Yowsie! - Yowsie Marketing Course

marketing

The Marketing Focus

From the perspective of the purchaser.

Focusing on what the prospect needs and how we propose to deliver it implies replacing some of our assumptions about marketing with a new way of thinking.

Many people in business see themselves as salespeople in competition with others, aiming to get a larger slice of the market share. Finding a niche or gaining an edge are key steps to success. These people focus on their own role: the prospective customer is only the object of their activity, a target to be pressured into purchase. Making sales is seen as "getting one over" on the customer.

But there is another way. Applying The Outwith Principle and using the model we considered in the last section, the process is viewed from the other person's perspective. The prospective customer is now the focus:

you have become his advisor and consultant rather than a salesperson
you are helping the customer succeed not just closing a sale
you are educating the customer rather than promoting your product
you provide reliable data rather than making exaggerated claims
you consider how to adapt your product or service to the customer's needs rather than how the customer should make changes to use what you are selling
you find yourself co-operating with other suppliers to help the customer instead of competing with them

and as a result

the customer sees you as a friend and colleague
the customer keeps coming back to ask for more help
the customer respects your expertise and is more willing to adapt
the customer comes to trust you
the customer's input helps you develop your products and services
other suppliers refer new business to you in your specialist field

Anyway, enough theory. In the next section we will consider some practical implementations of these principles.

Incidentally, some people will complain that this course is blurring the distinction between sales and marketing. They will say that marketing is about placing your company and its products in the public eye and sales is about persuading people to buy. But if we come at it from the other side, both are about helping people to source and secure the solutions you can provide. And in any case, as most of our clients are running their own business it is nonsense to distinguish between sales executive and marketing manager.

« previous page