Is medicine for Symptom or Disease? Does the doctor prescribe medicines directly or does he/she first diagnose? As a best practice, Doctor first DIAGNOSES about the disease, UNDERSTANDS reason for disease, FINDS right medicine for disease, RECOMMENDS the same to cure disease. And, Upon USING medicine, the disease gets cured. Then SYMPTOMS automatically change. A doctor gives treatment to disease, not to symptoms. If Doctor gives treatment to SYMPTOMS, What will happen? Probably, the disease will be there forever. If you agree with my hypothesis, then please apply the same logic to SALES?

Almost all reputed statistics say that more than 70% of the Start-Up, as well as Settled Business Owners, face the Sales Challenges. Are Sales too difficult to achieve? Is there any way where Sales happen naturally? Why customers will buy our product or service? All these questions motivated me to drill down to analyze each phase and Sales Failure. I observed that whatever might be the reason, the result is the same and that is the Challenge with the sales. 

Throughout my research, I was curious to understand the reason for each Sales Failure as well as the root cause for the same. In that process, I have applied the above logic of medicine to sales and this is what I have concluded. 

SALES is a by-product (or Symptom) of Multiple Activities done in a specific & organized manner. Multiple things impact SALES such as Product/Service Design, Product/Service Pricing, Product/Service Market Need, Product/Service Competition, Product/Service, Projection & the LIST CONTINUES. The worst part is, this list comes even before we hit the market.

So, how to get SALES? Rather, how do we get GUARANTEED SALES is all my exploration about?

Here is the process I felt comfortable and I have even implemented the same with multiple clients in my own experience and I have seen a decent chance. Here is the exact framework…..

1. First is to ANALYZE your processes
2. LIST reasons which might impact Sales
3. RESEARCH Solutions
4. APPLY Solutions in processes
5. GET SALES

We have to work on Processes (Diseases) not Sales (Symptoms). Globally, 1,23,000 Startups fail every day. By the time U read this article, 85 Businesses shut down. More than 70% fail due to Sales Issues. They are not sales issues but they are operational issues linked with Sales as the outcome. 

I have come up with a detailed explanation on two aspects, Product/Service Analysis & Pricing Analysis

Product or Service Explanation

• Founders or Business Owners should be able to define their Product or Service in simple terms (Trust me, whoever can do this with justification, they are halfway done) Next part is, Founder or Business Owner should be able to explain the same Product or Service in a single paragraph, with which, everyone should be able to understand the total business cycle, end to end (I have seen many Founders or Business owners who either just explains too fast or they take ages to communicate their process. Both are not useful)
• Inputs from the Founder or Business Owner for Product or Service with a Simple Sentence & a detailed Paragraph almost end our part as a Business Transformation analyst

Product or Service Features

Features are typically the characteristics describing the Product or Service Components, Capabilities, etc. For best value, features must be prioritized effectively adding value for its end users & thereby meeting the Business Objectives. Following are some questions that must be addressed for designing or highlighting the Features Effectively

• What is the Goal of the Product/Service?
• Potential Challenge(s) target Customer/Client is facing related to the Product/Service?
• What the Customer/Client is trying to achieve?
• Why the Customer/Client is trying to achieve?
• How Customer/Client be impacted if they cannot achieve the goal?
• Which alternatives might help the Customer/Client reach their goal?
• What must Product or Service need to deliver for the Customer/Client? 

By analyzing all the points, Product or Service Features could be effectively drafted 

Product or Service Benefits

The key is to observe the difference between FEATURES & BENEFITS. Features convey what a Product can “DO” & Benefits are Outcomes/results which Customer/Client wants to achieve

• Benefits effect on an emotional level that Customer/Client can get connected with 
• A simple tip is to pick the three highest value features & describe their advantages by explaining how the problem helps the Customer/Client

Here is an example, http://www.just5ml.com is a unique liquid detergent.

Features: Instead of using 100 ml liquid detergent, just5ml gives the same benefit (quality, fragrance) with just 5 ml quantity.

Benefits: More than 90% reduction in pollution and ease of handling.

Market Need Analysis

A small research on Market Need Analysis will address many problems. We should first find how big the need is for the Product or Service? Find about companies which are offering similar things & further continue the exercises

Here is an example: Due to global pandemic, the usage of sanitizers has drastically increased. On the other hand the side effects of using sanitizer also increased. Here is an innovative product called http://www.electrosan.store which helps in preparing natural disinfectant liquid at home. This is a clear example of great market need with right product.

Competitor Analysis

It’s the process of evaluating competitors’ products or services or sometimes their marketing strategies. We need to pick the right competitors to analyze and understand how those insights could improve the business.

Properly evaluated Competitor Analysis will first help create a Unique Value Proposition. Then it will help in finding unattended market segments. This analysis sometimes could help in updating/upgrading the existing Product or Service and altogether help in projecting the existing Product or Service in a new dimension.

SWOT Analysis

The framework analysis of SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) is used to evaluate any company’s competitive position. It accesses multiple current & future potential factors and gives realistic and fact-based information. Good SWOT Analysis with valid external data can guide strategies that have more chances to be successful.

Assuming you have finished the TASKS so far and understood the templates till now, let’s jump into Product or Service POSITIONING.

• Positioning is finding where the product or service fits in the market
• It helps define what makes a product unique and why someone should consider exploring
• Perfect Positioning forms a basis for your entire Marketing Journey
• The goal is to make the Target Audience understand the communication about your product to them in a most convincing manner
• This makes Target Audience understand about a product helps in promotional activities resonate with your Target Group & help them understand how your product is worth

Core Elements Of Product Positioning

• VISION – Should explain your Product or Service overall direction 
• MISSION – Should explain how you are going to make your Vision a reality 
• CATEGORY – Should give clarity on the Market Category of your Product or Service
• HOW YOUR PRODUCT GETTING UNDERSTOOD – Your Marketing Communications
• CLIENT/CUSTOMER CHALLENGES – Major challenges faced by Client/Customer
• PRODUCT USPs – How your Product or Service is Unique from other providers
• SUMMARY – How you want your Product or Service to know for in the market

“Product/Service Offering” is the key for Sales Success, which I call as “Product Philosophy” can be concluded in the following points 

The secret behind Product/Service Success: Whatever level of Product/Service offering is designed, Continuous Product Innovation is the secret behind any product success. What worked yesterday might become obsolete today. So, companies must ensure they first must believe this and make it a point to update or upgrade the Product as per market needs and demands. This is the only tool that helps companies survive the fierce competition

Simple Tip to make Product/Service flourish: CEO/Founder should inevitably focus on Product Development, Management & Continuous enhancement. This is a mandatory process that no company should ignore. All other days to day operations and management has to be handed over to another competent person and the majority of CEO/Founder time should be invested in Product or Service Management

Live Case Studies of Top Companies with Best Product & how did they achieve? 

1. Case Study 1: Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of FB focuses the majority of his time on Product Enhancement. All other operations will be managed by another competitive team. Every month, millions of people visit FB page & that is the power of a great product
2. Case Study 2: Tesla: Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, spends all of his time on Product Enhancement. They made it so great that just by entering the address, Tesla car will be taking care of end-to-end driving including parking. This is the power of a great product with extraordinary features when CEO or Founder spends maximum time working on continuous improvements
3. Case Study 3: DigitalDeepak Digital Deepak Kanakaraju, focused on core problems of digital marketer and has come up with transformative ideas which addressed the digital marketer challenges from the root cause. As a result, he has made so many successful digital marketers with his DDIP Program.

Simple Tip to make Product/Service flourish: CEO/Founder should inevitably focus on Product Development, Management & Continuous enhancement. This is a mandatory process that no company should ignore. All other days to day operations and management has to be handed over to another competent person and the majority of CEO/Founder time should be invested in Product or Service Management

The Four P’s Importance – Ultimately Revealed: The 4 Ps – Product, Price, Promotion & Place – All these are important in Marketing & Sales of a product but the majority of focus should be on Product as if the Product/Service is Strong Enough, it can take care of the rest of the Ps. Vice versa is not possible under any circumstances. There are many companies who, despite spending millions of dollars, failed miserably as they did not focus on Product Enhancement

Important Point about feedback mechanism: Founding Team/Top Management must always be open for Feedback (Irrespective of the feedback source) & do a thorough analysis to validate the same. This process should be consistently implemented

Importance of Pricing in Product/Service Offering: There is a myth that if the Price is less, the chances of sales will be more. While price plays a crucial role in market penetration & sales, it’s equally important to understand that Value for money should be offered to the prospective Customer/Client. Price should be something in the back seat and what value is being delivered should be properly communicated. A balance should be established while designing the pricing strategy as multiple things such as Competitor’s Price, Value the Customer is getting, Market Demand, etc will be the actual influencing factors

Pricing Analysis

Pricing could be simply termed as an exchange rate for the Product or Service the company is providing. In simpler words, an intermediary between what the business has produced and what the target customer/client is willing to pay. Undoubtedly, pricing is one of the most important aspects of any business. Around 1% improvement in price optimization might sometimes result in an average boost of 11% profit in profit. 

Value for Money

Best value for money could be defined as the most advantageous combination of Cost + Quality + Sustainability meeting customer requirements. Every customer wants the BEST VALUE for whatever they spend. Even, Businesses want the best returns on their Product/Service and they will be happy & able to sustain when they get back whatever they have invested plus a profit margin. We need to apply the same logic while deciding the price for the Product/Service being offered. Be in the Customer’s shoes & analyze whether the Customer will get their best value for the money they spent on us? 

Price Fixing Steps

So, how to fix the price for a Product/Service?

Step 1: Understand your Target Customer/Client Motivations

Step 2: Experiment with your Pricing Strategy 

Step 3: Ensure Your Pricing Strategy is Properly Communicated to your Target Customer/Client

To conclude, understand what the customer is expecting & how they can be motivated to buy the product/service and experiment with the price tweaks such as Offers, Discounts, Limited Sales, Cash Back to name a few. Whatever strategy is adopted, the crucial thing to note is that the customer should never get confused in your model. They should not use their brain to understand the offer. It should be a straight hit without any clutter

Similarly, many other aspects impact sales. However, by carefully working on each checkpoint, Guaranteed Sales is not a challenge at all. We need to have a proper plan of action for achieving Guaranteed Sales.