perception and reality in your presales marketing. . .
With full respect to the 4 (or 5) P’s of marketing, you must consider the 2 P’s of Pre-Sales Marketing: Perception and Potential
Read how 2 different sales / marketing guys looked at a market in Africa for sneakers! May be your are gettting similar results for your pre-sales marketing. . .
I don’t know about you, but I am truly sick of hearing the phrase perception is reality.NO, it is not. It is your perceived reality and not necessarily, what truly exists. Many sales people view market potential only through the eyes of their own perception. And, you know what I am about to say, most times this is not on the side of what is real or exists. If you cannot state the current in real terms, how can you forecast the future?? The best example is how people view the glass ” half empty or half full”? How do you determine the outcome factor of “what happened??” Was it only filled half way or did someone take a few sips?
Reality is the state of things as they actually exist, rather than as they may appear or may be thought to be.Wiki. Key words here: ” Rather than as they may be thought to be”.
Perception is the process by which an organism attains awareness or understanding of its environment by organizing and interpreting sensory information.Wiki – Keyword here: Interpeting.
I have met many a sales person who views potential through the eyes of their own single perception. In turn, they commit to that perception as being reality. They act, interpet and unfortunately convince others of THEIR truth. As stated, perception is not always reality as many would have you think. Your sales perception IQ views /examines and processes that reality. It creates what you believe, not entirely what it is. Consider for your perception my tale of the 2 Nike sales people. Two Nike sales people are sent by their Global Sales Manager to Africa. Their mission, determine Nike’s footwear sales potential in this market. Salesperson 1 is an older company veteran highly seasoned, award winning, with little time for nuances. Salesperson 2 is a young, award winning and known to be aggressive in opening new potential markets.
After 4 days of touring the African market
Sales person # 1 Reports: “I am coming home on next flight. There is no market for us, no one here wears shoes. I see little potential for our products. I recommend, I return to this market in a year or two and see if people start wearing shoes. Therefore, I am leaving on the next flight out.
And boss, thanks for the opportunity”
Sales person # 2 Reports: “Tell my wife to sell our house, we are relocating to Africa. No one, I repeat, no one wears shoes. The potential here is staggering!!! How fast can we launch our campaigns with unique value propositions? Please FedEx entire line samples to my hotel. I am looking for distributors now and will have distribution setup in 1 week with initial orders at the same time.
And boss, thanks for the opportunity.”
Before you can determine your market potential, you need to determine reality NOT based on perception. You must see the market clearly, for what it is, and not, for what you perceive it to be and then in turn what you want it to be.
The answer I would have liked to seen is:
After 2 weeks of touring the African market and
speaking with potential channel partners:
“Boss, the possibility of great potential for our products possibly exists. You may not know this but most people live life without shoes, they go bare foot. We need to determine; why people do not wear shoes and instead “choose” to go bare foot. I recommend, I stay longer, please send an initial marketing team. We can gather market research along with a focus group or two and prepare a marketing plan. We should then be able to determine market potential along with our price, position, placement, promotion and of course PERCEPTION (how are products will be viewed) and REALITY (can our products be sold).The key to this market will be why (factors determining choice price, availability, or knowledge), people currently go barefoot and will our product provide a viable solution. Adidas dropped out of this market 2 years ago after 5 years and big losses, we must determine why, we do not want to duplicate their issues.
And boss, THANKS FOR THE OPPORTUNITY! “
Bill Simmel