If your business is struggling, or simply not living up to its potential, it may be time to rethink how you do business and take a fresh approach. While many businesses had to adapt during the pandemic, high inflation, rising interest rates, and slowing consumer demand may once again require companies to shift direction or alter their strategy to increase revenue.
A good commercial strategy is well thought out, but flexible enough to adapt to changing customer needs, a competitive marketplace, and a fluctuating economy. Here are 6 tips for reinventing your commercial strategy.
Perform a strategic analysis
Before introducing a new product offering to the world, it is important to do a full market analysis. Do people need this product? Is there a demand for it? Are competitors offering something similar? What will set your product apart? Understand your buyer personas so you can segment out your customer lists to target interested prospects, and perform a financial analysis based on projected sales to ensure your product idea will pay off.
Define your go-to-market plan
Once you’ve determined your offering is viable, you need to come up with a pricing strategy that is competitive but still drives profits, choose which channels to use to sell or market the product, and have the necessary tech stack in place to facilitate sales, manage inventory, ensure order fulfillment, and capture metrics. Before a full product launch, test the product on beta customers and/or a pilot project in a specific region, and test which positioning resonates most with potential buyers.
Build your sales plan
As you work through these initial steps, hopefully, your value proposition for your product becomes clear. When you know what value your product delivers, you can begin branding your product, creating messaging around it, building a sales playbook, and forming a marketing/content strategy, so you’re prepared for when the product goes live.
Execute and engage
As your product launches, it’s important to partner with early adopters and be prepared to adjust plans accordingly. Gather feedback and track your product performance. You may need to tweak your pricing strategy, streamline your eCommerce process, or even make changes to the product itself. Be open-minded and listen to your customers.
Accelerate and pivot
Use the lessons learned throughout this process and build a plan to accelerate growth. This may mean making minor changes or completely pivoting direction. Either way, you’ll now need to revisit your messaging and positioning accordingly to gain traction.
Expand
Finally, once your product is selling – invest in your success. Build sustained marketing programs, utilizing upselling/cross-selling strategies, and expand your reach to newer/larger markets. Double down in regions that are particularly successful to build on your wins.
Talk to Valley
At Valley, we want to see your business be the best it can be. Talk to our commercial loan experts to listen to your challenges and advise you on ways to protect and grow your business. To learn more, visit our website, contact us, or give us a call at 800-522-4100.
