Question

Topic: Career/Training

New Business Idea

Posted by Anonymous on 3/19/2010 at 10:51 PM ET 125 Points
Hello,

I am a college student taking Business Management. I love marketing so I am aiming towards building my own Marketing Firm from home. Now I am just testing waters and gather info. I am thinking a Marketing firm with Business Development which is mostly going to aim boost sales and fix problems in a Business. Now I know its not enough info but my first steps is doing a survey with local business owners to see if they will even use my services. What kind of questions should I put onto my survey?
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 3/20/2010 at 9:48 AM Accepted
    You can't sell if you don't know what they need.

    So first, ask them questions about THEIR business. Start with easy questions: how long they've been in business, how many people they employ, how many locations, and website URL. Then, find out who their clients are, their annual sales (if they'll share it), and the marketing they've tried to-date (with some info about how well/poorly it worked for them)(Yellow Pages, advertisements, email, postcards, banners, social media, etc.). That'll give you plenty to begin to a discussion with the business owner.
  • Posted by mgoodman on 3/20/2010 at 10:29 AM Accepted
    Jay's approach is right. Don't ask them about whether they would use your services or not. That makes it a sales call. Instead let them tell you about their needs, problems, values, attitudes, etc.

    And don't use a formal survey process initially. Get out there and talk to people one-on-one yourself. Schedule interviews, ask a few high-gain questions, listen carefully to what they say (including the specific words they use), and take detailed notes. (Don't audio record; actually take notes by hand.)

    After you've personally interviewed at least a dozen people in your target audience, you can decide if you are in a position to address the issues that keep them awake at night. If so, then you should put together a basic business plan for yourself, including the marketing plan. Decide if you're prepared to invest the time, energy and money to implement your plan, and THEN make the go/no-go decision.
  • Posted by Frank Hurtte on 3/20/2010 at 10:59 AM Accepted
    It is my understanding that you are currently attending college. Many companies will open up to survey questions if they believe they are part of an acedemic research project.

    With this in mind, I would turn your first effort into a "research project". Get some kind of semi-official approval, then ask the following questions:

    1) What is your impression of an outside marketing resource?
    2) If you have used one, what did you see as the benefit?
    3) If you did not use one, can you explain why?
    4) What would take the risk out of using a marketing firm in the future?

    I suggest multiple choice answers. I suggest you make this into a paper that can promote your business. And, I suggest you use the answers to approach these same people in a few months with the comment...

    "I started this off as a research project but recognized a need for a service..."
  • Posted on 3/20/2010 at 12:03 PM Accepted
    Hi ChrisBatt,


    First, good luck to you in your new venture!

    Second, I will not provide any information on taking a survey since you've already gotten some great replies.

    Did want to throw this out there though. You mentioned that you just graduated from college. CONGRATULATIONS! And your goal is to open your own marketing agency. Well...

    Marketing is selling. Plain & simple. I would STRONGLY suggest taking a part-time sales job, even if it's just for a year or so. Your free hours can go towards building your marketing shop.

    Why am I suggesting this? Simple...

    Since marketing is selling, you MUST have AT LEAST a general understanding of the sales process. Ex; building customer rapport, qualifying, closing, handling objections, developing sales funnels & pipelines, etc. Why?

    Without even a rudimentary understanding of sales psychology, you might have a tough time trying to sell things (market things) for your customers.

    Again, marketing is selling. Just in a different format. Instead of a live person, us marketers use print ads, radio spots, t.v. commercials, websites, etc. AS the salesperson. This takes specialized knowledge. Knowledge that cannot be learned in school. Only in the "streets".

    Another reason to land a sales job is this; you ARE going to have to SELL your clients on doing business with YOUR shop. Again, this takes experience and know-how. But, don't be intimidated. All of this CAN be learned through experience and trial & error. However, you MUST experience it first :)

    Finally, consider this...the ONLY reason someone implements a marketing campaign is to PRODUCE SALES. Why should Mr. Big Business owner who owns a chain of 11 dry-cleaners choose YOU to help grow his business over a more experienced, grizzled veteran with numerous successful campaign to his name?

    Learn the sales game so you don't put yourself in this position. And learn the sales game so you yourself can answer this question one day when it's posed to you directly :)

    Best of luck!!!
  • Posted on 3/20/2010 at 3:58 PM Accepted
    My opinion is that you've "Channeled" yourself before the time is right to Channel...

    You've made an assumption that because you love marketing, the logical extension is to be a marketing consultant. Perhaps that's where you will end up, but I would expand my criteria before coming to that conclusion.

    A small business owner with primo marketing skills can BEGIN his/her business WAY out ahead of the competition. Don't be one of those who loves to cook and assumes that the only extension of this is to own a restaurant.

    Use your marketing skills FIRST for a "Gap Analysis" to see what type of business is NEEDED (locally or nationally). THEN start to build a decision tree. Not before.

    THEN Channel your energies in THAT direction.

    Good luck !
  • Posted by mgoodman on 3/20/2010 at 5:13 PM Moderator
    joegrss's comments got me thinking ...

    First, I agree with his suggestion that selling is a good background for marketing. You can do a lot worse than mastering the sales process with first-hand experience over a few months/years. His reasoning is sound.

    But I disagree with his claim that marketing is selling. Marketing is much more than selling. Marketing is understanding what consumers are going to want and need, what they value and appreciate, how they behave, and what motivates them. And it's coming up with a formula, a marketing mix that includes the right offering, that anticipates and satisfies their most important needs.

    For me, selling is getting customers to say "Yes." Marketing is more about figuring out what product or service will meet their needs, what the value is, and how to best communicate the "story" that will set the stage for the sales process. Both are important, of course. But don't confuse selling with marketing.
  • Posted on 3/20/2010 at 6:46 PM Member
    Hey mgoodman,


    Thanks for clarifying my message a bit. While I do NOT want to steer this topic "off course", I can at least agree with your viewpoint. Sometimes though, trying to dispense the "quick pill" to folks on here is challenging in such a limited format.

    Marketing IS a LOT more than just selling. Yes, you also need to understand consumer psychology, different markets, available medias and of course getting the customer to say "yes". Among many other things.

    However, the goal, or, the seed of ALL marketing is to drive sales. Even in an indirect way (corporate branding, press releases, major goods ads, etc). At the end of the day, it is ALL about selling or selling more of something.

    I would venture to say that the majority of folks in the marketing field have AT LEAST some form of "real world" sales experience (retail, door-to-door, telemarketing, institutional, etc.). Real world sales experience (how you earn your paycheck) is 110% focused on moving a person from prospect to customer. In other words, getting them to say "YES".

    Once one has this skill, you CAN apply it to any format you wish (radio, print, etc.) However, this involves a GREAT deal of study in and of itself, since you would now have to "re-format" your experience into different avenues and develop your winning "formulas" or track record based on extensive trial & error.

    I think we are both on the same page goodman, just focusing on different paragraphs :)

    As I come from a hardened sales background myself, the value derived from learning how to psychologically move a person from a no or a maybe to a "YES" is priceless.
  • Posted by mgoodman on 3/21/2010 at 12:21 PM Moderator
    joegrss: At the risk of beating a dead horse (and agreeing with you yet again), there is one aspect of your message that still doesn't feel quite right.

    You say:

    ... the seed of ALL marketing is to drive sales"

    That makes it sound like MARKETING is a sales support function -- pushing what we have into the market. It is, but it's also more than that. It also drives product development, pricing and distribution strategy, etc. And it does that by understanding customers' and the consumers' current and future needs, attitudes and values at a fundamental level.

    Of course, the objective is still to make money -- at least most of the time. (Some not-for-profit organizations have non-revenue objectives, for example.) And nobody makes money until something gets sold. So you're not wrong. It's just that the way you explained yourself made it sound like the sole purpose of Marketing is to support the sales process and function.

    I don't think that's a great way for folks to view marketing ... though it is certainly important that they understand that the goal of both Sales and Marketing is to sell stuff and make money.

    Thanks for indulging me. You obviously understand this, and I'm just revealing a bit of a sore spot that has plagued me for a long time about the role and function of marketing -- which many people do not clearly understand.

    <Now back to your regularly scheduled programming ...>

  • Posted on 3/22/2010 at 2:58 PM Accepted
    The important thing is, you have to know their perspectives on the matter before finally deciding if you should run that kind of business.
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