Sales And Marketing Plans

Sales and marketing plans characteristically have four essential components. The services and products segment of the sales and marketing plan obviously addresses your company's services and products and proposes a strategy to improve one, both, or neither. The plan could call for the enhancement of services surrounding the product or an overhaul of the product and reduction in overall service.

The promotion component of sales and marketing plans addresses promotional strategies, which involves advertising and direct customer communication. Solid salesmanship is critical for small businesses because of their restricted ability to spend money on advertising. Good telephone book advertising is also crucial. Direct mail is a useful, inexpensive medium available to small business.

Other Components of Sales and Marketing Plans

Sales and marketing plans also deal with price and distribution. Smaller companies can often set higher prices because they provide a high degree of personalized service. Many small businesses also do not have the economies of scale that larger corporations have so they don't have the luxury to offer lower prices. Consequently, many small businesses improve their level of service to match the price of the product.

Finally, businesses need to determine how they will distribute their product to their customers. This is often a difficult issue for small businesses to address because of the potential cost involved. Distribution and customer service often go hand in hand as the distribution component often determines how quickly customers receive your product. Small retailers should contemplate cost and traffic flow when choosing a site, especially since advertising and rent can be reciprocal. In essence, a low-cost, low-traffic location means paying more for advertising to increase traffic.