 years of experience as an award-winning copywriter, an Internet pioneer, a tradeshow pitchman and a senior sales and marketing executive. An online pioneer, he was one of the first marketing professionals to embrace the Internet by building websites as early as 1993. In 1994, Michel co-authored a book entitled "The Great Crossover: Personal Confidence in the Age of the Microchip", which made it to Jack Canfield's Achiever's Recommended Reading List. Michel founded Portfolios.com in 1995, the world's first online source directory for creative professionals and one of the first websites based on community generated content. Since creating The Essential Message in 2003, Michel has helped thousands of independent professionals and entrepreneurs as well as growing corporations find a better way to differentiate, position and brand themselves. In 2005, his chapter "Everything Starts With A Conversation" was selected as the lead for the book, "Sales Gurus Speak Out" and re-published in 2008 for 'Awakening The Workplace Volume 3'. He is also a co-author of "In the Company of Leaders" (2008) with 40 top North American leadership experts. - Visit Michel Neray's Website |
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 Norm Tucker (Visit Norm's Website) Independent writer and consultant with corporate and small business experience. See also two other sites: Westcoastwriters.com and Newglobalfamily.org. Comments and questions welcomed.
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