Lean Business Planning and Marketing and Sales
Published January 31, 2012 | 
Painstakingly precise and dynamic lean planning will allow everything you do to appear natural, impulsive and unplanned.
Let’s start with the fact that every marketing plan, if it’s good, should consist of two major components including the definition of your target market along with a precise strategic outline to market, promote and sell your company’s products or services. If you find the target market isn’t large enough to support your marketing and sales strategies, don’t hesitate to dynamically re-think your plan as part of your lean planning process.
The target market as we discussed earlier is where it becomes critical to define your target market clearly and concisely, always keeping in mind what investors expect to see. Be sure and explain to your lean business plan reader details about your customers describing their identifiable characteristics including information like age, gender, geographic location, income level, and identifiable buying trends, pattern similarities and other pertinent defining information.
With a well-developed demographic profile of your representative customer, the more clearly you can identify any significant traits and qualities of your customer, and the easier constructing an effective marketing plan becomes.
The market information you research should originally be from both primary and secondary sources. Primary sources include information from your personal observation and research from personal studies, any questionnaire results, along with discussions you have with industry experts. Your secondary sources always include sources like journals, books, published reports, government statistics, or data and information you find on the Web.
The marketing plan is where after you define your target market, you need to determine specifically how you will reach them. The details and steps you identify as necessary to reach potential customers and convert them to paying customers are included. It is important for you to remember to demonstrate that you have identified certain precise marketing paths and procedures to most effectively sell your products or services.
You need to provide answers to questions that include:
What specific marketing channels will do you plan to use to reach your customer base?
The frequency of use you plan for each channel, the cost for each, and your selection criteria for determining which marketing channels?
The identification of marketing materials you need? (i.e., brochures, website, etc)
Will you design your marketing materials or outsource (if so, then who?), and the associated costs?
Do you plan to issue press releases and attract public relation stories?
Let’s examine common mistakes found when addressing marketing and sales issues.
Using too wide of a definition for the target market, and the assumption that success results from securing a “small segment” of this huge market. Remember to stay within your capacity and start with your target market niche before attempting to target larger targets, which requires greater more substantial resources production capacity.
Poorly defining target markets. Be sure to continue to dial in on your target markets until detailed specifics are well-supported and clearly defined.
Thinking you can go after the entire market instead of a narrow niche. It is natural to think you can master the huge market although niche specific attributes are ignored. You should always be target market niche focused, with the thought of growing beyond the niche as markets are identified and clearly defined.
You develop poor assumptions about your target market without research or solid information. Do the work to develop well-supported assumptions backed by reliable information and research.
Just a general discussion of the channels you will use advertisement and promotions. Your discussion should indicate strong ideas and understanding of the advertising and promotion tools available, and exactly how they will be utilized.
Failure to include important details specific to connecting with the target customer, along with associated costs. Always include clear details about not only how successful connections with customers will occur, but the costs involved with the process.
Operating with the assumption that simply offering a lower price will lead to an increase in sales. Having just lower prices is of little value in the minds of consumers, even for Wal-Mart. You have to create perceived value that leads to increases in sales. Be sure you address the “value” of your products or services.
Targeting with the assumption that lucrative but unrelated markets will be successful. Always stay within the target market niche you clearly understand for the highest-level of success. Many have quickly failed going after unrelated markets.
Lacking clear supported assumptions about how future changes will affect your market. An important principle of lean business planning is to always keep an eye on future changes will affect the market and evolving with the changes by adapting your business to them.
Lean Business Planning and the Target Market
Published January 30, 2012 | Remember, the target we aim at must be clearly known, before successful planning can be made.
The target market is critical because this is where in your lean business planning you must clearly identify both the current and prospective buyers of products and/or services provided by your business. Your primary goal is to demonstrate to readers your clear and focused understanding of who your customers really are, along with how your products/services directly meet the identifiable problems and needs of the marketplace. The proper identification of your specific potential customer base is driver of your overall marketing and sales strategies also outlined and included your lean business plan.
You must understand completely that while your products or services may indirectly meet the needs of a large community of potential customers, the primary goal is to clearly define your specific customer base both in concise numbers and characteristic attributes. So let’s consider the different types of characteristics and attributes to address in the target market component of your lean business planning.
Target Market Size. What’s the quantitative size of your target market? How many business (commercial) buyers are there? Exactly how many (1 million?) potential consumers are ready to purchase your product on a regular basis? If so, how many (a few?) make up incredibly significant target customers?
Target Specific Demographics. The demographic characteristics of potential customers vary quite frequently, especially if the focus is on serving either the consumer or business markets:
Consumer Market Demographic Components
Income,
Occupation,
Gender,
Age
Single/Married,
Ethnic Group,
Education
Commercial/Business Market Demographic Components
Industry,
Product/Service,
Years in Business,
Revenue,
Employee Size,
Private/Public
Target Specific Geographic Distinctiveness. We’ve all heard the importance of location, location, location. Location has become less of an issue for many companies that are technology based. But, you most certainly shouldn’t ignore the significance of the geographic definition for the location of your customers, no matter consumer or business target market. Clearly illuminate these issues to make certain that your marketing and sales strategies/budget allocations properly tie in with your goals to capture market share.
Other Identified Target Specific Distinctiveness. Look for any more subjective traits that help concisely define your customers? These traits may include motivating factors for current buying trends, consumer-perceived weaknesses of other competitive solutions in the market, and any new trends or measurable purchasing swings expected to take place within your target market.
Obviously, higher levels of your customer understanding, the more enhanced are your chances of success. The best method for answering the target market question, “Just who exactly is my company’s customer?” is to invest both time and resources in primary (most valuable) market research. Primary is often accomplished by conducting simple surveys or focus groups.
If you don’t do anything else, use the Web and industry groups to find applicable market research studies and statistics specific to your dynamic lean business planning. These kind resources often vary from free information you locate accessible on websites to exclusive and costly professional market research studies and surveys prepared by experts in the industry or field of your business.
Performing primary research enables you to gather and document the quantitative and qualitative information needed to prepare a solid target market section for your business plan.
Let’s examine some mistakes and “don’ts” to avoid when preparing Target Market information.
If you assume that everyone is going to purchase of your product/service, eliminate the thought from your assumptive considerations. If you can’t quantify your market, then keep drilling down in the available target market data until you can.
If you aren’t clear about the exact characteristic definition of whom your target market customers are, then you haven’t completed the definition process. Remember to ask, “Who in the market has the biggest problem and therefore benefits the most from your product or service?” You should continue to ask until you have a clear definition.
Never ever assume your target market is huge (i.e. everyone wants what you offer etc.). Make it a rule for yourself that a well-defined target market is one that your company can provide considerably superior products or services.
Jumping to conclusions about how much and why your target market needs you is a formula for failure. Rather carefully explain the exact details of how you answer their problems and needs.
The value of focus should never be underestimated. Remain clearly and steadfastly focused on providing your specific product or service to a very specific target market group.
Don’t be tempted to tackle too many markets at the same time. Remember, stay focused, especially if your business is in a startup or early-stage, and carefully grow the capacity to meet demands of additional markets with superior products or services.
Viral Videos! Incredible Ball Boy Catch! Tennis Ball!
Published January 29, 2012 | Team Altman Awesome Viral Videos Incredible Ball Boy Catch and Tennis Ball!
We decided to post two viral videos that are each amazing in completely different ways. The fact that both are tennis related had nothing to do with their selection. They are both simply great viewing for completely different reasons, and both having a tennis theme is random, which made the decision to put them together a no brainer.
“Incredible Ball Boy Catch” is what it says, a truly random amazing catch, already viewed almost 6 Million times in just 2 days, now that’s viral! “Tennis Ball” is really about a message, but delivered at exactly the right moment for optimum or maximized effect of the message to bring out completely different emotions at the same time. It’s what going viral is all about!
As always enjoy, and share Incredible Ball Boy Catch, and Tennis Ball!
Incredible Ball Boy Catch!
Tennis Ball!
Viral Videos! Balance on a Ball!
Published January 28, 2012 | Team Altman Awesome Viral Video! Balance on a Ball… FAIL!
Okay, so when you start viewing this video, it’s pretty obvious what’s going to take place, or is it. You find yourself thinking maybe this will turn out well, and we’ll see a really amazing stunt of someone balancing a ball on a beam… but, as it turns out… NOT! Or more like… FAIL! What’s funny is that even when you know a fail’s going to happen… when it does… you still flinch from just imagining the PAIN of Failure or just plain pain!
As always enjoy, and share Balance on a Ball… FAIL!
Lean Business Planning and Industry Profiles and Analysis
Published January 27, 2012 | Success is directly connected with action. That’s why successful people seem to always keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit. Instead they move to correct any mistakes and turn them into success.
An Industry Analysis is simply the analysis of conditions within a specific industry at a particular point in time. Now this can include the behavior and relations between competition, suppliers, and customers. So the understanding of the different factors that are constantly at work affecting the industry (i.e. market, political, economic etc.) is an extremely critical component of effective lean strategic planning for any company, and requires a comprehensive effort.
Why it’s Important
Industry Analyses bring an understanding of the industry’s big picture to you and your readers. The identification of the mixture of threats and opportunities your business faces at any time, ultimately helps determine strategies and processes to create highly-competitive advantages. The better prepared you are when you enter the market can put you farther down the road to achieving established objectives and goals.
What’s in it?
There are always several factors that can affect the industry which may include government regulations, environmental issues, as well as market conditions and economic circumstances, any of which can have a direct affect on your chances of starting a successful business in the industry.
The size of your industry by both revenue and number of firms.
Industry growth trends, units sold, or the employment situation.
Identifiable growth or declining trends in your industry are important.
Discuss any important historical trends in previous years.
Trends forecast if available for the coming years. Be sure and include supporting research.
Identify critical barriers of entry for your industry.
Future growth in number of companies expected to enter your industry.
The cost of government regulations that may affect your industry and business, and is your industry highly regulated, or not.
Provide a broad explanation of the common methods of distribution for products and services in your industry.
Let’s examine a few of the most common mistakes sometimes found in the industry analysis section of a business plan.
Not demonstrating a solid understanding of how your industry functions. Your experience is important, so don’t let the information indicate a lack of experience.
Appear seemingly unaware about the companies that form your industry. It’s critical to understand and address your market including businesses that may be your direct competition.
Lacking understanding about where and how your business fits into the distribution channel of your industry. Poor understanding of distribution channels is fraught with potential inefficiencies and can be extremely costly.
Appear to carelessly omit growth trends, revenue size, and significant statistics for your industry. Never omit information and industry data that should automatically be included to present a complete picture of what to expect and effectively plan for in the market.