Common Mistakes Resulting In Marketing Failure

Being a marketer of any product or service, one must be aware of the common mistakes other sales people have made in their journey to success. Although it might be time consuming to find the right kind of information, becoming a Sales Veteran is not an easy task when you consider the amount of hurdles one must go through.

Below are three simple (and common) mistakes sales people make when they venture into marketing:

1. Lack of commitment/dedication: The number one rule in sales and marketing it to have 100% belief in your product or service. When you try to convince a client or customer that they need you, you must be convinced yourself. As a sales person, you also need to be consistent in the way you promote your product or service. Meaning you must define what your main message is and commit to telling it to a certain amount of people. This is a great reason to have a marketing plan, because it ensures that you have the resources and the knowledge it takes to bring your product or service to market correctly.

2. Lack of a Clear Benefit: Why should I buy your product? Why should I hire you as my accountant, and not her? These questions should be answered prior to meeting your future client or customer. It might be obvious to some readers, but the basic principle of “selling something people want” has to be understood. You must be 100% clear on who your customer is and why they need your new health insurance plan. Often, you see companies look at what they already have and come up with a product that is easy for them to make and sell, when in reality there is no interest from the paying consumer. Customers could care less about your skills or inventory, it’s always about “ME”. What’s in it for me?

3. Poor Positioning: There are times where the market is simply saturated and there are no available positions for a new product or service. Maybe the market is depressed and is going through difficult times. Markets where there are no positions for newcomers are few and far between, the biggest mistake a marketer/salesperson can do is go up against the big dogs in their own backyard. Pay attention as the marketing plan takes you through the positioning segment because you could have the best product and the best positioning, but it won’t help if the leader can sell them for half the price and the same benefits.

4. No Marketing Plan: Why do I need a marketing plan? It’s simple, unlike most other aspects of business and sales (like accounting), marketing involves dealing with unmeasurable risks. It is impossible to know how that ad on the Sunday newspaper will convert into a sale, or how many people will be arriving at your grand opening. Most of the business people I have worked with simply ignore the risk, they blindly invest thousands of dollars into a marketing campaign that is completely uncertain and is based purely on speculation. The vicious circle is investing money in marketing when business is good, cutting back when sales go down. It’s certainly silly!

The infamous Zig Ziglair tells the story of the airplane pilot who takes off on a flight from Dallas to New York, gets blog a little off course, and returns to the airport to start again. If you have ever been in a plane, you know that the majority of the flights have slight deviations in their flight plan, which would mean most would never reach their destinations. Marketing is the most important factor in sales, showing your message to as many people as possible is key, but you must follow a flight plan and be ready to correct it’s course when necessary.