How do we go about things? Consider our approach to some of the common needs all growing business have at one time or another:

-I need more sales!
-No one knows about my business!
-My products are falling behind the market!

I need more sales!
Every growing company is willing to spend money on sales resources to get more sales. Before spending a dime, though, there are a few common traps sales investment can fall into:

Busy, Busy, Busy: Do you have lots of sales “activity” but little actual new revenue? Is everyone crazy busy, but having little in the way of new sales to show for it? Unless the economy is in boom mode and deals are falling from the trees, this is a problem we all need to face down. But it is important to recognize that having few new sales is almost always a symptom of a larger problem.

What is the best way to identify the source of the problem? By applying a scientific approach - cause and affect – the core issues are usually easy find. Here are a few of the things we help you look at:

-Are you in a growing market? And if you are, how can you prove it? Many businesses let themselves get lulled into letting their business get stuck in a dead or dying market – don’t be one of them.
-How about your pricing model? Even if your market is red hot, if you are priced wrong, you are simply handing deals to your competitors.

If the market is hot and the pricing is right on, you have to look at your product:
-Does it stack up well against the competition?
-What is unique about it?
-Are your marketing dollars doing a good job of telling this story?

If all of the above is working just fine, then the next place to look is at your sales investment itself:
-You may have great sales people, but have they been trained properly?
-Do they understand your value proposition?
-Have you given them enough time and marketing support to build a proper pipeline?
-Are the deals in the pipeline moving through to resolution or are they stalled?

A lot of managers and business owners get so overwhelmed with the sheer complexity of working through all of the possibilities that they simply throw up their hands and move on to some other fire to fight.

We at WCG believe that a rigorous review process will uncover the specific cause of your sales frustration of busy sales people with few results. - With careful, unbiased examination, the source of the problem can be effectively found - and repaired.

No one knows about my business!
For the moment, let’s assume the market has been targeted well. Let’s also assume that your product or service is competitive and priced correctly. Although all of these are classic reasons why businesses fail to grow, it’s important to remember that, without proper marketing, the best and most well focused business will languish. It is really important to remember that marketing is not sales, nor is it advertising, nor is it buying logo t-shirts and trade-show giveaways. Marketing is the act of letting people know about your business. The effectiveness of your marketing is driven almost exclusively by how well you know your business.

A lot of managers and business owners are really uncomfortable with the whole area of marketing. Of all of the aspects of running a business, marketing is by far the most dififcult to grasp and measure. This unfortunately leads many to make the often fatal mistake of concluding that they cannot afford marketing. In effect, they are saying that they cannot afford to tell people about their business. When said like that it seems crazy – no one would intentionally harm their business this way - but it happens all the time. So how do we bring a bit of science, cause and affect, to the art of marketing?

When explaining marketing my favorite analogy is to archery. Consider this:
For an archer to be successful, she must have three elements: a bow, an arrow, a target.

The bow = sales
The arrow = product/service
The target = your market

When combined with the skill of the archer, these three elements make for a successful result: Bull’s-Eye!

Marketing is the successful combination of these elements. A common marketing term for this interaction is your “go-to-market”. Leave any one of the three elements out, and the archer cannot succeed. Leave the archer out, and the three elements are useless.

One benefit of considering marketing in this fashion is that it helps you think scientifically about measuring marketing’s many aspects, and it helps you take a disciplined look at the interactions among the various elements where breakdowns so often occur.

-Is the sales organization effective at positioning your particular product?
-Is your product competitive?
-Is the target market definition clear?
-Has the value proposition been demonstrated?
-Are both sales and marketing properly – jointly - approaching the target market?

When questions like these are answered, you have the simple foundation of what you need to know about your marketing effort. From there, it is a matter of scale: small scale (word of mouth), mid-scale (direct mail, website, webinars, etc.), large scale (advertising, e-commerce). By understanding, describing, and measuring all elements of your “go-to-market, you are applying science to your investment in marketing, building confidence that your investment is well made.

Now you’re telling people about your business in the strongest way possible, confident that you are investing your marketing dollars properly. Aim, shoot, BullsEye!

My products are falling behind the market!
All products have a lifecycle. All products need to be constantly updated. One of the common mistakes businesses make is losing track of how their products and services stack up in the market. When first launched, good products and services typically have everything the customer is willing to pay for, are priced correctly, and are clearly aimed at the market target you’re trying to hit. If attention is not paid, after a few years - or, in high-tech, a few months - the product ages and falls behind.

Product lifecycle management: This is not just something for big companies with many products; it is something all growing companies must do. Often, its is easy to let time slip away dealing with day to day issues, but a simple lifecycle management review can keep you current, competitive, and growing. A straightforward approach addresses the following issues: features of the service, shifts in the market, competitive analysis, pricing model, sales and marketing effectiveness. Sounds like a lot, but like bookkeeping, if a business stays on top of it, it is easy to manage.

Features: every product needs to keep pace with what the customer wants. By adding or reducing the functions or the services you offer, your business stays fresh and current. This also gives you plenty of additional up-sell potential to take in your bag when working with current customers. This type of awareness also gives you a good idea how to structure further growth in your markets, capital spending as well as research and development.

Market Shifts: To keep your products on track, a growing business must stay abreast of changes in its markets. For example, how has the internet and e-commerce affected your business? Are you facing new, on-line competition? What companies are in spaces adjacent to yours? How are they doing? Are your customers able to find out everything they need to know about your business on your site? What has the experience of your customers been to date? Are they really happy they bought from you? Are there additional features or services they would like to see?

Competitive Analysis: This is a really interesting area to consider. Many businesses understand the bare minimum about their competition. Sure, they know if they win or lose, but do they really have a grasp of what makes their competition tick? Knowing as much as legally possible about your competition is good business practice, and is a cornerstone of growing a successful business. Understanding such things as the ownership background, the business objectives, key employees, product and service strategy, and tactics, as well as how they view you as a competitor, are all things a growing business needs to know to be prepared to maximize their effectiveness, and most of these things are available to you with a little focus.

Pricing Model: Understanding what type of price your market will bear is not an art, it is a science. Put the correct things into the formula and you will get a clear picture of the value of your products or services out the other side. Let’s start at the top: What kind of margin must you realize to see your way to profitability? (This assumes you are clear on your cost structure. If you are not aware of your costs, then a look into the way your products are managed is necessary.) After margin consider the competition. What are they charging for a similar service? What additional features do you have which justify a higher price? Will your cost structure allow you to undercut their prices? What kind of volume discounts are you able to give? How about bundling several things together to offer your customer a reason to buy more? Do you run frequent promotions? Are your promotions designed to clear unwanted inventory, to attract new customers, or to keep existing customers loyal?

Each one of these approaches has value which is reflected in your pricing model. A pricing model which keeps pace with the lifecycle of your products - anticipating commoditization at the end of a cycle or establishing value at the beginning of a cycle – will maximize the profitability of your products throughout their lifespan.

Sales & Marketing Effectiveness: What is your cost of sale? Is this cost eating too big a hole in your margins and overall profitability? Has the value of my product eroded to the point that you need a cheaper selling method, such as telesales? Or e-commerce? Is your product so unique that it can command significant mark-up and margin? How long can you ride this wave? Is your marketing investment able to find the leads you believe are out there, or has your product lost its appeal?

These types of basic business questions put the investment in sales and marketing into the larger context. Every business person knows they need to invest in sales and marketing, but how do you know the right amount of investment at any particular point in the lifecycle of the product or service? Understanding the hard-wired relationship between your product lifecycle and your necessary sales and marketing costs will keep you profitable and growing!

Should I get an Outside Opinion?
This is the heart of why a consultant, correctly utilized, can be a wise investment. The types of issues outlined above are on the mind of business executive or business owner everyday. However, many of these matters get put on the back-burner as the daily fires are fought. Often times the decisions which are most strategic to the growth of the company are made during a moment of crisis without the benefit of cool, considered, dispassionate thought. We are all familiar with the frustrations of this situation.

Also, it is important to point out, that many if not all of these strategic decisions involve the utilization of resources, or simply put, your employees. These are the people who are so involved in the day to day fray, that it’s difficult for them to find time to catch their breath, let alone finding time to take a hard look at what they’re doing. And don’t underestimate how unrealistic it is for businesses to expect employees to constantly recommend a course of action which may be very politically unpopular, or involve a dramatic change in their own positions within a firm. Matters such as examining the value of a current marketing spend, discontinuing a legacy service or product, or gauging the effectiveness of a particular sales model are very emotionally, and sometimes politically, charged. Outside resources, with no stake in the outcome of a given situation, can add an important point-of-view to decisions both mundane and mission critical.

When it comes to the ability to grow your business, however big or small, you want to have someone available to you who is not encumbered by the day to day tactical responsibilities of running the business. You also need clear, concise, balanced and informed knowledge to give you the best chance at making the right decision for your business. At critical junctures during the life of your business, a well managed-consultant is often the best investment you can make.