TRAINING REPORT

ON
MARKETING STRATEAGY
Submitted to

MAHARISHI DAYANAND UNIVERSITY

In partial fulfillment of the requirements

For the award of the degree of

BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

(INDUSTRY INTEGRATED)

Submitted by

NAME: DINESH VISHWAKARMA

REGN NO. BBA/10/363Use the G00 series

ROLL NO.

Guru Gram Business School

Front of CCA School Dhanwapur road laxman Vihar

Gurgaon Haryana 122001
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify Dinesh Vishwakarma, a student of the

Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak, has prepared his training
report entitled “Marketing Strategy” at Continental Manufacturing Co. ,
under the guidance . He has fulfilled the requirement leading to award
of the degree of BBA (Industrial Integrated). This report is the record of
bonafide training undertaken by him and no part of it has been
submitted to any other University or Educational Institution for award
of any other degree /diploma/fellowship or similar titled or prizes.

I wish him all success in life.

SIGN OF FACALITY GUID

NAME OF FACALITY GUID

DESIGNATION

QUALIFICATION

SEAL OF ELC
 STUDENT DECLARATION
I hereby declare that Training Report conducted at

CONTINEANTAL MANUFACTURING CO.

353, MEHRALI ROAD, OPP. GOVT. COLLAGE,

GUEGAON-122001(HARYANA)

Under the guidance of

Mrs. Bhavana

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of

BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

(INDUSTRY INTEGRATED)
To

MAHARISHI DYNAND UNIVERSITY, ROHTAK

Is my original work and the same has not been submitted for the award
of any other degree/diploma/fellowship or other similar titled or prizes.

STUDENT SIGNATURE

NAME

PLACE:
DATE:

Company certificate
 ACKNOWNLEDGEMENT

I wish to acknowledge my sincere gratitude to Mr. Pravin

Kumar (Marketing manager) for giving me an
opportunity to carry out my Training at CONTINENTAL
MANUFACTURING CO. Rewari.

I am immensely thanks to Mrs. Bhvana for this guidance

and valuable information. It would not have been
possible for me for the successful completion of my
project on Marketing Strategy without her help.

Above all I offer my heartiest thanks to god almighty for

his fullest support and wonderful guidance
CONTENT OF THE REPORT
1) General introduction about the sector.
2) Industry profile
i. Origin and development of industry.
ii. Growth present status of the industry.
iii. Future of the company.
3) – Origin of organization.
4) – Growth development and present status of the
organization.
5) – Product and service profile of the company.
6) - profile of the company.
7) – Discussion on training.
8) – Study of selected research problem
i. (Problem, objective, methodology)
9) - Summary and conclusion
10) Appendices
11) Bibliography
 12)

1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION ABOUT SECTOR

2 - INDUSTRY PROFILE

I. Origin and development of the industry

CONTINENTAL MANUFACTURING COMPANY establised in 1990 with the
aim to manufacture Precision and High Quality Plastic and Steel metal
component. At CMC, we have been serving OEM’s in Gurgaon Fom very
bigning and have made good cutomer on base due to our industrial
background sonce 1958. We have specialization in manufacturing of
deep draw components in seat metal and injection molded plastic part
with critical shape and size . A brief count of our achievement and
appritiation given by company’s customer is given below

II. GROWTH AND PRESENT STATUS OF THE

INDUSTRY
There is two axis one shows series 1 in which targets achieved is given
in crores. Second axis shows the year I which targets achieved.
III. FUTURE OF THE INDUSTRY
3. ORIGIN OF ORGANIZATION
CONTINENTAL MANUFACTURING COMPANY establised in 1990 with the
aim to manufacture Precision and High Quality Plastic and Steel metal
component. At CMC, we have been serving OEM’s in Gurgaon Fom very
bigning and have made good cutomer on base due to our industrial
background sonce 1958. We have specialization in manufacturing of
deep draw components in seat metal and injection molded plastic part
with critical shape and size . We have two uit & offices they are given
below:-
4. GROWTH DEVELOPMENT AND PRESENT STATUS OF
THE ORGANIZATION.
5. PRODUCT AND SERVICE PROFILE OF THE COMPANY
6. PROFILE OF ORGNIZATION
Organizational structure

cEO
7. DISCUSSION ON TRAINING
Marketing strategy is a process that can allow an organization to
concentrate its limited resources on the greatest opportunities to
increase sales and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage

Developing a marketing strategy

Marketing strategies serve as the fundamental underpinning
of marketing plans designed to fill market needs and reach
marketing objectives. Plans and objectives are generally tested
for measurable results. Commonly, marketing strategies are
developed as multi-year plans, with a tactical plan detailing
specific actions to be accomplished in the current year. Time
horizons covered by the marketing plan vary by company, by
industry, and by nation, however, time horizons are becoming
shorter as the speed of change in the environment
increases. Marketing strategies are dynamic and interactive. They
are partially planned and partially unplanned. See strategy
dynamics.
Marketing strategy involves careful scanning of the internal and
external environments which are summarized in a SWOT
analysis. Internal environmental factors include the marketing mix, plus
performance analysis and strategic constraints. External environmental
factors include customer analysis, competitor analysis, target
market analysis, as well as evaluation of any elements of the
technological, economic, cultural or political/legal environment likely
toimpact success. A key component of marketing strategy is often to
keep marketing in line with a company's overarching mission
statement.

Types of strategies

Marketing strategies may differ depending on the unique situation of

the individual business. However there are a number of ways of
categorizing some generic strategies. A brief description of the most
common categorizing schemes is presented below:

Strategies based on market dominance - In this scheme, firms are

classified based on their market share or dominance of an industry.
Typically there are four types of market dominance strategies:

Leader

Challenger

Follower

Nicher

Porter generic strategies - strategy on the dimensions of strategic scope

and strategic strength. Strategic scope refers to the market penetration
while strategic strength refers to the firm’s sustainable competitive
advantage. The generic strategy framework (porter 1984) comprises
two alternatives each with two alternative scopes. These
are Differentiation and low-cost leadership each with a dimension
of Focus-broad or narrow.
Product differentiation (broad)
Cost leadership (broad)
Market segmentation (narrow)

Innovation strategies - This deals with the firm's rate of the new
product development and business model innovation. It asks whether
the company is on the cutting edge of technology and business
innovation. There are three types:

Pioneers
Close followers

Late followers

Growth strategies - In this scheme we ask the question, “How should

the firm grow?”. There are a number of different ways of answering
that question, but the most common gives four answers:

Horizontal integration
Vertical integration
Diversification
Intensification
A more detailed scheme uses the categories[10]:
Prospector

Analyzer

Defender

Reactor

Marketing warfare strategies - This scheme draws parallels between

marketing strategies and military strategies.

M any architects make the mistake of thinking that marketing has

only a peripheral relationship to what their firm does. In fact, marketing
works best when it is totally integrated into the operations of your firm,
when it’s a part of everything you do. You can’t create a plan for how to
improve your marketing and increase your business without first
considering your long-term goals—not just in terms of fee revenue or
winning work, but in terms of who you want to be and where you want
to go, both as a firm and as a professional. There are a number of ways
strategic planning

can help your firm:

 _ Build a shared vision for the firm’s future.

 _ Articulate your vision so that it can be communicated to others.
  _ Get approval and support for the vision from senior leadership
and, ultimately, your entire staff.
 _ Create a framework for all future decision making.
 _ Figure out (and agree on) how much you’re going to spend on
marketing and other initiatives to make it happen.

The discussion of strategic planning and marketing planning are divided

into the following five areas

Strategic Planning
Getting to the Starting Line

Strategic planning is the process of developing a vision of who you are

as a firm and what your longterm goals are. It’s about more than just
marketing; it can influence everything: human resources, finance,
information technology, operations, hiring, promotions strategy, design
process, client relationships, the design of your office, and absolutely
anything else that affects your firm and its performance. Firms typically
engage in strategic planning at defining moments in their practice,
when the firm’s leadership changes or when the practice undergoes
some kind of profound transformation. The strategic planning process
enables the firm’s leadership to build a shared vision for the firm’s
future, articulate the vision so that it can be communicated, and create
a framework for all future decision making. When you’re ready to
engage in strategic planning, it’s important to open your mind as much
as possible. Get ready to think big.

Because strategic planning is a process, not a document or a report, it

isn’t effective for a small group of leaders to issue a fat document as
the strategic plan for the firm. It will probably go unread. It will
certainly not achieve approval and support from the people who need
to understand it and act on it. Strategic planning is best conducted as
an open process, one that involves all your firm’s key leaders. To begin
the process, set up a strategic planning meeting, either as a retreat
outside the office or as an extended in-house meeting. (You may want
to bring in a marketing consultant to help you with this.) Figure out who
should be there to give input to the vision for your firm’s future. Keep
the group as small as possible, but don’t leave anyone out. Ask
everyone to commit half a day for the meeting (two hours just isn’t
enough), and to come relaxed and prepared to focus on the firm’s
strategic direction. Give everyone an agenda in advance and ask each
person to bring historical data based on his or her area of expertise or
interest (financial data, hiring or retention info, win/loss reports, client
feedback, etc.). Gather any existing documents that attempt to define
the firm or its vision, such as mission statements, a firm description,
marketing materials, articles that have been written about the firm, and
so on. Plan to spend about half the meeting talking about where you
are now (your firm, your markets, your competitors, etc.) and the other
half talking about where you’d like to go (your mission, your vision, the
action plan).
MARKETS FOR INDUSTRIAL GOODS

The market is the place where supply meets demand. Suppliers and
customers meet, discuss and evaluate the conditions for exchange of
goods and services, and exchanges take place. The conditions under
which these exchanges occur, especially that of price, are influenced by
the characteristics and structure of the market, for example, the
number and market power of suppliers and customers. Traditional
economic analysis of markets presupposes that they are characterized
by certain basic features;' firstly, there is an assumption of free
movement in the market, and thus a customer will always buy where
he obtains the best terms of exchange at that moment; similarly, the
assumption is that suppliers will move to and from the market freely.'
Thus, the market is portrayed as atomistic. Each unit in the market is
free and independent to do as it wishes. Also, as a result of this free
movement, the market is characterized by change, and stability is an
exception. Underlying these two assumptions is the further assumption
that there is little or no cost of transaction. In other words, it is
assumed that there are no costs in obtaining accurate information, or in
negotiations, etc. One effect of this assumption is that production costs
are considered central and that sellers can be simply represented by a
production function.

The traditional economic theory of the market has of course been

subject to challenge and modification. However, it has influenced the
models and principles used in marketing management. The basic model
that most of the literature in marketing is built on is the marketing mix
model. The key problems in marketing, according to that model, are:

(a) to allocate resources to different competitive means or mix

elements,

(b) to design each mean as well as possible within the firm's resource
limitations.

The market is often described in terms of response curves, each defined

in relation to a certain 'marketing decision variable' or to the whole mix
of a company. The assumption is of course that the market consists of
many individual customers that are affected by the marketer's variables
in accordance with a certain statistical distribution. The same kind of
influence can also be identified in the purchasing management
literature. The focus here is largely on the management of a single
purchase. This does not give full consideration to the factors which
have contributed to the way this purchase takes place, or to the effects
of this purchase on the subsequent dealings with the supplying
company.'

Marketing Management

As we mentioned in the first section of this chapter, the models and

principles for industrial marketing management that are given by the
literature are normally related to the marketing mix model. The
problems identified in these are the allocation of resources and the
designing of competitive means. However, marketers in for example, a
highly concentrated industry may find different problems. The issues
associated with the handling of ten very large customers are of totally
different character from those of handling 1,000 small customers. Thus,
marketers in firms in concentrated markets have a lack of accurate
models for analyzing their marketing problems. They have also a lack of
relevant data expressed in a systematic way about the behaviour of
other firms in the same situation.
MARKETING ORGANIZATION
Overall Organization

Belter's sales operations are split into three areas as follows;

(i) Sales Manger — UK responsible for 60—70 per cent of total sales.
Four area offices handling all accounts, except two major ones which
are managed from the Company's main office.

(ii) Sales Manager — Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe, accounting

for approximately 20 per cent of total sales. One manager plus two
sales engineers. The Company is currently building up an agency—
distributor network for this territory.

(iii) Sales Manager — Western Europe, responsible for the remaining

20 per cent of total sales. The sales manager is located in Brussels, with
additional sales offices in Germany, France, and Italy. The Brussels sales
office is owned by Belter's parent group. All major commercial
transactions are carried out by Belter's Head Office, although the
Brussels. Company does have some price discretion. This European
sales company takes 85 per cent of its products for sale in Europe from
Belter. The remaining 15 per cent of products are sourced from the
North-American parent company. Apart from the European operation,
all agents and distributors overseas are handled from the UK.

Evolution of Marketing Organization

Belter has often faced problems in the distribution of its products; in

France, for example, the Company had a combined agent and
distributor operating until 1963. Belter provided applications
engineering but had no commercial involvement in sales. The company
found that it had no influence on pricing in the market and this led to a
rather artificial pricing structure and to a decreased market share. This
problem was not solved by the appointment of a second distributor.
Mergers amongst French suppliers have led to more competition in the
market. The second distributor did little to stimulate the first one or to
improve the Company's overall penetration.

In 1966 Belter separated out a number of products and major

customers which were not to be handled via distributors. These
customers and products were to be controlled by the UK sales
operation. Also, from 1970, the Brussels office ceased to have overall
responsibility for sales to France and a Paris office was established. The
overall market situation faced in France (and in other European
countries) is as follows:

There are many actual and potential users for some products, which are
not known by the Company. Heavy competition exists especially on
price, for large customers who are often buying what they view as a
commodity product. Belter's emerging strategy has been to handle
these large customers through its own sales offices. The Paris office
actively seek sales of large volume products as well as acting as a `post
office' for products specially developed for individual customers, which
are then handled from the Company's main office. Small customers and
small volume products are handled by the two French distributors. The
development process in Italy has been similar to that in France. Sales in
Scandinavia do not justify a local sales office; sales here are handled
through a distributor from the Brussels office. A small number of major
accounts are, however, handled directly from the UK.
BUYER—SELLER RELATIONSHIPS

A Customer Relationship in the United Kingdom

The three aspects of the relationship which are studied are

competition, technical development, and personal contacts.

This customer is Belter's largest and is responsible for 20 per cent of its
total business. The Company operates in the aerospace industry at the
limit of current technology. The relationship involves considerable
development liaison on wholly new products.
Competition

Competition for this customer comes primarily from American

suppliers. The competition is on price and reflects the spare capacity in
the American industry. Competition from UK companies is also on price
and comes from companies having a wider production spread than
Belter.

Development

This customer has always relied on Belter alone for development work
in this product area. However, they have looked to other sources of
supply when development has taken place. The development process
for a new product can be started either by a government development
contract or by an order from the customer. Belter acknowledged that it
has to stand the costs of this development in the latter case. The
customer has intimate knowledge of all of Belter's procedures.
Methods of manufacture are agreed in detail and even the particular
production machinery to be used is specified. The closeness of the
relationship between the two companies is indicated by the fact that
the customer has approved Belter's quality procedure and accepts their
testing.

Contact Pattern
Interpersonal contacts between Belter and its UK customer are
summarized as

follows:

(1) Formal Contacts

Every six months Technical policy liaison meeting, jointly chaired by

Belter's Technical Director and the customer's Chief Materials Manager.
Every six—nine months Commercial meeting, Belter's Managing and
Marketing Directors and Sales Manager and the customer's Purchasing
Director and Senior Purchasing Staff.

Monthly UK Sales Manager visits customer's purchasing staff to discuss

delivery and order positions.

(2) Other Contacts

These can be studied according to the formally assigned responsibility.
Personnel who have full-time responsibility One sales office man has
daily contact with the customer. Additionally, one applications engineer
is engaged on work for this customer. Finally, one man determines
market trends, and is in contact with the customer's marketing
personnel and customer's clients. Personnel with `half-time'
responsibility Four applications engineers also spend some of their time
on the customer's problems and are in personal contact with customer
staff.

PURPOSE OF A MARKETING PLAN

The purpose of a Marketing Plan is to:-

􀂾Define the Market

􀂾Refine the Production Plan to market requirements

􀂾Develop a marketing strategy

􀂾Minimize risk

Each FFT group should have a Marketing Plan covering each commodity
based on their own study of the local market.

Defining the Market and Commodities-

􀂾Market demand and prices -An assessment based on published

market information , discussions with local extension staff, farmers,
dealers and buyers of the commodity of the likely demand and prices
on offer during the year and during any period of seasonal shortfall

􀂾Market Requirement- Varieties, size, grading, packaging, maturity

demanded by the buyers in the particular market.
􀂾Yield /Price Assumptions- How much commodity will be available?
How much premium grade? Second grade? Losses? If the commodity
/crop is aimed to be produced for a particular period e.g. for a low
supply period, while the price assumptions (expectation) may be higher
some reassessment of yield and cost of production assumptions in the
gross margin analysis or partial budgets is usually necessary.
􀂾Marketing Returns and Costs Calculate expected income and costs
in marketing

The Most Important Elements of Marketing

There are four important elements in the marketing process:

􀂾Prioritising the customer: Marketing begins with the

customer, not the product. Knowing what the customer
needs or wants is essential.
􀂾Process of selection: The farmer needs to know who to
sell the product to. This will determine how and where the
produce is marketed.
􀂾Promotion: The farmer is selling something that other
people want to buy. Naturally, it is helpful to let them know
that the product is available and of good quality.

The Marketing Training Manual 23 Marketing Module 3: Markets

and Marketing
􀂾Trust: Good marketing occurs when the customers trust
the farmer. The customer should feel
they are not being cheated and they are getting value for their
money.
In thinking about these elements, farmers need to ask themselves
about the six Ps:
• Ppeople: Who are the customers? What do they want or
need? Who is actually going to market the product?
• Pplan: How is the product going to reach the selected
customers? What are the steps?
• product: What product is going to be marketed? Is the family
producing what the customer wants? What services (for
example, a cooked product), if any, are requested by the
customer?
• place: Where is the product going to be marketed?
• price: What price will the product be offered on the market
for?
• promotion: How are people going to be informed that the
product is available?
Supply, Demand, and Price

In a free market, prices for inputs and products are determined by

supply and demand.

Supply
Is what producers are willing to market at a certain price.

Demand
Is how much consumers are prepared to buy at the market price.

In theory, as the price of a product goes up, the quantity supplied

rises and the quantity demanded falls. Likewise, when the price
goes down, the quantity supplied falls and the quantity demanded
rises.
For agricultural produce, demand is affected by a number of
factors, the most
The Marketing Training Manual 24 Marketing Module 3: Markets
and Marketing
Industrial or business to business (B2B) marketing

An organization seeks to build a new warehouse. After documenting

requirements, it obtains three proposals from suitable construction
firms. After a long process of evaluation and negotiation, it places an
order with the organization that it believes offers the best value for
money.

An organization needs legal services and obtains submissions from two

law firms. Analysis of the proposals and subsequent discussions
determines that there is no price advantage to placing all of the work
with one firm, and the organization decides to split the work between
the two firms based on an evaluation of each firm's capabilities.

A sales representative makes an appointment with an organization that

employs 22 people. He demonstrates a photocopier/fax/printer to the
office administrator. After discussing a proposal, the business owner
signs a contract to obtain the machine on a fully-maintained rental and
consumables basis, with an upgrade after 2 years.
Main features of the B2B selling process are:
Marketing is one-to-one in nature. It is relatively easy for the seller to
identify a prospective customers and build a face-to-face relationship.
Highly professional and trained people in buying processes are
involved. In many cases, two or three decision makers must approve a
purchase plan. Often the buying or selling process is complex, and
includes many stages (for example, request for proposal, request for
tender, selection process, awarding of tender, contract negotiations,
and signing of final contract). Selling activities involve long processes of
prospecting, qualifying, wooing, making representations, preparing
tenders, developing strategies, and contract negotiations.
Blurring between B2B and B2C

Industrial marketing can cross the border into consumer marketing. For
example, an electronic component seller may distribute its products
through industrial marketing channels (see channel (marketing)), but
also support consumer sales. Many products are equally desired by
business and consumers—such as audio products, furniture, paint,
hardware, etc. Nonetheless, manufactures and service providers
frequently maintain separate industrial and consumer marketing
operations to reflect the different needs of the two channels.

Competitive tendering
Industrial marketing often involves competitive tendering
(see tender, tendering). This is a process where a purchasing
organization undertakes to procure goods and services from
suitable suppliers. Due to the high value of some purchases (for
example buying a new computer system, manufacturing
machinery, or outsourcing a maintenance contract) and the
complexity of such purchases, the purchasing organization will
seek to obtain a number of bids from competing suppliers and
choose the best offering. An entire profession (strategic
procurement) that includes tertiary training and qualifications has
been built around the process of making important purchases.
The key requirement in any competitive tender is to ensure that...

The business case for the purchase has been completed and

approved.
The purchasing organization's objectives for the purchase are clearly
defined.

The procurement process is agreed upon and it conforms with fiscal

guidelines and organisational policies. The selection criteria have been
established.

A budget has been estimated and the financial resources are available.

A buying team (or committee) has been assembled.

A specification has been written.

A preliminary scan of the market place has determined that enough

potential suppliers are available to make the process viable (this can
sometimes be achieved using an expression of interest process).
It has been clearly established that a competitive tendering process is
the best method for meeting the objectives of this purchasing project.
If (for example) it was known that there was only one organisation
capable of supplying; best to get on with talking to them and
negotiating a contract.

Because of the significant value of many purchases, issues

of probity arise. Organisations seek to ensure that awarding a contract
is based on "best fit" to the agreed criteria, and not bribery, corruption,
or incompetence.

Bidding process

Suppliers who are seeking to win a competitive tender go through a

bidding process. At its most primitive, this would consist of evaluating
the specification (issued by the purchasing organization), designing a
suitable proposal, and working out a price. This is a "primitive"
approach because...

There is an old saying in industrial marketing; "if the first time you have
heard about a tender is when you are invited to submit, then you have
already lost it."
While flippant, the previous point illustrates a basic requirement for
being successful in competitive tendering; it is important to develop a
strong relationship with a prospective customer organization well
before they have started the formal part of their procurement process.

Non-tender purchasing

Not all industrial sales involve competitive tendering. Tender processes

are time consuming and expensive, particularly when executed with the
aim of ensuring probity. Government agencies are particularly likely to
utilise elaborate competitive tendering processes due to the
expectation that they should be seen at all times to be responsibly and
accountably spending public monies. Private companies are able to
avoid the complexity of a fully transparent tender process but are still
able to run the procurement process with some rigour.Beneficial

Developing a sales strategy/solution selling/technical selling

The "art" of technical selling (solution selling) follows a three stage

process...
Stage 1: Sell the appointment: Never sell over the telephone. The aim
of the first contact with a prospective purchaser is to sell the
appointment. The reason is simple; industrial sales are complex, any
attempt to sell over the phone will trivialise your product or service and
run the risk of not fully understanding the customer's need.

Stage 2: Understand their needs: The best method of selling is to

minimise the information about your goods or services until you have
fully understood your customer's requirements.

Stage 3: Develop and propose a solution. The solution is (of course)

developed from your (or the firm that you represent's) product or
service offerings.

Marketing supports solution selling through methods like account-

based marketing—understanding a specific target organization's
requirements as the foundation of a marketing program. As research
shows,[1] sales success is heavily weighted towards suppliers who
understand the customer. In UK research, 77 per cent of senior
decision-makers believe new suppliers' marketing From cannon fodder
to preferred tenderer

The term "cannon fodder" derives from the World Wars and refers to
the massing of undertrained and recently recruited troops sent to the
fronts to face the enemy. Such troops invariably had a poor survival
rate but provided the tactical advantage of distracting the enemy while
professional soldiers mounted more effective operations. In adopting
the term to Industrial Marketing it means those bids being submitted
that have no chance of winning but are involved to make up the
numbers (you can't have only one bid in a "competitive" tender
process; that wouldn't satisfy the requirements of probity) (for example
in government tenders, or for private enterprise the requirement to
"truly test the market" and to "keep them honest"). The reader might
be wondering why anybody would go to all of the work of submitting a
tender when they had no chance of winning; for the same reason that
troops were sent in to battle to die; they thought they had a real
chance

The key features of a successful industrial sales organisation

In industrial marketing the personal selling is still very effective because
many products must be customized to suit the requirements of the
individual customer. Indicators such as the sales tunnel give
information on the expected sales in the near future, the hit
rate indicates whether the sales organization is busy with
promising sales leads or it is spending too much effort on projects that
are eventually lost to the competition or that are abandoned by the
prospect.
 RESEARCH PROBLEM
1. Identify your target market. 

Which businesses need cleaning services? Which ones can afford it and
will pay for it? Why? 

In your case, I would think that small businesses may not be your ideal
client. But then again, define "small business." Are you referring to
sales volume or number of employees. 

I can tell you right now as a marketing consultant that has worked with
a wide variety of businesses, including small companies: 

" Small businesses are very price sensitive and prefer to do more
themselves rather than pay someone else." (They hold this belief even
if it would free up more time to be more productive. Go figure?) 

So before you randomly begin picking a target market, have a rational

reason why. Continue to read below and you'll begin to see what I am
talking about. 
2. Determine their wants and needs. 

It may be obvious to you, but ask yourself: "Why would someone want
a clean office?" 

These businesses never have walk-in traffic. They do not have

customers visit them. So naturally, there is far less of a concern for a
"clean office." Sure it would be nice to have, but since no revenue will
be lost if their office is not spectacular looking, they are not motivated
to do anything about it. 

However, seek out the businesses that do deal with customers directly,
especially professional services where they have very high end clients
visit them. Now they NEED a very presentable office or they risk losing
out on a lot of revenue. 

3. Determine the level and type of demand. 

If you have ever read any of my previous work, you will know that I am
a very strong advocate of knowing whether the type of demand is
"Primary Demand" or "Selective Demand." It is one of the most
overlooked aspects of marketing being ignored today! 

Primary Demand: If a business does not already use your TYPE of

service and is not currently considering doing so, you will need to
create "primary demand." Simply put, you will have to convince them
first to even want your type of service (or product) before you even get
them to buy it from you. 
So for your cleaning business example, if you are approaching
businesses that currently do not use a cleaning service, you will have to
explain the time saving and productivity enhancing benefits of using
one. Then explain why YOU are the one they need! 

Selective Demand: These businesses already use a service (or product)

or are in the market for it and are actively looking. In these cases you
do not need to spend much effort convincing them "why" they need it. 

In this case, you must state your argument why your cleaning service
should be the one they choose. 

This is what you will encounter when you call on or contact businesses
already using a cleaning service. They will either be satisfied or
unsatisfied with their current service provider. Your emphasis will have
to be on "conquest sales" -- meaning stealing customers from your
competition. 

Now in your line of business and in many others, slashing prices always
seems to be the first technique used to steal customers. This may work
well for selling products. But if you are marketing services, let me tell
you this...think twice before doing that. 

Yes, I am fully aware of the fact that there will be businesses that will
be open to talking to you if you offer them a better deal. In some cases,
they may feel they are legitimately getting "ripped off" or paying way
too much right now. And they just might be right. In those cases, if you
can give them a fair price that is a better deal for them AND still gives
you healthy profit margins, then go for it. 

However, if you are slashing prices just to gain clients, aren't you really
just hurting yourself in the long run? First of all, you can easily get into
the game of "How low will they go?" Secondly, it de-values your
perception of quality if you are "cheap." Thirdly, who's to say after all
this effort, you won't lose the business in a month or two when
someone else quotes them an even lower price? 

What will you do next, price so low that you lose money with every
client? I didn't think so. 

Here's what you could do though... 

4. Develop a Hypothesis and a Solution to Match 

After you know your target market, have defined their needs, and
analyzed the competitive picture (currently using or not currently using
a service like mine) go ahead and develop a clearly thought out
hypothesis. 

For example, start with business NOT currently using a cleaning service,
but that deal with customers or clients regularly at their location. 

Develop a strong case for WHY they would be wise to invest in your
cleaning services. Show them on a break-even analysis that your fee
will be well compensated in either customer retention or converting a
higher level of store traffic or business appointments into paying
customers/clients. 

Then state your case why it is more cost effective and saves them
valuable time to outsource this to you rather than doing it themselves
or paying an employee overtime to do it. You can also emphasize that
you are the "expert" at this, not someone's secretary so it is expected
that you will do a far better job at it. 

For businesses that ARE already using a cleaning service or are currently
"shopping" for one, state why you are unique and better. 

Determine the really compelling reasons why these businesses want a

cleaning service to begin with. 

Maybe it is a retail store that wants to create a better first impression

for their customers. This will ultimately lead to a better customer
experience and ultimately more in-store purchases. 

A good example may be that unlike most competitors, you also clean
windows. Well, as a marketing consultant to retail businesses, I can tell
you that many "passerby's" will first look in a store window before
deciding to walk in or not. 

Now for successful marketing, all retail businesses would perform

better if they had more in-store traffic. So therefore, if your cleaning
service also cleans windows, you could rightfully justify that your
services are more valuable to their retail business. You actually HELP
them get more customers and sell more products. 

Maybe it is a professional service business that needs to impress

prospective clients to choose their services over a similar competitor. 

Your cleaning service may dust chairs and polish wooden conference
tables. Many other cleaning services may not do this or do a poor job in
doing so. 

Now, as marketing consultants to service businesses, I can also tell you

that if a consultant, attorney, accountant, or any other business
professional needs to meet with prospective clients in their office, they
will appreciate a better appearance. So if your cleaning services can
provide this better than anyone else (or at least if you tell them about
this first) you will get the business or at least be highly considered for
it! 

Whatever the case may be, establish what makes you different and
have you are best suited to meet their needs. 

Do you see where I am going with this? Your initial marketing questions
asked how you can get more business by passing out flyers or sending
faxes to small offices. Truthfully, that is simply not going to work. You
are not looking at the overall big picture of why anyone would either
want to hire a cleaning service or to hire your particular cleaning
service. 
5. You must make AN OFFER. 

Here are some examples: 

Marketing message/sales offer to a business that does NOT currently

use a cleaning service 

" If you have never considered using a cleaning service before, allow us
to show you how XYZ Cleaning, Inc can make your store/office more
presentable to customers and how this newly improved appearance
will affect your cash register/bank statement. 

If you are weary of trying new things, don't worry. Use us FREE for one
month and if you are not completely satisfied with the results, if you
are not completely confident that it makes a difference to your
customers, if you are not completely aware of how it raises the morale
of your employees, then you do not have to using us again. 

But if YOU DO see a great improvement, we'll make you a great deal on
our services, simply because we want your long term business."
Marketing message/sales offer to businesses that DO currently use a
cleaning service 

"I understand that you currently use ABC Cleaners, LLC. Now you may
or may not be completely happy right now, but I want to make you a
no-risk offer you can't refuse. 
The truth is that you likely get consumed in your day to day activities in
running your business, overseeing operations, managing employees,
and handling customers. Therefore, there may be little "imperfections"
your cleaning service is making that goes unnoticed by you. But don't
assume for one minute that your customers or potential customers
won't notice. And remember, first impressions DO count! 

So here's our offer. Have us come in the morning after your regular
cleaning service cleans your office. We will do a thorough inspection
with you present and look for anything they may have done a less-than-
satisfactory job on. Then we'll show you why you probably over looked
it for so long, but why your customers will take notice and how they will
think differently about you because of it.

Now, if everything is already 100% completely clean and presentable,

we'll thank you for your time and then be on our way. But, if together
we find lots of "little things" that are carelessly being done we will
clean/fix it for you for FREE. 

That's right, use our services as a compliment to what you are already
paying for. Compare the quality of work we do to what you are already
paying for. If you can see the difference in what we do for you,
compared to what you are already paying for, then consider us as your
new cleaning service." 
6. Develop your marketing message 

Once you understand the true needs your potential clients have and
the unique and competitive solutions you can offer, only then should
you develop your marketing copy -- your sales pitch. 

The two examples above incorporate great marketing copy with a

strong, benefits related offer. You can then deliver this through direct
mail, telemarketing, or a combination of both. 

I would only recommend distributing flyers if you are confident you can
place there where they will get read by people who make the decision
to hire a cleaning service. So if there is an "Open Bulletin" board in an
office building, then go for it. However, they are rare and you probably
need permission anyway. 

I'd avoid the fax marketing altogether. It's quite annoying, ties up there
fax line, and unless people have already heard of you, they are more
likely to toss your message in the garbage. 

Try sending direct mail to the decision makers of these target

companies and describe the benefits they will experience from using
your services. 
7. Follow up 

Even after identifying the businesses that are most likely to need your
services, after you have identified a solution, and even after you
contacted them with a compelling offer, you still have to follow up. 

Chances are they loved the sound of it when they got it. They had every
intention of following up with you. But then just got busy. So your
follow up call can make all the difference in the world and get your foot
in the door ... in a very big way. Then it's up to you to DELIVER on your
promise. 
 8. ANALYSIS
Market Analysis

The goal of a market analysis is to determine the attractiveness of a

market and to understand its evolving opportunities and threats as they
relate to the strengths and weaknesses of the firm.

David A. Aaker outlined the following dimensions of a market analysis:

Market size (current and future)

Market growth rate

Market profitability

Industry cost structure

Distribution channels

Market trends

Key success factors

Market Size

The size of the market can be evaluated based on present sales and on
potential sales if the use of the product were expanded. The following
are some information sources for determining market size:

government data
trade associations financial data from major players customer surveys

Market Growth Rate

A simple means of forecasting the market growth rate is to extrapolate

historical data into the future. While this method may provide a first-
order estimate, it does not predict important turning points. A better
method is to study growth drivers such as demographic information and
sales growth in complementary products. Such drivers serve as leading
indicators that are more accurate than simply extrapolating historical
data.

Important inflection points in the market growth rate sometimes can be

predicted by constructing a product diffusion curve. The shape of the
curve can be estimated by studying the characteristics of the adoption
rate of a similar product in the past.

Ultimately, the maturity and decline stages of the product life

cycle will be reached. Some leading indicators of the decline phase
include price pressure caused by competition, a decrease in brand
loyalty, the emergence of substitute products, market saturation, and the
lack of growth drivers.
 Market Profitability
While different firms in a market will have different levels of profitability, the average profit
potential for a market can be used as a guideline for knowing how difficult it is to make money
in the market. Michael Porter devised a useful framework for evaluating the attractiveness of an
industry or market. This framework, known as Porter's five forces, identifies five factors that
influence the market profitability:

Buyer power

Supplier power

Barriers to entry

Threat of substitute products

Rivalry among firms in the industry

Industry Cost Structure

The cost structure is important for identifying key factors for success. To
this end, Porter's value chain model is useful for determining where
value is added and for isolating the costs.

The cost structure also is helpful for formulating strategies to develop a

competitive advantage. For example, in some environments
the experience curve effect can be used to develop a cost advantage
over competitors.
Distribution Channels

The following aspects of the distribution system are useful in a market

analysis:

Existing distribution channels - can be described by how direct they are

to the customer.

Trends and emerging channels - new channels can offer the opportunity
to develop a competitive advantage.

Channel power structure - for example, in the case of a product having

little brand equity, retailers have negotiating power over manufacturers
and can capture more margin.

Market Trends

Changes in the market are important because they often are the source of
new opportunities and threats. The relevant trends are industry-
dependent, but some examples include changes in price sensitivity,
demand for variety, and level of emphasis on service and support.
Regional trends also may be relevant.
Key Success Factors

The key success factors are those elements that are necessary in order
for the firm to achieve its marketing objectives. A few examples of such
factors include:

 Access to essential unique resources

 Ability to achieve economies of scale

 Access to distribution channels

 Technological progress

It is important to consider that key success factors may change over

time, especially as the product progresses through its life cycle.
 9. CONCLUSIONS

Organizations engage in marketing research for two reasons:

(1) (1) to identify

(2) and (2) solve marketing problems.

(3)

This distinction serves as a basis for classifying marketing research into

problem identification research and problem solving research.

Problem identification research is undertaken to help identify problems

which are, perhaps, not apparent on the surface and yet exist or are likely
to company image, market characteristics, sales analysis, short-range
forecasting, long range forecasting, and business trends research.
Research of this type provides information about the marketing
environment and helps diagnose a problem. For example, The findings
of problem solving research are used in making decisions which will
solve specific marketing problems.

The Stanford Research Institute, on the other hand, conducts an annual

survey of consumers that is used to classify persons into homogeneous
groups for segmentation purposes. The National Purchase Diary panel
(NPD) maintains the largest diary panel in the United States.

Standardized services are research studies conducted for different client

firms but in a standard way. For example, procedures for measuring
advertising effectiveness have been standardized so that the results can
be compared across studies and evaluative norms can be established.
The Starch Readership Survey is the most widely used service for
evaluating print advertisements; another well-known service is
the Gallup and Robinson Magazine Impact Studies. These services are
also sold on a syndicated basis.

Customized services offer a wide variety of marketing research

services customized to suit a client's specific needs. Each marketing
research project is treated uniquely.

Limited-service suppliers specialize in one or a few phases of the

marketing research project. Services offered by such suppliers are
classified as field services, coding and data entry, data analysis,
analytical services, and branded products. Field services collect data
through mail, personal, or telephone interviewing, and firms that
specialize in interviewing are called field service organizations.
These organizations may range from small proprietary organizations
which operate locally to large multinational organizations with WATS
line interviewing facilities. Some organizations maintain extensive
interviewing facilities across the country for interviewing shoppers in
malls.

Coding and data entry services include editing completed

questionnaires, developing a coding scheme, and transcribing the data
on to diskettes or magnetic tapes for input into the computer. NRC
Data Systems provides such services.

Analytical services include designing and pretesting questionnaires,

determining the best means of collecting data, designing sampling
plans, and other aspects of the research design. Some complex
marketing research projects require knowledge of sophisticated
procedures, including specialized experimental designs, and analytical
techniques such as conjoint analysis and multidimensional scaling. This
kind of expertise can be obtained from firms and consultants
specializing in analytical services.

Data analysis services are offered by firms, also known as tab

houses, that specialize in computer analysis of quantitative data such as
those obtained in large surveys. Initially most data analysis firms
supplied only tabulations (frequency counts) and cross tabulations
(frequency counts that describe two or more variables simultaneously).
With the proliferation of software, many firms now have the capability
to analyze their own data, but, data analysis firms are still in demand.

Branded marketing research products and services are specialized

data collection and analysis procedures developed to address specific
types of marketing research problems. These procedures are patented,
given brand names, and marketed like any other branded product
Types of marketing research
Marketing research techniques come in many forms, including:

Ad Tracking – periodic or continuous in-market research to

monitor a brand’s performance using measures such as brand
awareness, brand preference, and product usage. (Young, 2005)
Advertising Research – used to predict copy testing or track the
efficacy of advertisements for any medium, measured by the ad’s
ability to get attention (measured with Attention Tracking),
communicate the message, build the brand’s image, and motivate
the consumer to purchase the product or service. (Young, 2005)
Brand equity research - how favorably do consumers view the
brand?
Brand association research - what do consumers associate with the
brand?

Brand attribute research - what are the key traits that describe the
brand promise?

Brand name testing - what do consumers feel about the names

of the products?
Commercial eye tracking research - examine advertisements,
package designs, websites, etc. by analyzing visual behavior of the
consumer
Concept testing - to test the acceptance of a concept by target
consumers

Cool hunting - to make observations and predictions in changes of

new or existing cultural trends in areas such as fashion, music, films,
television, youth culture and lifestyle

Buyer decision processes research - to determine what motivates

people to buy and what decision-making process they use

Copy testing – predicts in-market performance of an ad before it

airs by analyzing audience levels of attention, brand
linkage, motivation, entertainment, and communication, as well as
breaking down the ad’s flow of attention and flow of emotion.
(Young, p 213)
Customer satisfaction research - quantitative or qualitative
studies that yields an understanding of a customer's of satisfaction with
a transaction

Demand estimation - to determine the approximate level of demand

for the product

Distribution channel audits - to assess distributors’ and

retailers’ attitudes toward a product, brand, or company
Internet strategic intelligence - searching for customer opinions in the
Internet: chats, forums, web pages, blogs... where people express freely
about their experiences with products, becoming strong "opinion
formers"
Marketing effectiveness and analytics - Building models and
measuring results to determine the effectiveness of individual
marketing activities.

Mystery Consumer or Mystery shopping - An employee or

representative of the market research firm anonymously contacts
a salesperson and indicates he or she is shopping for a product.
The shopper then records the entire experience. This method is
often used for quality control or for researching competitors'
products.
Positioning research - how does the target market see
the brand relative to competitors? - what does the brand stand
for?
Price elasticity testing - to determine how sensitive customers
are to price changes
Sales forecasting - to determine the expected level of sales given
the level of demand. With respect to other factors like Advertising
expenditure, sales promotion etc.

Segmentation research - to determine

the demographic, psychographic, and behavioural characteristics
of potential buyers
Online panel - a group of individual who accepted to respond to
marketing research online

Store audit - to measure the sales of a product or product line at a

statistically selected store sample in order to determine market share,
or to determine whether a retail store provides adequate service

Test marketing - a small-scale product launch used to determine the

likely acceptance of the product when it is introduced into a wider
market

Viral Marketing Research - refers to marketing research designed

to estimate the probability that specific communications will be
transmitted throughout an individual's Social Network. Estimates
of Social Networking Potential (SNP) are combined with estimates
of selling effectiveness to estimate ROI on specific combinations of
messages and media.
All of these forms of marketing research can be classified as
either problem-identification research or as problem-solving research.

There are two main sources of data - primary and secondary. Primary

research is conducted from scratch. It is original and collected to solve
the problem in hand. Secondary research already exists since it has
been collected for other purposes. It is conducted on data published
previously and usually by someone else. Secondary research costs far
less than primary research, but seldom comes in a form that exactly
meets the needs of the researcher.

A similar distinction exists between exploratory

research and conclusive research. Exploratory research provides
insights into and comprehension of an issue or situation. It should draw
definitive conclusions only with extreme caution. Conclusive
research draws conclusions: the results of the study can be generalized
to the whole population.

Exploratory research is conducted to explore a problem to get some

basic idea about the solution at the preliminary stages of research. It may
serve as the input to conclusive research. Exploratory research
information is collected by focus group interviews, reviewing literature
or books, discussing with experts, etc. This is unstructured and
qualitative in nature. If a secondary source of data is unable to serve the
purpose, a convenience sample of small size can be collected.
Conclusive research is conducted to draw some conclusion about the
problem. It is essentially, structured and quantitative research, and the
output of this research is the input to MANAGEMENT INFORMATION
SYSTEMS (MIS).

Marketing research methods

Methodologically, marketing research uses the following types of
research designs:

Based on questioning:

Qualitative marketing research - generally used for exploratory

purposes - small number of respondents - not generalizable to the
whole population - statistical significance and confidence not calculated
- examples include focus groups, in-depth interviews, and projective
techniques

Quantitative marketing research - generally used to draw conclusions -

tests a specific hypothesis - uses random sampling techniques so as to
infer from the sample to the population - involves a large number of
respondents - examples include surveys and questionnaires.
Techniques include choice modelling, maximum difference preference
scaling, and covariance analysis.

Based on observations:

Ethnographic studies -, by nature qualitative, the researcher observes

social phenomena in their natural setting - observations can
occur cross-sectionally (observations made at one time)
or longitudinally (observations occur over several time-periods) –

examples include product-use analysis and computer cookie traces. See

also Ethnography and Observational techniques.

Experimental techniques -, by nature quantitative, the researcher

creates a quasi-artificial environment to try to control spurious factors,

then manipulates at least one of the variables - examples include

purchase laboratories and test markets
Questionnaires
1. What are the objectives of the marketing strategy? Are they clearly
stated? Are they consistent with the objectives of the firm? Is the entire
marketing mix structured to meet these objectives?

2. What marketing concepts are at issue in the current strategy? Is the

marketing strategy well planned and laid out? Is the strategy consistent
with sound marketing principles? If the strategy takes exception to
marketing principles, is there a good reason for it?

3. To what target market is the strategy directed? Is it well defined? Is

the market large enough to be profitably served? Does the market have
long-run potential?

4. What competitive advantage does the marketing strategy offer? If

none, what can be done to gain a competitive advantage in the
marketplace?

5. What products are being sold? What is the width, depth, and
consistency of the firm's product lines? Does the firm need new
products to fill out its product line? Should any product be deleted?
What is the profitability of the various products?
6. What promotion mix is being used? Is promotion consistent with the
products and product images? What could be done to improve the
promotion mix?

7. What channels of distribution are being used? Do they deliver the

product at the right time and right place to meet consumer needs? Are
the channels typical of those used in the industry? Could channels be
made more efficient?

8. What pricing strategies are being used? How do prices compare with
similar products of other firms? How are prices determined?

9. Are marketing research and information systematically integrated

into the marketing strategy? Is the overall marketing strategy internally
consistent?