Concepts in Marketing

Concepts are like appetizers. They whet the appetite for the main meal. But a fine balance has to be maintained. If the appetizers are not interesting enough the main meal will not be consumed heartily. And if the appetizers are too good the main meal is not consumed at all.

Keeping the above in mind I would walk the tightrope carefully. The aim is to inform and excite the reader to get more information.

Missionary selling: is a concept that comes from pharmaceutical marketing. It is said that religion is not marketed directly and missionaries take the indirect route to interest the people to take up their religion. The same is followed in Pharma marketing. The medical representative counsels the doctor. The doctor in turn prescribes the medicine and the patient buys the same from the medical shop. As the sale is transacted indirectly formulations marketing is termed as missionary selling.

Canned presentation: also comes from Pharma marketing. In Formulations/Pharma marketing the medical representative plays a very submissive role in the selling process. The buyer (the prescribing doctor sees himself as a know-all) is pressed for time and gives very little time for the medical representative. As the time is very short the medical representatives practice their pitch to the last T and present it in rapid-fire fashion in the shortest time possible. So any presentation that is totally pre-rehearsed and presented in the shortest time is called a canned presentation.

Traffic light selling: In the modern world people are pressed for time. We hardly have time for anything. At the same time, the chaotic life that we lead makes us spend time on things that we hate for example traffic snares and jams. But a marketer finds a silver lining in every cloud. Umpteen tiny entrepreneurs can be seen at every traffic light peddling wares that include books, newspapers, magazines, mosquito-eradicating tennis bats, etc. Their Unique selling proposition – a bored customer who laps up the products as he/she has nothing else to do.

Leaking bucket: A concept taken from hard-core selling. It was believed that there were more customers than products available and that the company would keep on getting orders or sales despite bad service and disgruntled customers. The concept believes that old customers who buy the product get dissatisfied and move away only to be replaced with eager new customers who take the place of the old customers. Just like a leaking bucket where new water keeps on replacing old water which keeps flowing out.

Funnel theory: For this concept, I give credit to my first boss, Mr. Ravindranath, RSM, Indian Communications Network Limited. This concept says that the funnel is broadest at the top and narrowest at the bottom. If a salesperson has to get 5 orders per month consistently he or she has to see that the prospective or cold customers have to be many more at the top of the funnel.

25 Cold customers will whistle down to 20 warm customers, 20 warm customers, in turn, will result in 15 hot customers and 15 hot customers will become 10 eager to buy customers. Out of these 10 eager-to-buy customers 5 orders can be finalized. The beauty of this concept is that if one wants a sale of 5 machines in June the seeds of sale of that month have to be laid in March. April and May.

Key Words: Concepts, Appetizers, Balance, Inform, Excite, Missionary Selling, Pharmaceutical Marketing, Canned Presentation, Rapid Fire, Traffic Light Selling, Unique Selling Proposition, Leaking Bucket, Customer Satisfaction, Funnel Theory, Sales Process, Prospective Customers, Cold Customers,

Warm Customers, Hot Customers, eager-to-buy Customers, Sales Funnel, Sales Cycle, Sales Strategy, Sales Targets, Sales Forecasting,