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The Right Marketing Programs and Budgets for Heavy Scrutiny Offerings
(Marketing Memo, August, 2006)
Do you offer what Kristin Zhivago calls "Heavy Scrutiny"* items or
"high-ticket tangible products and services"? A few examples of Heavy
Scrutiny items are "sophisticated software programs, business systems�
advertising in online and offline media, and complicated medical devices."
Selling Heavy Scrutiny items is tricky as buyers ask endless questions,
consult others, change their minds, delay purchases, or buy from a competitor.
Different types of offerings have different buying cycles, prices,
and target markets, and each type of offering should follow a different
marketing model. Zhivago recommends that marketers decide whether they
sell Light, Moderate, Heavy, or Intense Scrutiny offerings and then
develop a suitable marketing model and budget.
Marketers of Heavy Scrutiny offerings should:
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Map out the buying process. Marketers should interview customers/prospects
to identify questions and prepare answers to the questions that
arise throughout the process. One reason that buyers ask so many
questions is they have previously bought Heavy Scrutiny products
that didn't work or didn't interconnect with existing technology
platforms. |
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Use web sites and sales presentations to respond to the buyer's
underlying question: "What will happen to me after I make this
purchase?" |
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Identify "trigger points" in the sales process, and explore what
they can do at trigger points to make a sale more likely. |
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Properly fund the entire marketing and sales process.
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As generating awareness costs more than answering questions, Zhivago
recommends that sellers of Heavy Scrutiny products invest 40% of their
marketing budgets in generating awareness and getting people to try
the product. They should spend another 30% on their web sites and on
answering questions, plus 15% to provide sales people with sufficient
selling tools.
Allocating Marketing Resources When Selling Heavy Scrutiny Products
Heavy Scrutiny Products |
Marketing Expenditures |
% of Mktg. Budget |
Generating awareness |
40% |
Web site/Answering questions |
30% |
Selling and closing tools |
15% |
Ongoing customer contact |
10% |
Monitoring/measuring the results of marketing and
sales campaigns |
5% |
Total
|
100% |
We can help you conduct qualitative studies that will help you understand
what customers want to know, find out why customers bought, and explore
other issues related to the buying process. Knowing why customers
bought is more important than knowing which ad got them to buy, according
to Zhivago.
*K. Zhivago, Rivers of Revenue: What to do when the money stops
flowing, Smokin' Donut Books, 2004.
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