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📅 16th February 2021 | Selling
A re-post from May 2018.
John Wanamaker (1838-1922) was a very successful United States merchant and religious leader and political figure who opened one of the first and most successful department stores in the United States. This grew to 16 stores and eventually became part of Macy’s. He is credited with coining the phrase “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half”.
Nearly one hundred years after his death many organisations are still unclear about how to optimize sales and advertising. Let’s face it, we are all human and there are many competing pressures. A global firm, for example, may be so taken up with worldwide issues that it forgets to find out who its target customers are. This may sound unbelievable but it is an experience that my business partner, Professor Gloria Moss, found in work with two major international players, one an automotive producer and the other a Big Pharma company, both household names. Of course, without a knowledge of the demographics of the target market, none of the sophisticated knowledge available on psychographics can be unleashed.
Linked to this is the fact that many marketing and sales people use their own personal preferences as a benchmark against which to measure the success of a promotion campaign, brochure or web site. Of course, we know that they should be viewing these products through the eyes of the customer and using the plentiful information in the field of Consumer Behaviour to understand how different demographic groups will react. Newspapers do this brilliantly by adjusting the language and politics of the target market but how many organisations are as successful?
Finally, how many organisations really understand the importance of relationship when it comes to clients? You may, like me, know of organisations who sub-contract the business of sales to consultancies with grandiose client lists when in fact they should be developing and nurturing those relationships themselves. Tickets to Ascot, Wimbledon or Villa Park were the means of developing client relationships in the past and now this effort can take place in the client’s workplace with the provider offering free training to the client.
Yes, free. Any way in which the provider can get closer to the client and understand their needs will take sales to the next level. And this is vital in today’s world where providers are not just global but offering a digital platform, expanding the volume of potential providers. In this super-competitive world, understanding the customer – their demographics, psychographics and needs – are key to business survival.
At The Sales Rainmaker, we help clients with everything from the ABC of selling to an appreciation of how really understanding the customer will reap dividends in terms of sales. For example, if you have an overseas market, you need to do more than translate the words on the page into the customer language, you need to adjust the concepts too. A sales offer needs to fit the customer like a glove and this can be achieved once you have the appropriate information on relevant demographics.
It is amazing how simply you can connect with your customer once you have the relevant information. Leaving the morality and legalities to one side
We probably all know of ‘accidental managers’ who are doers one day and managers the next. How much of the low GDP (ex Covid issues) in the UK – is due to the lack of professionalism of management? One might also same the same about sales with busy managers not offered the chance to upgrade their knowledge of the latest thinking. The Sales Rainmaker is at hand to provide the latest thinking to transform your sales.
As Professor Gloria Moss, says: ‘You would not choose a Birthday Card without knowing who you were buying it for. Through research I have conducted over many years, I can show you exactly what themes, concepts, shapes and colours, you should be using for a demographic of men or women, British or French, young or old, or for different personality types’.
As she goes on to says with the weight of many years’ experience: ‘Knowing your target market, and then designing your relationship and products in relation to that is key. It will also take all the guesswork away from your sales expenditures and guarantee positive results’.
We live in a knowledge economy and the successful individuals and organisations will be those that can access the latest sales know-how. Let us guide you to the relevant nuggets that will guarantee unimagined success.
Jeremy Jacobs
Tags: customer-centricity
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