Our topic this month for our newsletter and blogs is “How to survive in a lean market.” It’s an election year, and the economy is characteristically unstable. Hence, we’re covering how to survive as a business in these times.
In our previous articles this month, we’ve covered the vital necessity of marketing in lean economic times. Now, we’re going to cover another important point: in addition to maintaining and expanding your marketing it’s important that when you’re in touch with prospects and customers, always remember to get their opinions.
Survey Beforehand
The importance of surveying prospects and customers as a routine component of market research cannot be overstated. But although it’s often skipped, potential buyers should be surveyed about a product or service before it ever hits the market. The expense of launching a product or service needs to be justified by more than just your own or another’s opinion or gut feeling that “it will sell.”
While many overlook it, some industries never fail to include this step, and one is the software industry. New software testing, known as Alpha and Beta testing, is always done to iron out any bugs and get feedback from the public on new software or new features and functionality.
If there is enough budget, the movie and television industries also do this. They test a new film or show in front of an audience to gauge their response, a process known as “test screening.”
Product marketing often engages in focus groups to accomplish surveying beforehand. However, focus groups, because they do not involve individual opinions or feedback, often fail to yield all the information a company needs to market effectively. A much more advantageous approach is to survey individual users either in writing or through some other method where they do not have to voice their opinions in front of others.
Continuous Updates After Release
Surveying should be continuously done after a product or service is on the market to get customer feedback. This is especially important after a new feature has been added or a new version is released.
While surveys are commonly conducted as part of marketing efforts, salespeople can and should also do informal surveying. Sales is the front line of communication, and once they have sold a product or service, they can always check back to see how the customer likes what they’ve purchased. Most salespeople will periodically check up on a customer to see how they’re doing with a product or service and to see about upselling them or selling them more—any of these are appropriate times to garner and note down feelings and opinions about a company’s products and services and the company itself.
Such notes are valuable, so they should be forwarded to the marketing department for compilation and use.
Both Old and New
Marketing is a steady stream. You will constantly market and sell to your returning regular customers and new customers. It’s an election year with many things going on, and the economy is tighter. Everything you learn through surveys will be extremely valuable when we get past lean and trying times to the point of a growth market.
Through marketing and sales, surveying formally and informally is how you, as a company, can continually keep your finger on the pulse of your customer base.
To learn more, sign up at SELLability.com.
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