Factfile 6
The more understanding you show about your customers, the more they will trust your judgement.
Any organisation seeking to enter a new market, which may be a new territory or new product area, needs to arm itself with a basic understanding of that new market in order to produce an entry strategy that is most likely to succeed.
Two levels of intelligence gathering are required: fundamental knowledge and essential to know.
Fundamental knowledge:
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Market size, estimated or recorded, of your client and their competitors.
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Market profitability, total, estimate and per unit.
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Growth rate, historic and projected, units and value.
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Who are the three main suppliers, what are their market shares?
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Who are the major buyers and what is their purchase value?
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What are the purchase drivers, principal reason for purchase and underlying influencing reasons?
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Identify who the decision makers are - political, technical, purchaser, end user.
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What are the market trends - fashion, pricing, technological change.
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What customer groupings exist.
It is essential to know:
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Top three market suppliers? business strategies and the key reasons for their success.
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Who are the most likely sales targets.
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What are the weaknesses of current suppliers (future competitors) and customer?s attitude toward competitors.
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Prices of contracts and any segmentation.
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Emerging competitors, companies or products.
BT and Dell Computers both have a range of initiatives to develop understanding of customers and their markets illustrating the ideas discussed above. [link to case studies]