The Importance of Marketplace Research

Before you do any finalizing of your territory plans, do you have a concrete and thorough understanding of the market you’re looking to enter?

By having a proper understanding of the target market, you are able to make your decisions based on solid facts and not just what you believe the facts to be. I know this may come off as a basic or elementary sales lesson, but time and time again I see sales leaders basing their territory plans on assumptions or what they’d like to see happen in the marketplace, as opposed to what’s truly happening.

I have a tale of warning that I’d like to share with you.

A client of ours recently hired a new VP of marketing. The new VP came prepared, she began to implement new marketing techniques by hosting webinars, creating banner ads, and starting new email marketing campaigns. There was only one problem, she never actually did her research on the target market nor did she go out to see any of the customers. The buyers that this VP was targeting came from an extremely traditional background. So much so that they’ve only just recently come out of a paper based industry. It may come as a shock to you in these modern times, but the entire office likely only had one or two computers in the building!

Because this genre of customer rarely used computers in their day-to-day tasks, they certainly would not discover any of the webinars, banner ads or emails the VP had put into place. All of the marketing tools implemented had completely failed and the VP only lasted a few short months in her position.

This entire catastrophe could have been avoided had marketing decisions been made on facts, and not assumptions based on previous experience in a different market. Don’t let the same thing happen to you!

Here are a few things you can do to give yourself a better grasp of the target marketplace’s habits and practices:

1) Know what the competition is doing.

2) Interview your customers.

3) Research and find out where sales are coming from now.

Knowing and understanding your marketplace is the best way to set yourself up for success. Disregard any assumptions you may bring to the table, and always plan your territories with concrete knowledge on the market. ← Click To Tweet

To understand your given marketplace with more expertise, and to be able to sell more efficiently, take a look at our new Sales Accelerator Program.

What would you say are the most effective ways to understand a new marketplace?