Know-How Exchange : Strategy

Dear Chirag992000,

Perhaps unknowingly you've answered your own question. Your strategy could easily be: "quality tea at reasonable prices delivered to your door, free of charge".

Your mission doesn't need to be any more complicated than this, so why burden yourself with extra baggage?

And on your issue of price, charging a premium for your product sets you apart, more so if you can get one or two well-known local people to give you a testimonial based on taste, service, freshness, or any one of a list of factors.

The thing that will sell your service and your product is that one thing that sets you apart. You must answer this question in a compelling way: why should anyone buy their tea from you and not from Gupta or Raj down the road? What is it about you and your product that no one else offers and that everyone wants or needs?

What is your unique story and what is it about YOUR story that's compelling enough for it to catch people's attention in a meaningful way? Find that story, drag it out into the light, and tell it and tell it well.

Could you offer a 200 percent guarantee? "Satisfaction or DOUBLE your money back!" How many of your competitors offer that kind of assurance (but if you ARE going to do this make sure your tea IS the best!)

As well as a strategy, you need an aim and an objective. Your aim is where you're going to go, the objective is how you're going to get there. Taste is not a strategy because you cannot own it. Your strategy must be yours alone, which is where your story comes in, even if you have to invent a story.

But if you are going to invent something, your story must be watertight, compelling, believable, powerful, entertaining, and capable of drawing a crowd, like moths to the flame of a lantern.

I know this isn't much but I hope this helps. Good luck to you.

Gary Bloomer
Wilmington, DE, USA

If you are not going to sell through retail chains who will automatically put you in front of an audience, you need to decide who your target audience is. Who is most likely to buy and use your product? Think about age, gender, lifestyles, etc.

Once you decide who you are mainly selling to, start talking to them. Never assume that you know what they want. Ask them why they buy similar products, what they are looking for, what is most important to them when choosing a tea, what makes one brand stand out above another, where they hear about new brands and what motivates them to try a new one, etc. Once you have done some research you can choose what selling points about your own product will make it most appealing to your audience.

Then, start promoting it. You need to put yourself in front of your audience. If your audience is moms, try giving some free samples for daycare centers to hand out to new clients. If your target audience is on the younger side (anywhere from 18-35), use the internet as much as possible including email blasts, social networking, blogs, etc. to generate a buzz. For any generation, you can also look for social influencers and send them free samples to try your product, along with some promotional materials that show why yours is the best.

Hope this helps!

Rebecca

Chirag,
You need to answer one very big question, as mentioned by others - "Why would people buy a product, which is commodity, from me rather than a simple mom and pop store/ kiryana shop'.
Let me tell you why it is a challenge. Tea is a commodity, and people do not think much on commodities. Unless the taste or feature is very diffrent, its difficult to convince people to buy tea, where they are used to buy complete stock of home items in one go. When they are getting other things from a shop, why not tea also. The threshold will be larger for you.

Lets come to the decision maker, it will be ladies. You cant reach them on net, esp as your target area is Mulund, a suburb. Why not enlarge your area of service?

How are planning to do sampling? People need to be curious or be approached to try out a new commodity product. For sampling you need to catch these ladies and sample your tea and take orders there and then when hype is there.

Rest we can add only if you answer us why your tea and why not the kiryana/retailer next door who anyways does home supply.