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By Marc Metzner, Principal, The Alexander Group, Inc.
Finding marketing sweet spots is more science than art if you follow the three-step method explained below to map-out your company's future.
How to target customers with the most compelling mix of sales and service
resources? This is a question all executives ask themselves, and it’s all the
more pressing in today’s world of evolving customer expectations and new
technologies. The days of easy selling are gone.
Successful service-oriented companies will be the ones to segment and penetrate
promising markets before their competitors. My experience with the Alexander
Group Inc. shows that companies who capture markets follow these three steps:
1. Identify market sweet spots. These sweet spots are areas which offer the
best growth potential and fit for a company’s products and selling methods.
Successful service organizations are emphasizing constant market evaluation and
prioritization.
Many successful companies are creating a market matrix to aid them in identifying sweet spots. The information needed for a market matrix is usually gathered from a mix of internal data and market research.
This matrix is divided into two sections: the products sold by the company on one side and market segments these products sell into on the other. Within each cell of this matrix, the company plugs in the current market revenue (for all companies) for the product and market segment. The company should then plug in their own revenue for the product and segment, potential revenue growth (for all companies) and the number of potential customers.
With this map, organizations should select the market sweet spots that
deserve the company's marketing and selling focus. Revenue growth targets can
then be set for each sweet spot to ensure the company achieves its annual
growth objectives.
2. Focus on your sweet spots. To identify your sweet spots is not a goal in
itself but a means of achieving a goal. Sales and marketing resources then
need to be aligned with your marked sweet spots in order to grow revenue.
Understand the buying behaviors of the accounts. Understand your customers'
business needs and how your product will help them address these needs, and
know your customers' purchasing preferences (e.g., directly from you, through
business partners, via e-commerce).
As an example, a large telecom provider created a telemarketing campaign to
sell to smaller accounts after it was found that these accounts would buy
Internet services over the phone. To support this strategy, the provider
developed a marketing campaign based on the needs of these potential
customers. Just as crucial, the company gave its sales and service personnel
the training and tools needed to communicate the right value proposition to
these customers.
3. Manage sweet spot performance. Executives of service-based companies are
increasingly using specific benchmarks to maintain focus. Even at the sales
executive level, sweet spot penetration benchmarks are now being set and
measured.
For instance, many executives currently have revenue goals for the mid-size
customer segment. Customer-facing jobs should also have incentives based on
their success in selling to the targeted sweet spots.
So, to answer the original question, you can target customers with the most
compelling mix of sales and service resources by finding your sweet spots,
devoting the needed resources to win them, and doing it all before your
competitor.
As leader of two of the The Alexander Group, Inc.’s consulting practices (Channels and Telecom), Marc Metzner oversees the firm’s thought leadership and methodology development in these areas. He can be contacted at 203-975-9344, ext. 585, or via e-mail at mmetzner@alexandergroupinc.com.
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