Getting through to the right buyer

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Bikky Khosla | 05 Jul, 2011
In the last few weeks, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have heard more bad news than good. Rocketing inflation, cash flow pressures, petrol price hike, and increasing shipping rates have all brought businesses into a very difficult situation.

The time is really tough now for SMEs and the demand of the situation is for them to fight back. Having said that, once again it is time to make the best of one's limited potential or in short, to get the best of one's marketplace.

I believe there are several strategic options that SMEs can pursue to increase their market share. For instance, selling more to existing customers can be a good strategy, because selling to existing customers is easier than getting new ones. Enhancing the quality of existing products or services, simplification of the purchasing process, and most importantly, personalized communication with customers can play a key role in getting one's existing customers to come back more often and subsequently to compel them to buy more from you.

Secondly adding value to every transaction is of utmost necessity. SMEs can offer volume discounts when an existing customer buys another product from them. This strategy can help one's existing customers to buy more, thus increasing one's sales and profit.

However, waiting for one's existing customers to buy should not be the sole strategy. Increasing one's customer base or getting new customers to buy from you is also equally important. While it is not an easy thing to do, expanding the customer base demands SMEs to analyze the market carefully, understand the market competitors, implement enhanced marketing and promotional methods, product development, etc.

SMEs must also learn to live with the various vagaries of the business world. They need to understand the fact that whatever the economic situation might be, people will not stop buying. The question however is, 'Are you being able to get to the right buyer?'