Marketing and Sales
Standing Out in Business
In business you need customers, sales and orders. Marketing is about engaging the customer and sales is about securing the customer and retaining those customers to keep repeat business. In order to achieve that you must know your customers well.
To engage and secure new and existing customers
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You must define who your customers are and understand their core needs
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You must identify the right marketing channels to reach your customers
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You must decide what to say to your customers to close the deals
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You must create the right customer experience to retain customers
Investing time and finance in getting it right from the beginning and increase your revenue rather than loose you money.
Do you need help?
Our Coaches and Experts can help you....
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Develop your marketing strategy
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Develop your communication style e.g. copywriting, sales pitch
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Decide on the right marketing tools e.g. leaflets, website, blog
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Learn and implement new marketing techniques e.g. social media, direct marketing, online marketing
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Develop your presentation style and confidence
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Develop your sales skills and techniques
To enquire about coaching in marketing and sales email coaching@stridingout.co.uk
To enquire about design of marketing tools email design@stridingout.co.uk
Our coaching and training is provided on a chargeable basis, but we can access funding to provide free business support to certain groups of entrepreneurs who meet the eligibility of the funding provider. Please enquire to find out more.
Client Casestudy 
Emma-Jayne Parkes and Viviane C. Jaeger, Co-Founders of Squid London
SquidLondon is a forward thinking design team paving the way in future material technology.
Useful Planning Tools
A Guide to Writing a Marketing Plan by Scavenger.
Useful Articles
Sales Action Plan for 2010
In this article, leading Sales Expert Andy Preston explains what
sales lessons you should have learnt from 2009.... and what you need to
do differently to be more successful in 2010.....
2009 was an interesting year for many salespeople and business owners I've been speaking with recently. Whilst some had a successful year, many others were grateful for making the sales they did, and some were grateful to make it through the year at all!
2009 had some interesting lessons in terms of sales and sales tactics, things we should all learn from whether we're a salesperson, sales manager, director or business owner.
Follow the tips below and watch your sales soar in 2010!.....
Sales Lesson Number One - Prospect Continuously
If 2009 taught you nothing else, it taught you that you can't always rely on your existing customers to hit your sales targets! 2009 was the year that existing customers were looking for ways to cut costs in their businesses - and maybe you and your product or service were one of those costs?
Prospecting should be done on a continuous basis, not just when you're quiet!
Negotiating - The Myths and Realities
We have all been there at some stage in our business lives - the dreaded negotiation with your most awkward client. He regularly screws you to the floor each year on price and everything else you have to offer! Pretty quickly you see every negotiation as a battle and all your self confidence goes.
There are a lot of myths surrounding negotiating which don't help if you are faced with handling such a session for the first time. But as with any myth, there is usually a very different reality.
Myth: It can be a daunting ordeal
You mention to your trusted partner or member of staff that you are off to negotiate next year's big contract. What do they say? "Good luck!" The majority of people think that negotiating is a dirty and tough task, a necessary evil.
Reality: Not if you plan
As with all things in life, we fear the unknown, especially if we are unprepared. The reality of negotiating is that with adequate preparation comes confidence. Before your meeting sit down and ask yourself the following questions:
- what do you want out of this negotiation?
- what is your lowest, acceptable and best price?
- what are you prepared to 'give away' if necessary?
- what do you know about the other company's position in the deal?
- if you don't know much, what questions can you ask to improve your understanding?
Thorough preparation is a great confidence booster. See the negotiation as a presentation and plan your approach and questions before hand.
Myth: Negotiators are born
There is such a mystic surrounding negotiation and the skills needed to be good at it, that most people think you either have it at birth or you don't!
Promote your retail product on TV
New Retail Series
| BBC Two
Entrepreneurs, inventors, designers - Britain's high street wants you!
Do you believe you've invented the next Dyson? Concocted a successor to Innocent Smoothies? Discovered the next Protect and Perfect face cream? Then the BBC wants to hear from you.
In a groundbreaking new series with retail expert Theo Paphitis, some of Britain's biggest and best loved high street stores are clearing some shelf space for you - the great British public - to sell your products.
Boost your Online Status and Network
It's important to raise your profile online to attract new clients, partners and team members.
Social networking using Linked In and Twitter can be a pivotal strategy for boosting your professional status and network.
Because of the recent massive influx of users Linked In provides a potentially extensive network for showcasing your work achievements. It has an estimated 35 million registered users worldwide of which more than 2 million are based in the UK. This figure is growing at around 5% per month as more candidates find themselves on the market.
Twitter is fast becoming one of the most talked about social networks available on the net. It has huge potential for marketing; and is without doubt an essential resource for all types of professional in all sectors. Those using it astutely realise that it is quickly becoming a major addition to the likes of Linked In as a must-have in the modern day successful marketing strategy.
So how can you make the most of social networking?
Trends in E-Commerce
E-Commerce is “the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks”
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E-tailing
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E-marketing
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E-business transaction
The growing importance of e-commerce for business
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Currently there are 1,668,870,408 internet users in the world (1.67 billion; total world population 6.9 billion) (Internet World Stats)
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Top 500 retailers posted 2008 growth of 20.7% in e-commerce
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Web-only channels are fastest growing e-commerce channels
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Recession not unduly affecting e-commerce growth