Marketing

[jayavenkat83]

I started a new company. Now I have to market the products of my company. I would like to know how to approach other companies to sell my product. How to start the conversation? Please Help.

Regards,
Jay

[refernow]

Business are looking for products to sell so they are in general open to hearing from people with products to sell. You automatically have an in in that way. It depends of course a lot on the type of product your making. Can you directly go to their stores? Or if you are targeting a chain then you need to contact their corporate office and find out what their process is for submitting products for consideration.

[JennyWells]

I have been using You Tube to promote my products, and seems to be very successful. Study simple internet marketing skills and use those techniques to generate your own leads for your business.

[stand856]

What exactly are you selling?

[singaboy]

It depends on what products are you selling...maybe list your product/service here..someone can lend some help

[RecessionProof]

Focus on the following:

1. Cost - how much money you're going to save the business
2. Profit - how much money your're going to MAKE the business
3. Delivery - how fast you can get the product delivered to the business and keep them resupplied
4. Movement - how popular and in demand your product will be so it will keep moving off their shelves and turning a profit

[GriZzly]

When cold calling (which let's be honest is what you are doing, nothing wrong with that) you need to have the 'hook'. The hook is what makes you different from every other bugger who is calling them in times of recession. A hook can either be in the form of a unique aspect of your service that nobody else offers or it can be a product that all of the competition sells but you are offering it at an incredibly cheap price. If competition is fierce you can expect to have reduced margins initially but as research continues to show, customers come for the good prices but stay for the good service.

I'm currently operating a project called 7-A-DAY. It is based around a database of 70 low-spending customers. I make contact with 7 customers from this list each day for a 10 day cycle. That means (if you exclude weekends) that I make contact with each customer once every two weeks. I then build up a card for each customer that details what they have bought, what work they are doing, hobbies etc. Contact is King in these tough times!

[sarabel]

Hey!

I am having the same trouble Im going to be distributing products only sold on the east coast and I just dont know how to approach business owners and purchasers !? I was hoping to get some advice here

[GriZzly]

Once again, contact is king. Face to face contact is difficult initially, not just because of the practicalities of travelling about the place but also because you cannot simply turn up on your prospects door and introduce yourself. For this reason a telephone conversation is the best way to start, but it needs to be backed up by a mail-shot.

Now people will disagree about whether you send a mailshot first then follow up with a call or if you call first and follow with a mail shot. There is no right and wrong but I personally find that speaking to them and letting them know that you have forwarded some information to their address to clarify the conversation works best. If all goes well this will lead to you having the opportunity for a face-to-face.

Most importantly however, do not send a mailshot and leave it with just that. Response rates on unassisted mailshots are incredibly low.

Be prepared to encounter rejection. If you can convert 50 calls into one sale you should be pleased, if you can convert 25 calls into one sale you should be over the moon. Anything higher than that and you are a natural. If you get rejected the first time, try them again and if you don't seem to be getting anywhere, move on to the next one.

[Jhordell]

Great advice so far!

Just wanted to clarify a piece of terminology though, mailshot?

My best guess would be that it's a short, sharp run-down of the advantages/ point of difference of your product ?

Sorry to jump the thread, but the advice loses a bit for me if I don't completely understand. Thanks for helping a newcomer out =)

[GriZzly]

Mailshot is a colloquial term used when you send something like a new brochure, catalogue, marketing pitch, letter, leaflet, proposition etc to a list of targetted customers or prospects. Like when everyone in your street gets the local chinese take-away menu through their door.

[Jhordell]

Heh, thanks very much for the timely reply. That's a term I hadn't heard before, obviously hasn't made it out here to Australia yet.

Thanks again

[ForumNomad]

Start with a website (if you do not already have one). Read marketing books. Post youtube videos. Offer incentives to local businesses.

Basically, get your brand out there as much as possible. Twitter, stumbleupon, facebook...do EVERYTHING.