I was on a conference call last night with a couple of friends who are trying to start a new business. Their idea is fantastic and if they execute well they will have an incredible product that many, many people will want. I was very enthusiastic and I really thought they would have a good chance to pull it off, until I asked them about their distribution plan.
Nothing! They told me about getting referrals and doing a bit of PPC. They said advertising and telemarketing…They really had not thought hard about how to get their product out into the marketplace.
For some reason, most first time entrepreneurs figure that the hardest part about selling is having a good product. It is exactly the opposite, a good sale strategy and a good distribution platform can sell just about anything. Think about it, who is more likely to sell; a great salesman peddling an inferior product or an adequate salesman selling a fantastic product? History is full of examples of bad products that prevailed because they were sold well.
When I started Emerging Demographics I approached the situation the same way, I focused most of my energies on developing the product. I had some ideas about how to distribute and sell, but I spent a lot less time thinking about that then I did making sure that our product was truly “special.” Boy did I learn my lesson. When we launched, we generated a lot less traction than I anticipated, and even though our customers were really happy, we just didn’t have enough of them. I spent the next three months devising and putting in place a strong distribution and sales strategy and it seems to be paying off.
From now on, anytime someone talks to me about a business idea, my first question will be how they plan on selling their product and if they don’t have a good answer – ill tell them about my experience with a great product and a bad marketing strategy.
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October 27th, 2006 at 10:46 pm
That’s awesome.
I’m wondering, though, if you know of a place where a dialogue about different marketing/sales strategies (especially new ones) might be taking place? This would be valuable information for those of us who have products but no marketing strategies.
December 25th, 2006 at 2:20 am
I agree, it would be very valuable to learn more about execution and launch strategies. As you said, having a great product means next to nothing if there is no strategy to execute, but it’s difficult to find more information on this. Any information you can offer or directions that will lead to any advice would be highly valuable.