Can your management
team answer the
following?
Who
are your best customers?
How
can you attract more clients
whose buying behaviors are
similiar
to your best clients' buying
behaviors?
(When
applicable) Who are your credit
and cash clients? Where
are they
located? What key
factors drive their
buying decision-making
process?
Which
products and/or services do
existing clients value the
most?
Profile your loyal and
best clients then
develop a model to predict their
propensity
to purchase promoted products and/or
services.
This information
collecting and client profiling
offers a tool with which to build
stronger ties
with current clients, while analyzing
and
developing strategies for identifying
and
acquiring new clients.
It is imperative to
understand what drives
consumer behavior. "Business
as usual"
thinking must be replaced with one
driven by
market intelligence. Understanding
and using
changes in purchasing preferences
should
drive marketing strategies.
What is
the importance of the products'
and/or services' features?
What
features would a consumer give
up in order to obtain
another feature
(e.g. low price for
convenience)?
What is
the ideal offering from the
target prospects' point of
view?
What is
the appropiate combination of
features and services that
will
maximize sales and
profitabliity for
your target segments?
Use focus groups to
stay current with client
and prospect needs and interests.
When presented with
different product and/or
service alternatives, customers
assess the
differnet attributes present in each
offering and
attach an importance ("weight") to
each.
They then
choose (if available) that
offering which has the highest
importance/weight or utility to
them.
This
is not always a conscious
process. They
will not always be
able to discuss the
importance of
each feature.
They should
be able to discuss which
alternatives they prefer over
others.
Identify opportunities
for improving image,
product/service definition and
competitive
positioning. Compare these
items to that
of your competitors.
Positive companies
weave market intelligence
throughtout all layers of the company,
to
rather than react to change.
Collect
preference data, initiate, track
competitors'
activities and monitor the economic
environment to provide
continuous information.
When a new
product/service surfaces in the
market -- react -- do
NOT assume that it can
not have any impact on your firm.
Look for potential
future trends and how your
firm is situated to react to them.
New Product /
Service Strategy
Effective team work = efficiency of time + money = effective outcome
Departments
involved must make an effective
team.
Quick, effective
development requires:
Companies that
continue to have design
teams "toss" new products to
manufacturing
and marketing, risk adding critical
time to
development (competitors
may have more
effective, cooperative development
teams).
Do not leave the
clients and prospects out
of the process.
Use focus
groups that include clients
and prospects. Discuss
their interests
and unfullfilled needs.
Why develop
something that the
market is not interested
in purchasing.
Many new
product design mistakes
have been eliminated
before going to
manufacturing (saving
time and
money).
Often only
modifications or repackaging
is needed.
Occassionally,
the whole project needs
to be discarded.
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