Total Marketing Solutions

It’s always interesting and enlightening to work with clients who have a strong, well thought-through and well-articulated sales proposition - those who have thought through their product offering and value proposition carefully, who have a profound understanding of what their customers want and who know what their competitors are up to. Unfortunately our experience of working as marketing strategy consultants shows us that these companies are the exception rather than the rule.

Now more than ever it’s absolutely imperative that, before embarking on any kind of marketing or business development activity, companies have a clear idea of how they are going to successfully compete. As marketing consultants we often encounter companies who have decided on a new website for example, without really thinking about the bigger picture - i.e. what is the target audience for that website or what the key selling messages are that they want the website to convey. It is critical to clearly understand your sales proposition before deciding on which direction to take to promote your business. Developing a compelling proposition to take to market revolves around answering three simple questions:-

1. What business problem are you looking to solve?
2. Why should your prospective clients choose you above your competitors?
3. Can you deliver on your promises?

But be warned: an overly simple answer to any of these questions will not be compelling enough to convince new companies, previously unaware of your existence, to start doing business with you.

In our experience, to build a strong case you need to be able to demonstrate the Return on Investment (ROI) and value added that you can deliver for your potential customers. In other words, clearly demonstrate what extra your customers could gain from paying for your product or services. Demonstrating ROI isn’t rocket science, but it can be a grey area where many companies fail to identify the real benefits that they deliver to their customers. The key is to get your potential customers to focus on the return bit of the equation, rather than the initial investment of buying from you. And with more and more companies having to justify every last penny spent at the moment, you need to be able to demonstrate the strength of your own proposition before chasing down the all too rare new business development opportunities.

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