Macro (Broad) Factors which affect the business

Not an exhaustive list but only indicative ..

Social, cultural, demographic, and environmental factors

Aging population -  % race -  Per-capita income -  Number and type of special interest groups - Widening gap between rich & poor -  Number of marriages and/or divorces - Ethnic or racial minorities - Education - - Trends in housing, shopping, careers, business - Number of births and/or deaths -  Immigration & emigration rates

Economic factors

Growth of the economy -  Level of savings, investments, and capital spending -  Inflation - Foreign exchange rates -  Stock market trends -  Level of disposable income -  Import and export factors and barriers -  Product life cycle - Government spending
- Industry properties -  Economies of scale - Barriers to market entry - Product differentiation -  Level of competitiveness 

Political, government, business trends & legal factors...

Globalization trends - Government regulations and policies - Worldwide trend toward similar consumption patterns -  Internet and communication technologies -  Protection of rights (patents, trade marks, antitrust legislation) -  Level of government subsidies -  International trade regulations -  Taxation - Terrorism -  Elections and political situation home and abroad

16 Ways to increase sales

1. Save your energy by defining / identifying prospects
   Those who are more likely to be your customers.
2. Qualify early in the sales process
   If the prospect has a budget /  need / good value for money proposition 
3. Have a strong sales message and positioning
   Why should the prospect buy from you
4. Periodically clean up your sales pipeline
   Identify "bad leads" and remove them
5. Contact the real decision makers
   Those owning problem /  budget  / authority
6. Focus on large prospects
   They are likely to have the kind of money to buy - without straining
7. For first-time appointments : Get an appointment any day the customer wants
   Then later you can re-schedule it the day you want
8. Get referrals
   Get existing customer /colleague to suggest your name to a prospect
9. Time is your biggest resource
   Optimize it
10. Have an outcome as an objective for each meeting
    Keep meetings short and sweet
11. Never Surface Objections Yourself
12. Sense the Right Time, Then Close
13. The reason why competition got the sale is they talked to the right people
    And you did not
14. Increase the Amount of Each Sale
15. Decrease Your Sales Cycle Time
16. Flexible Terms and Conditions

10 Offers that make you more attractive to your potential customers

1. Better Product features
2. Better facilities for knowing, choosing, paying, getting delivered, getting trained
3. More expertise leading to better diagnosis and better customization
4. More reputation
5. Better image of the seller / user
6. Lower Price
7. Lesser hassles in the customer's process of arriving at the market 
8. Lesser risk 
9. Better solution 
10. More / Better people of the kind the customer wants to meet / interact

4 ways to determine what "Business" are you in ?

A marketer MUST know all the 4 ways by which a "Business" is defined. 

1. what do you make in your factory ( "Industry" definition )
   vacuum cleaner
2. what use does the customer put it to ( "Use" definition )
   cleaning
3. where does the product excel ( "Application" definition )
   removing deeply embedded dust
4. what is the personal motivation ( "Payoff" definition )
   good impression on visitors

Remember there are 3 types of personal payoffs for customers for any purchase 

• want to achieve something
  Satisfaction that there is no dust in sofa
• want to fix something
  ( people sitting with white dress complained of dust ) 
• want to avoid something
  ( people getting a poor impression of housewife )

10 Ways to sell more -even if your product is the same ...

1. Make your product available to the customers where your competitors is not.
2. delivering it where, when and in quantities customers want 
3. provide easier financing to your customer 
4. Make people more aware of your product as compared to your competitor
5. Undertake effort to educate and  update the customer
6. help the customer in diagnosing the problem and suggesting a solution
7. help the customer to install, fit and commission it
8. Customize your product for the customer
9. Help customer in using, maintaining, upgrading, disposing the product 
10. Make it easier for the customer to compare, purchase, complain

12 Ways to tell if your company's marketing is good

1. Sales Volume
2. Price realization per unit of volume
3. Revenue growth over last year
4. Market share 
5. Reputation that attracts customers
6. Relationship that makes customers loyal
7. Strength and reach of marketing networks
8. Being pioneer or fast follower in "next" markets
9. Being early to get out of "sunset" markets
10. Stronger portfolio of products / markets
11. Innovation ( % revenue from products launched in last 5 years )
12. Barriers to the entry of strong competitors and to the exit of weak competitors

5 Levels of addressing service marketing problems

1. Event level : visible on Surface :  Pacification (Service Recovery) takes lot of time /energy but does little to fix the cause which may be under the surface.
2. Pattern Level :  visible when data is monitored : it is clear which problems continue to emerge regardless of how often you addresses them. Indeed, the same cause  may create multiple negative events.
3. Structural Level :  How systems, structure, staff and skills give rise to these patterns. Origin is in policies, procedures and rules created to run the organization : recruitment, induction, training, supervision, motivation.
4. Mental Assumptions of top management : The formulators of policies and procedures make assumptions regarding the impact on customers and employees.
5. Vision Level : Finally, organizational goals are developed at the “vision” level, which is at the root of the iceberg, where one examines the sense of the direction the organization is taking. At this level one considers what are the tradeoffs we need.