About Marketing Power

by Bogie

Here is an article on The Power of Marketing.

If you're interested in getting a few profitable pointers on how to win customers, you're going to love this.

A researcher asked a group of sixth graders what they thought of the taste of beer. Almost unanimously, they declared, "YUCK!" (They thought it tasted terrible.)
Then the researcher asked them to imagine themselves in the future, as college students, when they may (perhaps) drink beer.
"Now," he asked, "which brands of beer might you drink?"
Some said they'd drink Bud Light. Some said Heineken. Almost all had a preference and had already picked a certain brand of beer -- after having just admitted it tasted terrible.
Oh, the POWER of Marketing!.
Marketing is just what it claims to be: it's about creating markets. It's about creating places (physical or mental) to sell things. It's often about creating attitudes about products or services way before the sales process even begins.
A lot sales people refer to themselves as "marketing reps." They're wrong.
Why?

Because it's a salesperson's job to meet potential customers and negotiate business deals with them -- or to figure out that a deal can't be made, then move on.
By the time they meet with prospects the marketing work has long ago been done... or it hasn't.
At any rate, it's too late for marketing. If the company has done a good job of marketing, then the work of the sales force is easier. If not, then selling is difficult or (sometimes) impossible. You see, marketing involves shaping the perceptions of a great many faceless strangers. It depends on the laws of large numbers. It requires a well thought-out, consistent message. No single salesperson can personally meet enough people to create a market. Besides, it's not the job of salespeople to "get the company name out there." It's their job to make deals based on the markets and impressions the company has (or should have) already created.

Here's the thing: If you shirk your responsibility to create markets for your salespeople, you do it at your own peril!
Their craft and trade is supposed to be closing deals. So, teach them to do that. Then send them out to the specific places where they can succeed by pointing them in the direction of prospects you've created with effective marketing..
Does this strategy work? Why do you think it's so easy to sell beer!

The Power Marketing Resources:

- The Power Marketing Association OnLine
Home page of The Power Marketing Association serving the new, competitive US electric power industry.