When we develop a start-up business, we need to make our activities and image be centered arround our target clients... for example, if we have concluded our target market to be teenaged girls, most of our collaterals (brochures, calling cards, etc) would need to have a special design that would attract teenaged girls.
For simplicity of determining our "Target Market", we could come up with a target market demographic table or something, similar to the one below:
Demographics
Our market would be teenaged girls, who belong to the middle class, and can afford to spend a few hundred bucks a month on teen magazines... They would be living in the subdivision areas of southern metro manila. And they go to private schools.
Market Demographics is like telling a short story or description of who we are targetting... It specifies: gender, age group, social group... Once we have all of these, we can cater all our selling thrusts towards this group of people...
Here is an introductory piece for Selling or Salesmanship that i wrote in December 23, 2003:
Basic Salesmanship
Each of us, at one time or another, has had to sell something. Selling does not necessarily mean offering a product or service in exchange for a monetary consideration. It could also mean convincing people about an idea or thought or a concept. It could also be trying to get people to side with you.
The number one thing we must consider is this: do we know what we are talking about? Do we fully understand all the implications? Do we know how these would affect us or other people? They say the best salesmen are those who know their product well. Who ever said this was half correct because that is only part of the concept of selling. One might ask: “If we know the product we are selling, what else would we need to convince a prospect to buy our product?” The answer is simple. The other half of selling is “Honesty” and “Sincerity”.
No, we are not trying to preach the Gospel here, though that is not such a bad idea. Most people see right through a fake salesman; always in a hurry to close the sale making their buyers doubt in themselves and feel as though they were just “coerced” into buying.
We may read in salesmanship books that we need ingenuity, perseverance and the ability to create a need, to make the prospect want our products. These are all true, but my dear ladies and gentlemen, nobody talks about “Honesty” and “Sincerity”.
By being “honest” and “sincere” we empathize with our prospects, we try to feel how they would feel and to make them feel we understand their needs. When we go through the sales process, we would find it easier to close the sale if we took the time to explain the pros and cons of our product. If we made the prospect feel that we are not just selling “a product” to them, but rather, we are offering them a solution, then we are on the right track.
The best part of closing a sale is when we accept payment from someone who is not only satisfied with our product but also someone who can rest easy and not thinking that somehow we conned them into it.
I have once read that the number one salesman of all times is Jesus Christ, why? Because He knew what He was talking about, He was “Honest” and “Sincere” in all His dealings. So look at where His Product is now. The Church of God has withstood more than two centuries of faith. Isn’t that living proof of His salesmanship abilities?
