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In my introductory article I asked "Do you wish you had an Owner's Guide to creating a successful business? An Owner's Manual Guide to Life? An Owner's Manual Guide that lays out in detail how to deal with some of life's most complex and challenging issues ?

"The Owner's Manual Guide to: Marketing and Sales" is just such a resource for the business owner and entrepreneur during these challenging and opportunistic financial times.

I want to welcome you to the second article in a series of powerful articles that will give you insight, strategies, tips, and principles on Marketing and Sales. A word of caution – even though this series is about Marketing and Sales for business, these same principals can be used to improve all areas of your life!

The First Principal: Strategy.

"OMG" Quick User Guide

The Benefits of Strategy:

a) "Without strategy, you fail"
b) "Without strategy in a rapid changing industry, you fail quickly"
c) "Fail to plan?
d) "Plan to fail!"

Strategy, everyone has one, right? Wrong!

Try this on a friend. Ask them what their strategy is for their business. 9-times-out-of-10 they will give you a description about their product or service and why it is the best product and service in the market today and the niche it will serve – and that is why it will sell so well and they will become millionaires over night!

This is not a strategy.

Chances are they DO NOT have a fully thought out or planned strategy to get their product or service to market.

When we start out to launch a new product and / or service we are all excited about the prospects and have an idea in our head i) why it is so good, ii) where we will sell it, and iii) who we will sell it to.
This is a great start. I encourage you to always Dream big. But as a long-term strategy, the above is too vague.

However, there is a tried and true method to the lasting success of your product or service. The following are the same steps that the most successful companies have used when they first started out. Bill Gates used these same principals when he started Microsoft as a college dropout (OK -so the college was Harvard), still, Microsoft started out as most companies do – with an idea and a vision – but then a good strategy was laid out to make it one of the largest and most diverse corporations in the world (sort of an Owner's Manual Guide?).

I read the following statement about strategy that resonated for me:

"It is either your strategy or someone else's. If you do not develop a strategy of your own, you become part of someone else's strategy."

Truer words were never spoken. If you are too vague and / or have no plan at all – then you fall prey to the competition around you, especially to the toughest competitor and critical we have – the one that plays out in each of our heads.

OMG TIP! Keep this statistic in mind.

A full 50% of all businesses never formulate a strategy.

The Benefits of Strategy:

a) "Without strategy, you fail"
b) "Without strategy in a rapid changing industry, you fail quickly"
c) "Fail to plan?
d) "Plan to fail!"

Planning –
"The nicest thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise and is not preceded by a period of depression and worry."

In the next article on Strategic Planning we will cover specific action steps on:
– Mission and vision statements.
– Importance of Strategic Planning.
– Developing a vision, mission, core values ​​and core competencies.
– Conduct strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis.
– Developing strategic goals, objectives, champions, action plans, due dates and metrics keyed to your vision.

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Source by Andrew J. Steiner