The Seven P Formula for Marketing and Sales Success

Here is a seven P marketing strategy formula you can use to continually evaluate and reevaluate your marketing and sales activity. These seven are: Product, price, place, packaging, positioning, and people. Products and services, as well as markets, customers, and needs change rapidly, so you must continually revisit these seven P’s to make sure you are on track and achieving the maximum results possible in today’s market.

1. Product

To begin, develop the habit of looking at your products and services as though you were an outside marketing consultant having been brought in to help your company decide whether or not it is in the right business at this time. Ask critical questions such as, “Are my current products and services appropriate and suitable for the market and the customers of today?”

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2. Pricing

The second P in a successful marketing strategy has to do with price. Develop the habit of continually examining and reexamining the prices of the products and services that you sell to make sure they are still appropriate to the realities of the current market. Sometimes you need to lower your prices. At other times, it maybe appropriate to raise your products. Many companies have found that the profitability of certain products and services does not justify the amount of effort and resources that go into producing them. By raising their prices, they may lose a percentage of their customers, but the remaining percentage generates a profit on every sale. Could this be appropriate for you?

3. Promotion

The third habit in marketing and sales is for you to develop the habit of thinking in terms of promotion all the time. Promotion includes all the ways you tell your customers about products and services and how you then market and sell to them. Small changes in the way you promote and sell your products can lead to dramatic changes in your results. Experienced copywriters can often increase the response rate from advertising by 500 percent by simply changing the headline on the advertisement.

4. Place

The fourth P in the marketing strategy mix is the place where your products and services is actually sold. Develop the habit of reviewing and reflecting upon the exact location where the customer meets the salesperson. Sometimes a change in place can lead to a rapid improvement in marketing and sales.

5. Packaging

The fifth element in a successful marketing strategy is packaging. Develop the habit of standing back and looking at every visual element in the packaging of your products and services through the eyes of a critical prospect. Remember, people form their first impression about you within 30 seconds of seeing you or some element of your company. Small improvements in the packaging or external appearance of your product or service can often lead to completely different reactions from your customers. This is a simple solution to increasing your marketing and sales initiative.

6. Positioning

The next P in a successful marketing strategy is positioning. You should develop the habit of thinking continually about how you are positioned in the hearts and minds of your customers. How do people think about you and talk about you when you are not present? How do people think and talk about your company? What positioning do you have in your market, in terms of the specific words that people use when they describe your products and services to others?

7. People are Everything

The final P to a great marketing strategy is people. Develop the habit of thinking in terms of the people inside and outside of your business who are responsible for every element of your marketing and sales activities. Your ability to select, recruit, hire, and retain the proper people, with the skills and abilities to do the job you need to have done, is more important than everything else put together.

Thank you for reading this article on the seven P formula for marketing and sales success. Do you have any effective marketing strategy tips you would like to share with others? Please comment below!

Topics included in this article include

Marketing and Sales

Marketing Strategy

Products and Services

About Brian Tracy — Brian is recognized as the top sales training and personal success authority in the world today. He has authored more than 60 books and has produced more than 500 audio and video learning programs on sales, management, business success and personal development, including worldwide bestseller The Psychology of Achievement. Brian's goal is to help you achieve your personal and business goals faster and easier than you ever imagined. You can follow him on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Linkedin and Youtube.

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