Additional Marketing Opportunities – Complementary Product/Service Lines | Saturday October 30th, 2004 | |
What is the Fastest Way to Increase Sales?
The quickest, most cost-effective way to increase sales volume is to sell additional products/services to your existing customer base. This avenue should be explored on an ongoing basis.
Expanding into new markets is more costly, requires significantly more research, and is a considerably riskier investment; however, expansion into new markets is a part of your long-range marketing plans.
Changing or expanding distribution channels is another way to quickly increase sales volume. Although changing distribution channels is difficult, as the life cycle of the product/service matures, change is inevitable. Planning for the change will make the transition less traumatic.
Analyze Existing Products/Services
Analyze your current customer base and their buying habits. Then take a close look at your existing product/service line offering. Carefully review your competitors’ product/service offerings, as well. What similar products/services can you offer? In developing new products/services, issues to consider include:
Selling to Existing Customer Base
New products/services that supplement your existing product/service lines. Adding complementary products/services to your existing lines gives your sales staff the opportunity to call on the customer more frequently and gives the customer a reason to purchase more products or services.
New products/services that enhance value of existing products/services. Explore the possibility of adding value to existing products or services, thereby creating a “new” product or service.
New products/services offered at lower cost. Offering a similar product or service at a reduced cost makes it easy for your customer to say Yes!
Selling to New Markets or Market Segments
Existing products/services that target new market segments. Have you saturated current markets with existing products and services? Explore new market segments to increase sales of current offerings.
Developing products/services that create an entirely new market. Certainly the most innovative additional market opportunity is development of a product or service that creates its own market. Solicit input from your employees and sales representatives as well as your existing customers when considering new product/service offerings.
Distribution Channels
Distribution channels do not remain static. New products, for example, may be distributed initially through direct sale to specialty retailers, then expanded through national sales representation to mass market retailers, then moved through mail order and on-line purchasing.
Sales of services can also benefit from expanding distribution channels. A good example is the banking industry. How to service more customers more quickly and more cost effectively led to the development of Automated Teller Machines. The proliferation of ATMs has changed the way the world handles its banking transactions. To continue to serve more customers more frequently, banks have opened branches in supermarkets where 24 hour service is available; and more and more customers are now handling their transactions on-line, offering the ultimate service – banking in the comfort of your own home.
Periodic review not only of your product/service offerings but their respective distribution channels is necessary to ensure maximum coverage in each market.
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