Describe the products of service of your business:
List and describe the products or services you sell. For each business offering, cover the main points, including what the product or service is, how much it costs, what sorts of customers make purchases, and why. What customer need does each product or service
line fill? You might not want or need to include every product or service in the list, but at least consider the main sales lines.
It is always a good idea to think in terms of customer needs and customer benefits as you define your product offerings, rather than thinking of your side of the equation–how much the product or service costs, and how you deliver it to the customer. As you list and describe your sales lines, you may run into one of the serendipitous benefits of good business planning, which is generating new ideas.
Describe your product
offerings in terms of customer types and customer needs, and you’ll often discover new needs and new kinds of customers to cover. This describes;
- Main product/services and their subsidiaries (brands)
- Main features of proposed products/services indicate colour, shape, texture, quality and packaging of the product(s).
- Benefits of products to customers and the customers needs, Indicate the performance,
- Convenience, economy, comfort, durability, usage flexibility, service and warranties of the product(s) or service(s).
- Competitive advantage of your services/products and uniqueness
- Why customers should buy your products/services
- Packaging strategy
- Trade marks or other proprietary features
Strategic formulation and implementation
Once the business unit has developed its principal strategies, it must work out details supporting programmes .even the unit has decided to attain technological leadership, it must plan programmes to strengthen its Research & Development department, gathers
technological evidence, develop leading –edge products, train the technical sales force, and develop advertisements to communicate its technological leadership.
Entry and growth strategy
- Explain acceptance of your products/services in the market
- Indicate superior pricing, advertising, distribution or promotion
- Measures to sustain your business in the market
- Plans for growth and development of opportunities
- Trends which signal growth and opportunities
- Taking advantages of opportunities
Strategic alliance. Small businesses can also form strategic alliances with other small firms in ways that enhance mutual competitive strength. statistics suggests that about a half of all small businesses maintain one or more strategic alliances with businesses that are
smaller or equal in size , especially when it comes to outside contractors , licensing partners , import /export operations , marketing agreements and shared manufacturing . Strategic alliances allow business firms to combine their resources without compromising
their independent legal status. Strategic alliance match makers can help small businesses find suitable alliance partners, entrepreneurs can improve their chances of creating and maintaining a successful alliance by establishing productive connections, identifying the best person to contact being prepared to confirm benefits of that alliance learning to speak the partner-s “language”, and monitoring the progress of the alliance.
Marketing alliances
Many strategic alliances take the form of marketing alliances they fall into four categories ,
1. Product or service alliance: one company licenses another to produce its product, or two companies jointly market their complementary products or new products –two service business—have also joined together in a marketing alliance.
2. Promotional alliances: one company agrees to carry out a promotion for another company’s product or service. Mc Donald’s, for example, has often teamed with Disney to offer products related to current Disney films t people buying its food.
3. Logistics alliances: one company offers logistical services for another company’s products.
4. Pricing collaborations: one or more companies join in a special pricing collaboration. it is common for hotel and car companies to offer mutual price discounts
Companies need to give creative thought to finding partners that might compliment their strengths and offset their weaknesses. Well – managed alliances allow companies to obtain a greater sales impact at less cost. To keep their strategic alliances thriving, corporations have begun to develop organizational structures to support them and have come to view their ability to form and manage partnerships as core skills in and of themselves (called Partner Relationship Management, PRM) companies can designate a core group in charge of partnerships, even if it is not formal, to manage and monitor alliances. Goals indicate what a business unit wants to achieve, strategy is a game plan to getting there. Every business must design a strategy for achieving its goal consisting of a marketing strategy compatible with technology strategy and sourcing strategies.
