Growth Initiatives...

You want to grow your business alright. You want to be that
Leader who made an organization a success. Of course. Then
you understand that paying attention to growth initiatives is
essential in building an institution.

"A company must be viewed not only as a portfolio of
products and services, but a portfolio of competencies as
well." - Gary Hamel

Consider these...

• Have an uncompromising commitment to providing your customers with only quality products and services.
• Focus on measured implementation and consistent quality.
• Clearly define roles, accountabilities, and timelines.
• Be creative in finding ways to better serve your partners and their customers.
• Build an effective strategic customer program that leans toward increasing revenues and uncovering emerging needs.
• Devise a systematic program for forward planning, deploying, and reviewing innovations.
• A platform for strategic and operational planning with partners includes the following: setting up joint objectives, performance improvement targets, and an action plan and timetable.
• Explore more ways to provide WOW services for target customers.
• In marketing, there is value in being first. New, improved, or newly designed products or services give you a better chance to be a market leader. But keep in mind that it is as important to be a better provider of products and services.
• Focus on the value chain not on the product. Consider today's intelligent value-seekers. Customers want more value for their money. They want MORE for LESS.
• Go into niche marketing not too much on mass marketing.
• Dominate a larger customer mind share not market share.

If you are in business just because you do not want to be an
employee; if you are in business only to earn a living -- then
you are really just an "ordinary employee" in disguise, so why
not just sell peanuts on the side walk? It's a challenge only
achievers could grasp... whether as an entrepreneur or a top
caliber employee.

An achiever is a dreamer... a dreamer who is not afraid to
dive; a diver who not afraid to swim; a swimmer who
understands risks, thinks of possibilities, and realizes that
courage is what really matters to achieve greatness.

Take note...
"Companies pay too much attention to the cost of doing
something. They should worry more about the cost of not
doing it." - Philip Kotler

Keeping Customers For Life... Part III

"All business, from potato chips to washing machines to jet
engines, is about selling to people." - Tom Peters

Those words is a fact that good marketers understand and thus,
develop strategies to reinforce preference for their brand,
product and service. Keeping customers in your stable now
boils down to analysis, planning and execution.

Yes, most have heard of loyalty programs but then, not all
realizes that its effectiveness really depend on the support of
management, the brains of its leaders and the hands of its
employees. More than just your product, you need a concerted
effort to constantly deliver a good impression to your
customers.

Understand that you do not have to wait for your customers
to tell you to serve them well and better than others to stay
long with you. You got to anticipate their needs and provide
your customers with easy steps for them to do repeat business
with you. These should be simple and cost-effective ways of
acknowledging valuable customers who seek and appreciate
emotional benefits from enhanced self-esteem, distinction, and
customer status.

"Once all the surviving contenders in a market can offer value,
the battle shifts to speed and innovation. To distinguish
themselves, companies must offer something unique."
~ Noel M. Tichy

Yet remember, more revenues from customers do not always
mean profit is better. Knowing who your most profitable
customers are and increasing their number will profitably
sustain your business. Customer satisfaction is for all your
customers. Customer loyalty is for your most profitable and
valuable customers. Therefore, be strategic in allocating your
resources in a way that will best serve and grow your highly
profitable and volume-generating customers.

Here are some tips...

Evaluate priorities and allocate resources accordingly based on
the following:

• How customers contribute to total profitability
• Significance of customers to the total business or in terms of their business size relative to the overall business
• Potential for future growth or any customer expansion plans

Evaluate overall cost of doing business with a customer to sustain
profitable relationships. Breakdown the cost of doing business
through the following:

• Discounts or payment terms extended to them
• Customer promotions

Other ad hoc or temporary support extended such as:

• Volume discounts
• Additional manpower
• Operational subsidies
• Administrative and selling costs

In the end, it is your reputation for doing business that will
carry you through... and keep your customers for life.

Take note...
"We don't know how to sell products based on performance.
Everything we sell, we sell on image." - Roberto Goizueta