The vendor is part of the differentiation strategies:
It mainly addresses existing markets with existing products, for placing them and selling them of:
Vendors win and convince customers by following some principles:
- Customer understanding: Customers want to be understood!
- Solution orientation: Customers are looking for solutions!
- Customer experience: Customers want to be delighted!
- Building trust: Customers are looking for positive emotions!
- Adaptability: Customers change their wishes!
The strategy of differentiation involves creating a unique and perceptible added value for products or services in order to stand out from the competition. By emphasizing special features, quality, design, service or innovation, this strategy aims to promote customer loyalty and reduce their price sensitivity, retain employees and increase company value.
Go-To-Market (GTM) / Sales
The go-to-market strategy is a company’s plan to utilize its internal and external resources (e.g., salespeople and partners) to deliver its unique value proposition to customers and gain a competitive advantage.
Sales agents practice the art of selling:
- Customer acquisition
Acquisition of new customers (“leads”) and expansion of existing customers. - Communication
Presentation of relevant product product benefits (“talking”) and identification of needs (“listening”). - Persuasion
Defending the benefits and negotiating conditions. - Closing
Sales is the spearhead of profitability! - Maintenance
Customer loyalty and retention must be developed.
Keep in mind, that in rare cases one salesperson negotiate with one customer (1-to-1). There are often many reference persons at one customer (buying center) (n-to-1), and possibly also many reference persons at the seller (selling center) (n-to-n). Keep these in mind for structuring sales and handling customers accordingly.
Marketing
Marketing has several definitions:
Marketing “as an expression for a comprehensive philosophy and concept of planning and action […] in which – based on systematically acquired information – all activities of a company are consistently aligned with current and future market findings, with the aim of satisfying market needs and individual goals”.
H.C. Weis, 1977
Marketing is the consistent orientation of a company
company, team or individual towards the sustainable and profitable satisfaction of the needs of a market
M. Diesselkamp, 2002
The process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas, goods and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organisational objectives.
Kotler P., 1967
These definitions led to E. J. McCarthys idea of the 4Ps:
The basic marketing mix can be extended by additional Ps for further customization:
- Processes
- Packaging (Product)
- People
- Politics
- Physics (Identity)
- Physical Evidence (Store Design)
- Physical Facilities (Building Design)
- Public Voice (Blogs, Communities)
- Positioning
- Pamper (Well-being experience)
Consider Cash-Flow
This strategy has a strong perspective on cash-flow. As any cash of a company comes from customers, marketing and sales must be understood and happen on all divisions of the enterprise:
This enables a perspective where the whole enterprise is customer-centric. Out of that position, gainspotting can happen on all layers of the enterprise.
Definition: Gainspotting
Gainspotting (derived from “gain” for profit, advantage and “to spot” for discover) involves the targeted identification of added value for internal or external customers.
The basis for added value is:
- Cost savings for customers
- time savings
- quality benefits
- service benefits
- information benefits
- security benefits
- risk reduction
- independence
- positive emotions or prestige benefits
Emotions and Added Values
Marketing Types
Power of Brands
Brands are powerful and require huge investments, for long-term recongnition. If you need to chose between a known brand and an unknown vendor, it is most likely you’ll decide for brands. It also enables clientns to identify themselves with it.
Brands depend on all related stakeholders, which become part of a brand. Stakeholders are partly public-known and partly closed-to-public. However, if you consider suppliers of fashion-brands producing in questionable conditions, it is likely that customers distance themselfes from a given brand.
Therefore, branding strategies require proper evaluation of stakeholders and their benefits, e.g. over their costs (for supplies).
You can evaluate the risks about potential benefits over a simple matrix:
