They have their reason for being. Companies exist with the purpose of serving and satisfying the needs increasingly demanding of some segment of the market. This market is easily described as the group of potential customers who, at one time or another, may purchase our products or require our services.
Once the market has been identified, we must orient our commercial strategy with the purpose essential to generate sales that will help grow our business. But do we know what the target market is? Can we say with certainty that we know the profile of our potential client, and that therefore we have prepared a commercial strategy consistent with their characteristics? Traditionally in small and developing markets like Panama, many companies with a track record managed to establish themselves and became successful due to the vision and knowledge of their creator.
This person, through his contacts, managed to establish key relationships that helped proliferate his sales and grow his business. Today, this strategy, although still effective in the early stages of business growth, will become obsolete. The reason? Clients have multiplied, their needs have changed and also their degree of complexity when making a decision. Business today is colder in nature, and people are looking for the best value for their money. What should we do then? We must know our potential market in depth. It means knowing your demographic and cultural characteristics (among others), creating a solid database, and knowing how to use the information obtained to create a consistent and effective strategy.
How can we achieve it? In different ways. The quickest way is to subcontract a company that helps us develop a profile of our potential client, based on the characteristics that our business offers. This has its advantages and disadvantages. Obviously, it is advantageous from the point of view of how quickly we can have results, and also (depending on the company we choose) we receive reliable results. The disadvantages are the cost (these studies are not cheap). A perhaps less traditional and more tedious way is to carry out studies internally. This may take us a little more time to prepare and organize; However, if we program ourselves properly we can take advantage of great benefits.
The most important is that we own the information we obtain from our clients. This is important because we are able to obtain a range of information that allows us to adjust, modify and improve our research process on the fly, thus making it more effective. Also, the inclusion of company personnel plays a role in the development of these processes. By conducting the research directly, we can receive more valuable feedback from our employees, which at the end of the day could result in the development of a more successful and accurate strategy. Of course, another advantage is that we do not depend on an intermediary who must interpret our information to carry out the study. The key to business success is identifying which customers represent our target market. The methodologies available in our field are not necessarily the most effective, sothat, sometimes, we must carry out studies internally.
By Juan R. Porras B
