Since the firm’s products are the hub of its whole marketing strategy, the first step we used to implement is to analyze the client’s whole product line in the way described above, checking whether the products (1) provide answers to consumers’ problems, (2) are mutually complementary, and (3) can be modified to solve consumer or market problems. It is also important that the range of products offered is consistent with the firm’s overall objectives. Ideally, all the products in the line should be of interest to every customer, and should fit in well with the production facilities. This ideal is unlikely to exist in practice, of course, and a certain amount of departure from it must be tolerated.
Our Consultants pay special attention to the “odd” product, which is inline because it fits the production facilities but is aimed at a different set of customers and thus requires a sales effort out of proportion to its potential sales. Such spare production capacity might be better used in producing items for other firms under contract or subcontract. Also, we analyze and examine needs to be made for gaps in the product line which could be filled by buying-in, in order to make full use of the available sales efforts.
Since each product maintained in inventory requires space and cash, our consultants can study the opportunities to eliminate slow-selling items (line consolidation), which can be equally beneficial as a cost-cutting/profit improvement issue. We periodically review the Client’s product line and reduce slower-selling items during day-to-day works with the Client. In this way, Avenue Consulting Group introduces special techniques and business processes allowing to carry out daily monitoring of sales and improve inventory stock turnover. Such an analysis provides a sound basis for our recommendations for potential product additions or deletions that need further investigation. For example, the marketing manager might insist that some sizes in a product line, although very small sellers, are necessary because the firm’s distributors demand a full line from their suppliers. This situation is investigated (sometimes “demand” means simply a mild preference) by our consultants to find the possibility of “buying-in” the more extreme sizes. The analysis is also a prerequisite for a review of the client’s new product development program.
It is widely believed, probably correctly, that recessions bring managers back in touch with business basics that are too easily forgotten in boom times. In periods of recession, the quality of goods and reliability of delivery are generally perceived as more important than price, especially by industrial purchasers. The implications of this for marketing strategy are clear. In many enterprises pricing is regarded as the special province of accountants, who determine the prices at which the marketing staff must sell. Yet this is an area in which both marketing considerations and cost criteria apply. If our business consultant finds that prices are being set by unilateral decisions of accountants, he or she reviews how this affects marketing and the volume of sales. This may lead to a revision of pricing policy, including the establishment of new procedures for price setting. The ultimate objective would be to make better use of prices as a marketing tool, but without running the risk that an increased volume of sales of underpriced products would cause a financial loss. It should be noted that absorption costing and other cost accounting methods can give rise to misleading ideas about the profitability of different items in the product line. Pricing is a major tool in the marketing manager’s toolbox but prices cannot be adjusted in a vacuum. We suggest carefully assessing, evaluating and testing (if possible) the effects of a pricing action before the action is finalized.
Distribution Channel Strategy
A successful Distribution Channel Strategy ultimately depends upon the effectiveness and reach of the Client’s go-to-market strategy. Distribution channel optimization is therefore a critical ingredient to sustaining growth through a rigorous customer focus. Our Consultants draw upon experience gained across a multitude of successful Distribution Channel Optimization consulting projects over 15 years. Choosing our professional services, the Clients benefit to create their own Distribution Channel Optimization Strategy and realize the following benefits:
Improve your company’s growth strategy:
– Improvement of distribution channel strategy
– Identification of most appropriate partners
– Generation of additional revenue streams
– Consolidation of the market leadership
– Development of the company value and image
– Organic expansion
Identify and structure new commercial opportunities:
– Contrast competition and gain market share
– Inverse trends of margins erosions
– Address changing customer needs
– Share costs among company’s business
Increase your company’s internal expertise:
– Additional knowledge and new angles of analysis
– Structured framework transferable to similar internal initiatives
– Improved global vision and understanding
– Awareness of distribution channel partner strengths and weaknesses
– Capitalization on internal skills and synergies
Since the firm’s products are the hub of its whole marketing strategy, the first step we used to implement is to analyze the client’s whole product line in the way described above, checking whether the products (1) provide answers to consumers’ problems, (2) are mutually complementary, and (3) can be modified to solve consumer or market problems. It is also important that the range of products offered is consistent with the firm’s overall objectives. Ideally, all the products in the line should be of interest to every customer, and should fit in well with the production facilities. This ideal is unlikely to exist in practice, of course, and a certain amount of departure from it must be tolerated.
Our Consultants pay special attention to the “odd” product, which is inline because it fits the production facilities but is aimed at a different set of customers and thus requires a sales effort out of proportion to its potential sales. Such spare production capacity might be better used in producing items for other firms under contract or subcontract. Also, we analyze and examine needs to be made for gaps in the product line which could be filled by buying-in, in order to make full use of the available sales efforts.
Since each product maintained in inventory requires space and cash, our consultants can study the opportunities to eliminate slow-selling items (line consolidation), which can be equally beneficial as a cost-cutting/profit improvement issue. We periodically review the Client’s product line and reduce slower-selling items during day-to-day works with the Client. In this way, Avenue Consulting Group introduces special techniques and business processes allowing to carry out daily monitoring of sales and improve inventory stock turnover. Such an analysis provides a sound basis for our recommendations for potential product additions or deletions that need further investigation. For example, the marketing manager might insist that some sizes in a product line, although very small sellers, are necessary because the firm’s distributors demand a full line from their suppliers. This situation is investigated (sometimes “demand” means simply a mild preference) by our consultants to find the possibility of “buying-in” the more extreme sizes. The analysis is also a prerequisite for a review of the client’s new product development program.
It is widely believed, probably correctly, that recessions bring managers back in touch with business basics that are too easily forgotten in boom times. In periods of recession, the quality of goods and reliability of delivery are generally perceived as more important than price, especially by industrial purchasers. The implications of this for marketing strategy are clear. In many enterprises pricing is regarded as the special province of accountants, who determine the prices at which the marketing staff must sell. Yet this is an area in which both marketing considerations and cost criteria apply. If our business consultant finds that prices are being set by unilateral decisions of accountants, he or she reviews how this affects marketing and the volume of sales. This may lead to a revision of pricing policy, including the establishment of new procedures for price setting. The ultimate objective would be to make better use of prices as a marketing tool, but without running the risk that an increased volume of sales of underpriced products would cause a financial loss. It should be noted that absorption costing and other cost accounting methods can give rise to misleading ideas about the profitability of different items in the product line. Pricing is a major tool in the marketing manager’s toolbox but prices cannot be adjusted in a vacuum. We suggest carefully assessing, evaluating and testing (if possible) the effects of a pricing action before the action is finalized.
Distribution Channel Strategy
A successful Distribution Channel Strategy ultimately depends upon the effectiveness and reach of the Client’s go-to-market strategy. Distribution channel optimization is therefore a critical ingredient to sustaining growth through a rigorous customer focus. Our Consultants draw upon experience gained across a multitude of successful Distribution Channel Optimization consulting projects over 15 years. Choosing our professional services, the Clients benefit to create their own Distribution Channel Optimization Strategy and realize the following benefits:
Improve your company’s growth strategy:
– Improvement of distribution channel strategy
– Identification of most appropriate partners
– Generation of additional revenue streams
– Consolidation of the market leadership
– Development of the company value and image
– Organic expansion
Identify and structure new commercial opportunities:
– Contrast competition and gain market share
– Inverse trends of margins erosions
– Address changing customer needs
– Share costs among company’s business
Increase your company’s internal expertise:
– Additional knowledge and new angles of analysis
– Structured framework transferable to similar internal initiatives
– Improved global vision and understanding
– Awareness of distribution channel partner strengths and weaknesses
– Capitalization on internal skills and synergies