Simple Management Tools Save Time

No matter what your company has to offer, there are a few activities that are common to all companies whether you are manufacturing a product or providing a service. And for each of these functions it is important to have a plan.

• Inbound Logistics (Manufacturing or Service Projects)

  Whether a company offers a service or a manufactured physical object, it is important to have a full pipeline of opportunities and the resources to fulfill the present and future projected work requirements. Logistics usually focus on the movement of physical goods but it applies equally as well to delivery of a service or set of services. Whether physical or experiential, the deliverables need to be scheduled, organized, communicated and delivered. Logistics are often broken down into Product, Processes and People. For a service business the focus is mostly on Processes and People. Organizing communication is important for a successful delivery of service and communications. Software like Basecamp can help if you need to organize communication by client.

• Pricing (Balance Profit and Value)

  One of the most angst-producing activities is to figure out how to price your offer. Of course you can add up the cost of goods, add in the labor and overhead, decide on a reasonable margin and make that your price. But really, that is just the starting point. All businesses have competitors. So the price of your service of product is not done in a vacuum. In general higher prices should represent a higher value offer. Part of the job of pricing is to ensure that your offer has the highest perceived value of similar products in your market area. Usually a sampling of features and prices of your competitors will give you an idea of the market expectation.

• Marketing Strategy (The Promise)

  Before a business can expect to make any sales, it needs to have a strategy around their product. The strategy, simply stated should consist of what you are offering in terms of an experience. If you want your product to be the easiest to use on the marketplace, then concentrate your effort on the user interface. Whatever you choose, it is critical to the design effort that you build in the type of experience that aligns with your Marketing strategy. Marketing is the promise your company makes. If you don’t deliver on that promise, growing your business will be very difficult.

• Sales (From Contact to Closing)

  Sales is often the first place where a prospect actually interacts directly with a person or agent of your company. Like any interaction, the prospect will be comparing the real product or service that you offer against the one that has been created through your marketing campaigns. This is the critical step where the sales facilitator can confirm that the prospect’s needs will be taken care of by the product or service that your company offers. Usually the prospect is looking for confirmation that your company has understood their needs. And how well your product or service will fulfill their needs.

• Satisfaction (Fulfilling the Promise of Marketing)

  Once a product has been sold, it is important that it stays sold. This is more than just verifying that the product was installed and is operating. You will develop an edge if you can dig deeper and find out if there was anything about the use of your product that was confusing or time consuming. Did they have any trouble getting on-line assistance and, more importantly would they recommend this product or service to a friend. This last question helps to develop a net promotor score (NPS). There are many on-line sources that can give you a detailed explanation of what this means and how to use the information.

Every step of your journey to success has simple help along the way. In some cases the information you need is already available to you. You can use spreadsheets for competitive feature comparisons, and price tracking of your competitors. Your CRM program will help develop your contacts and understand their motives for purchasing. And keeping contact with your customers after the sales, through the NPS, can go a long way toward growing a successful and long term customer base.