Plateau To Summit: Sales and Marketing How To Within Your Business Plan

Welcome to this week’s edition to Plateau To Summit!

This week we are talking about the sales, marketing and product or service line portion of your business plan.

I have been discussing each individual part of your business plan each week. So, let’s recap. Here are the questions that should be answered within your business plan.  

1.What is your company?

This is your businesses introduction.  

2. Who are you giving dollars to?

This is your management team

3. How does this business work?

This is the operations of your business

4. Where does your business belong?

This is how your business fits in within the marketplace.

5. Why hasn’t this been done before?

This is explaining your competition and how you differ from them

6. How quickly you will know if your business is going to make money?

This should be apart of your marketing strategy

7. What are your numbers?

This is your revenues

8. How much money do you need?

This is all about funding

Now, we are going to move into the sales and marketing portion of the business plan. This is the part a lot of people find fun. I know It is for me!

The very first step is having the right product or service, because it would not matter if you had the best sales team in the world or if you had the most aggressive marketing strategy that could be thought of, if you don’t have a product someone else wants and willing to pay for, it’s all for not.

Here’s an example, maybe you love a certain product but no one else is interested in it, it’s probably not really a good business you should be going into. The key is to have something someone else wants.

Sometimes a market analysis is the best way to find this information out. A market analysis will help you discover who else will be interested in the product or service you have. Most times, it is the best to do this research before the product is purchased to sell. Maybe there was an audience who wanted the product/service at one point, but overtime, the want or need went down. That is when you should consider changing your product/service line.  

I used to provide a service that helped clients whose homes were in foreclosure, but I only did that for a few years because it was only relevant for a short period of time. Back in 2007 through 2010 a lot of people were losing their homes and they were struggling to find ways to pay off their mortgage or at least not to be saddled with the debt from their homes in foreclosure.

During that short period of time, that was a valued service. However, now, that service is no longer necessary like it was 5-8 years ago. So, I had to make changes within my business. Just like I had to make changes to accommodate those clients who were in need of that service.

Comment below if you have had to accommodate your product or service line in order to continue to provide to the market and what that product/service was.

Now, let’s talk about sales and marketing.

If you aren’t getting customers in and your clients aren’t banging on your door, how can you reach your clients and let them know what kind of product/services you offer?

This is where marketing comes in. Marketing is going to generate your sales. A lot of marketing these days are done on the internet. Though, there are all different kinds of marketing strategies that you are going to have to employ to get customers in your door, to keep the clients that you already have in order to continue to frequent your business.

So, I want to know, what kind of marketing strategies do you use to promote your business? #CommentBelow

Internet marketing is the most popular way to market business now. However, you can’t just throw something out there and expect to be successful. You must employ a strategy. If you just make posts sharing that you have a business and show what your selling, what does that matter to anybody that sees it? You have to make what your selling, seem interesting so that if a potential customer is looking at your post or product online, they want to click on it so that they can buy, or at-least get more information on your product.

As far as sales are concerned, you have to have some idea of how much sales you need and that usually, determines your marketing budget. Your marketing budget determines how much advertising and how much marketing you can actually do. In your marketing plan, you need to have a growth strategy, a penetration strategy, all these strategies help you know what your business needs to continue to excel.

Here’s what your sales strategy should include:

1. What staff you will use to manage your sales activities
2. Your distribution strategy

All of these different elements become apart of your marketing strategy. You goal in marketing is to drive your sales. Your sales are to get your product/service out to your customers in order to keep your doors open.

Please comment, like and share this post, if you feel it has helped you or if it could someone you know.

Even though online marketing is one of the most popular ways to perform marketing, it’s not the only method. Email marketing, snail mail, is still a very effective way to market your business. You simply have to determine which method is the best for the product/service you have for sale.

One of the things I do is a Live Event. Sometimes a Live Event is via the internet and sometimes it’s in person. Finding the right strategy is not easy but it is definitely necessary.

You want to make sure that your product or service is being recognized by your customers. If I was selling tax services, I probably wouldn’t do it in a bar haha! If you are in a bar drinking, the last thing you’re doing is thinking about your taxes! Unless of course, that could be the reason why you’re in the bar drinking haha!

When you are reaching out to your customers, you have to actually know who your customers are. Determining a target market should be one of the first steps you take. Even before putting together a marketing strategy.

Once you’ve chosen your target market, you will have a better idea of who you’re trying to sell to.

A lot of our sales are directly related to our marketing strategies. Sometimes you can just throw a sign up and they will walk through the door, however, that won’t happen all the time. This is why having a marketing strategy is so important. You have to reach your customers where they are!

Millennials are the largest group by generation right now. Which is a really great group to market to. That being said, If I want to reach a millennial where they are, or any demographic, is right on their cell phone. One of the things I have done to reach out to my clients is by developing a FREE mobile app specifically designed for my clients to reach me and access valuable information.

You can download the MyCPA app here. Use Code CPAG in order to login. You can use the app on android and apple devices.

This is a really great marketing tool for me. My clients use it and tell me how happy they are. They use it for tracking their mileage, taking pictures of their receipts and storing them within their phone. It’s a great way to reach out to new clients as well. With your business, the same rule applies. Find a FREE tool that your audience will find useful. This could also include podcasts. You just have to find something that is going to fit within your budget and help match your clients wherever they are.

Plateau To Summit is a program that was created to help you take your business from the bottom to the top! That is ultimately why you are here. You want your business to succeed, you want to grow your businesses revenue. What better way to learn more than be apart of an exclusive group of other entrepreneurs and business owners at different stages within their business? Plus, its FREE!

Join the Plateau To Facebook Group Here, as well as download my ebooks as resources to help you dive deeper in how you can actually make your business better!

EBook 1: Plateau To Summit, Sales and Marketing Guide

Ebook 2: Plateau To Summit, Your Guide To Practical Business Solutions

These books are available on Amazon. Click the ebook you’d like, and it will take you straight to the link.

If you have any questions about sales or marketing and I haven't addressed them here, please leave a comment below! I will get right to it!

Thank you for reading and remember to tune into next week's Facebook Live

Watch the recording of this topic below!