Each Marketing Plan is Unique

For those writing a marketing plan for the first time, it is important to know that there is no “magic formula” to an effective marketing plan. Formats and procedures vary widely, and your marketing plan will be one-of-a-kind.

Your company, customers, competitors, and suppliers interact to create a unique and ever-changing business environment. Because of this, your marketing plan should also be unique and frequently changing. What worked wonderfully for one company may be a dismal failure for you. What worked yesterday for you may not be the thing for you to do today. By thinking of your plan as a unique and perpetual work in progress, you can be better prepared to change direction when the business environment changes.

A Plan Makes a Profitable Difference

Ultimately, your marketing plan is a compass by which you navigate your day-to-day business. As opportunities arise or your business environment changes, the objective and strategies in your marketing plan will point you toward the best action. Without a marketing plan, you are guessing what might be best for your business. And don’t forget to address your Web site in the marketing plan. Without a marketing plan your Web site may be a drain on your finances rather than a business builder.

Also, understand you do not need a marketing degree and a lot of experience to update or create a marketing plan for your business. Once you have a structure to follow, the rest is a matter of rolling up your sleeves and getting it done. There is no single approach to developing a marketing plan. There is a wide selection of books, toolkits, and software to help you through the planning process. Some approaches require a great deal of time and others are “quick and dirty.” All can be applied to your business as a whole, an individual product, or your Web site.

So, in all the hustle and bustle of everyday business activities, dont forget to take the time to update an existing marketing plan or write a new one. Your future profits depend on it!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Marketing plans are the calculated parameters within which a company takes specifically planned actions to create an awareness and demand for a particular commodity.

What we want to address here today are 5 common mistakes made when developing marketing plans which could render them ineffective.

Lack of Target Marketing

Your product or service probably is not suited for everybody therefore why spend time or money promoting to people with little or no buying potential? It’s important to identify the ideal customer profile when planning your advertising. By using a target marketing approach you are better able to spend your advertising dollars in a way that will be more cost-effective. The net impact will be seen in your profit margins.

Not Knowing Your Numbers

From a financial standpoint it’s an absolute that you know your break even points. According to your projections how much money will it take before you make a profit?

This knowledge will not only help guide you according to your budget constraints but is also an effective tool for measuring your marketing performance.

Lack of Tactical Planning

There’s no doubt that marketing involves a good deal of creative thinking however when planning your tactics creativity should be put aside. A creative idea is one thing and is encouraged, but implementing this idea is a more of a thought out and methodical tactic. Creativity and tactical planning work well together but don’t try to substitute for the other.

Marketing Goes Beyond Advertising

As we’ve mentioned earlier marketing in a very large part is a focus of how to attract customers to your goods and services. One thing that you don’t want to overlook when planning your marketing is how to establish a ‘positive’ company image. Aside from product quality this aspect is just as important when promoting your product. How a company representative portrays themselves or treats a potential customer has much influence on the buying decision.

Forgetting Existing Customers

Existing customers represent a gold mine to most businesses and shouldn’t be forgotten when putting together any marketing strategy. A significant thrust of any marketing campaign is creating new customers but established customers offer a high probability of repeat business. A plan to monetize both new and old customers should therefore be established. Failure to do this is like leaving money on the table.

As you can see if your marketing plan is not well thought out it could hinder your ambitions to having a successful business. An integral component of any business strategy is the planned and deliberate process of attracting customers to your product. Your marketing strategy is where you define how you intend to actually interact with potential buyers in order to generate any profit. If your marketing plan is in someway left incomplete you may fail to attract those customers needed to make your business profitable.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

TJ Philpott is an author and Internet entrepreneur based out of North Carolina.  For additional Online Success Tips and a free guide that demonstrates how to find both profitable markets and products visit:affiliate quick start

First, do you have a marketing plan to deliver your marketing message? How are you marketing yourself and your business? Even if you are a Single Office Home Office Business (SOHO) or a home based business, you need a marketing plan. Obviously if you are a larger organization, you understand the value of having such a plan. HINT: If you don’t have a plan or have been procrastinating about writing a plan, STOP right now. Find; hire someone to help you write that plan. These plans should be directly tied to your strategic plan of Who Does What By When within your business plan. Read about where to begin at www.processspecialist.com/articles/DoYouKnowandPlanforthe3RsforBusiness.pdf

Second, does your marketing message interrupt your prospect or suspect? What makes your message stop your prospect’s behaviors to want to further listen to what you have to say? Look to those now infamous Super Bowl commercials or even the ever-changing ones on television. Why does one commercial literally STOP YOU? Is it the graphics? Is it the music? Is it the content within the message? HINT: Use some measurable term such as double your results, triple your business, increase profits by 100% to interrupt your prospect.

Third, does your marketing message engage your prospect or suspect? OK, now that you have your prospect’s attention, how do you keep it? This engagement may be just for a few moments as in those 30-second sound bites we hear every day. Engaging your prospect is critical to the success of your marketing strategies. HINT: At this point, you should be providing some benefits that create the What’s In It For Me?

Fourth, does your marketing message educate your intended audience? Can you provide some solid education in your message? Citing proven, documented data or statistics helps to solidify your message.

For example, within our business services, we provide a student leadership development and interpersonal skills program (America’s Rising Stars). We let parents know that: According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the average national timeframe to earn a 4 year degree is 5.3 years. Many universities report that it will take 6 years to earn a 4 year degree. If you are a parent with a college bound student, would this not be a valuable piece of education? Just, imagine how much more money the parents are envisioning that they will be spending. If they have more than one college bound student, the numbers are incredibly high and that vision becomes very, very expensive. Can you see the parents needs as well as their pain? HINT: Connect the education to the needs of your prospect.

Fifth and final question, does your marketing message provide an immediate offer? How many times do you hear? If you call right now, we will reduce the price by $50? or Call right now and you will receive 2 for the price of one. The offer is clearly stated. Why, because the seller, that being you, wants the buyer, that being your prospect, to take action right now, not later, but right now. HINT: Be creative with your message by offering a substantial discount if one buyer secures 10 other buyers.

Remember, you absolutely need a marketing plan where your marketing message interrupts, engages, educates and offers. If your current message is not delivering these 4 objectives, then take some time to rework your plan. You will be simply amazed by how quickly your results double.

For more useful tips & hints, please browse for more information at our website :- http://www.adsence-dollar-factory.com http://www.100earningtips.com

Sales Planning

An essential sales leadership role is to establish a sense of purpose or vision and clear direction to get there. A key element of a business’ strategic 12-month plan is to answer the question: “Where will all the sales come from?” The sales plan is not a guesstimate. It takes its direction from the marketing strategy and is based on thorough research and a considered positioning of the company within the market place..

Sales planning involves predicting demand for the product and demand on the sales assets (machines, people, or a combination of both). Failure to plan always means lost sales. Planning insures that when a consumer wishes to purchase the product, the product is available, but it also means opportunities for additional sales are presented and the sales assets are available to exploit these opportunities. Planning should allow for meeting increasing customer demand for more products, services and/or customization as the business is growing, but also react quickly when demand decreases. Sales planning improves efficiency and decreases unfocused and uncoordinated activity within the sales process.

Sales Reporting

The sales reporting includes the key performance indicators of the sales force.

The Key Performance Indicators indicate whether or not the sales process is being operated effectively and achieves the results as set forth in sales planning. It should enable the sales managers to take timely corrective action deviate from projected values. It also allows senior management to evaluate the sales manager.

More “results related” than “process related” are information regarding the sales funnel and the hit rate.

Sales reporting can provide metrics for sales management compensation. Rewarding the best managers without accurate and reliable sales reports is not objective.

Also, sales reports are made for internal use for top management. If other divisions’ compensation plan depends on final results, it is needed to present results of sales department’s work to other departments.

Finally, sales reports are required for investors, partners and government, so the sales management system should have advanced reporting capabilities to satisfy the needs of different stakeholders.

Sales Quota

Sales Quota is the minimum sales goal for a set time span. A sales quota may be minimum amount of dollars or product sold. Sales quotas may also be for sales activity like: number of calls per day. Management  usually sets the sales quota and the Sales Territory. The time span could be set for the day, week, month or fiscal quarter or year.

Sales territory

Sales territory is a usually a geographical area assigned to a salesperson or group of persons. The geographical area may also be assigned to franchisee, distributor, or agent. A sales territory may also be assigned by type of customers, as all retailers or all wholesalers in geographical area. A sales territory may be as large as: a continent, a nation or half a nation, or as small as a: town  or city. A sales manager may have a sales territory different than the sales persons overseen.

Source: Multiple including Wikipedia

He was just starting his career after an intensive training through one of the popular artist teacher certification courses. He’d set out to conquer the world. Jack and I had built a strong relationship during the teacher training courses. We both lived in the same, small New England state and he was afire to make his fortune.

Five or six months passed after “certification” before we were able to get together. Instead of the fire-ball of energy, I’d last seen, in front me stood the perfect portrait of exasperation. I listened to his story. He’d only been able to secure one host store, and it wasn’t going well. More of a social club than a money maker. As a veteran sales trainer, I’d heard his story countless time. So we began…..“

Jack, what was your sales plan?My what. Just go out. Get stores signed up. Teach. Enjoy.

Your plan, you know, just what was your sales territory plan? What area had you mapped out for yourself and said that within this geographical area is where I wish to do business. Within this territory I wish to have xx number of stores hosting me that produces xx amount of annual income by xx date?”Jack’s silence was answer enough. How many of us stand equally silent? Having a territorial plan is an excellent tool to help us focus on doing the right things at the right time to be successful. With a sales territory plan, I have the basis of making decisions and understanding what adjustments are needed. No plan is perfect, but no plan is disastrous. Ben Franklin said it best, “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” A Territorial plan is simple to create, should be the tool we use for communicating our efforts and should be kept updated constantly. It’s amazing that when we plan our business, we tend to have business. Sir William Osler said, “When plans are laid in advance, it is surprising how often circumstances fit to them.” As stated, a good sales territory plan does not require a multi-year college degree or years of sales experience to write. You can write it on the back of a napkin and just as you are today. Let me take you through the steps. We’ll kind of peek over Jack’s shoulders and see how he put together his plan.

Jack wanted to make a living teaching art. So the first question, how much income do you require from the business? He needed $36,000 a year plus expenses. Expenses averaged around $100 a class.

Thus Jack’s first napkin stated: “The primary financial goal of this business is to generate a minimum of $36,000 cash after normal business expenses.” Jack figured an ideal class would consist of 12-15 students earning approximately $360 to $450 each. Teaching a two day class at each location meant a potential of $10,800 annually from each store. Since Jack was virtually unknown in this area, he figured the best he could achieve overall would be about 60% capacity. Therefore each store he signed up would be worth approximately $6,500 annually. Thus Jack’s target was to find and develop 6 locations that could…

1.Host two classes monthly.

2.Classroom facilities sufficient for 16 students,

3.Host must have a method, resources and willingness to promote’s Jack’s classes to their customers and advising the local community of upcoming classes. Jack’s second napkin listed the profile of stores he needed to contract with (customer profile)Jack needed a “team” of people to work with him.

1.He needed a bookkeeper to keep his finances straight, taxes paid, bills paid, so forth.

2.He also needed an art supply vendor. One in whom would give him good discounts, but more importantly, one who would make sure he had the supplies he needed, when he needed them.

3.Jack also felt he needed an insurance rep

4.A lawyer he could turn to whenever the need arose.

5.Jack also needed a printer or inexpensive paper copy source.

6.Jack had a computer for his business, so he identified an individual who would be able to help him with the application programs he would be using. All total, Jack’s business team included six professionals. Jack’s third napkin listed each of their names, contact information and how Jack would use them.

Jack was willing to travel two hours each way to teach classes. He wasn’t prepared for overnight stays, or to fly cross country. So, we defined a 100 mile radius around Jack’s home that marked his geographical boundaries. Within this boundary, we identified the major metropolitan areas that should have sufficient students to support store hosted classes. Jack did not want to incur the expense of renting space in order to teach classes and didn’t have many contacts in these cities that could promote him. Therefore his conclusion was to search for existing establishments that could promote his classes to their regular clientele. Jack also identified geographical clusters that would make sense. In other words, he didn’t want to be traveling 100 miles East one day, then back that same 100 miles plus another 100 miles West on the second day. He put some thought into how he would ideally organize his classes geographically. Jack’s fourth napkin listed logical geographical metropolitan areas he would target for identifying existing retail establishments.

The next step Jack undertook was to look in all the phone books of each of the metropolitan areas for art supply stores, craft stores, ceramic stores, etc. for names of potential customers. He went down to a local office supply store and purchased the CD ROM Yellow Pages listing of all businesses within the United States. City by city, town by town, Jack identified all potential retail businesses that could become candidates for hosting his classes. Jack’s fifth napkin was a list of names and telephone numbers. Jack had over 200 hundred names on this napkin. Jack had to go through a pruning process to reduce the 200 names to 6 or 7 customers. He felt the best approach was to visit each of these stores, see how they treated their customers, were they already offering oil painting classes, how were they promoting classes, how did their employees encourage classes, etc. So Jack’s next napkin had the title “Prospecting” and he listed the steps he would take.

1. Visit store.

2. View the classroom facilities3. Observe how customers were treated.

4. Observe how other arts & craft classes were promoted5. Observe the knowledge and enthusiasm of the store staff.

6. See if his type of classes were already being given by someone else.

7. Understand how classes were promoted to customers and the local community.

8. Ask customers how they liked the store.

9. See what the traffic volume looked like.

Armed with information, Jack felt he could easily identify potential customers. He would be ready to present himself and his services to the prospect. Jack would need a presentation, samples of his work and a letter of agreement. He also felt better having a brochure that would discuss his abilities and the value he would bring each of his customer stores. Jack felt that for every three stores that he presented himself to, he could walk away with one customer. Therefore on his seventh napkin, he listed these sales steps and that he would need to identify 18 prospects from the Fifth Napkin’s list of 200 names.

Jack’s final napkin simply stated, “Do the sales plan.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Most companies are still deeply ingrained in the approach of convincing customers that the products they sell are the best for everyone. Niche’ marketing to smaller and more tailored groups has helped change this. When customer needs are not really examined and people can be turned OFF by the offer because they don’t hear anything that really helps them or makes them feel valuable. For example, an automobile sales agent is offering the latest model of a vehicle to a Young couple with two small children. In the old approach and the sales agent is expected to peddle the amazing new features of the car. He tells them that it has four-wheel drive, it is capable of reaching speeds as high as 100 miles per hour, it has leather interior and a sunroof and etc.

This approach clearly disregards the customers’ needs and which is why the couple is there to begin with. Consultative selling does exactly the opposite. Instead of showcasing the benefits of the new model and the sales persontalks to the couple about what they need in a new car and advises them ON what type of car has those features. Additionally, the agent offers ideas they might not have considered because she has researched, or been educated in and what a family vehicle should offer. She’s likely to point out safety features, including side airbags and the ability to clean the car or get car seats in and out.

Additionally, because they are Young and gas prices are so high, she will try to find a car for them with great gas mileage and even if this means something smaller (and a smaller commission) than a minivan or SUV. This is true in computer sales, cell phone sales, furniture sales and more. In consultative selling the sales representative is as concerned about getting a right fit for the customer as the size of their commission. Why? Because there are advantages in doing so.

Advantages of Consultative Selling

Consultative selling is part of the newer trend towards business ethics and really serving a customer or business partner. Do a Google search ON compassion and business and there are many sites, articles and books and blogs ON the topic. Tim Sander’s Love is the Killer App is a great book about compassion and business. In it he says Those of us who use love as a point of differentiation in business will separate ourselves from our competitors just as world-class distance runners separate themselves from the rest of the pack trailing behind them. People sense real caring and customers are people. Like most of us they sense the false and gravitate towards the genuine. Thus and if a sales agent (and the company) operates out of real concern for the customer, they may lose sales here and there because the true genuine fit for the customer wasn’t there and but they will gain overall.

Practicing Successful Consultative Selling

When a company starts to integrate consultative selling into their sales plan model and the first thing to remember is service of the customer. This involves advising and problem-solving and letting the sale go if it isn’t appropriate. It is not about just selling products. Scratch that old mentality! Develop a customer-oriented strategy that provides real returns Sales people need to receive real training in communication, empathetic listening and consultative selling. Customers need to be routinely surveyed and contacted and respected. It sounds ironic but in consultative selling and a company should not be overly concerned about making sales.

Even if a customer decides to buy a product that could contribute offer a high profit and it should be in their best interests to do so. If it isn’t, other more appropriate options should be offered and this includes making a call to a competitor if all in-house possibilities have been exhausted! This is the most important point to remember when practicing consultative selling. With this and you can convince a customer that the company’s highest concern is their satisfaction and not profits. The importance and likelihood of this customer being retained for a very long time cannot, well and be undersold.

As a personal branding strategist and professional speaker, Lethia Owens is passionate about teaching people how to think and work and live powerfully! She works with enterprising speakers and solopreneurs who want to build a million dollar brand using cutting edge online marketing strategies that attract more clients and increase profits. For more information ON Lethia Owens International and Inc. please visit http://www.LethiaOwens.com

On the other hand everybody knows that nothing happens until a sale is made.

So how can you find a balance that allows you to meet your sales quota and your self-image at the same time? The answer is a simple two pronged process.

First, think about every successful sales person you know. What characteristics resonate with you? Write down the things you like, or more accurately the characteristics you’d like to emulate.

The second thing is to quit listening to those sales people you think are jerks or who you don’t want to be identified with or as being like – no matter how financially successful they are.

To help you expand your vision of the tactics and styles beyond those you already know we have put together a free directory of sales, sales training, and sales management articles from seventy-five sales experts.

In addition by using our extensive keyword searchable internal search engine that connects our sales related articles with that of twenty business resources web sites and directories you’ll have a much wider choice of styles and tactics to choose from.

The longer you’ve been selling the more likely it is to have strategies that worked so well in the past that you quit using them. Reading sales articles written by experts will result in ah’s – reminders of what you did in the past that worked until you stopped doing it.

Your first sale to a new customer is the most difficult and the most costly in time and energy. So we have several articles that will help you turn a sales call into a collaborative brainstorming session instead of a stressful hard close. That will tie the customer to you in ways that make future sales flow in as a result of an ongoing relationship.

There are articles that teach you how to establish a constructive dialog focused on what’s important to your customers. People buy what that want, not just what they need, so when you pay more attention to what you customers want your sales results and customer retention will improve dramatically.

I’m sure you know all about getting referrals. Your sales trainer has taught you all the tips for getting recommendations from your clients to the people they know who will see you based on your client’s referral. Just in case you want to know more there are a number of our articles that describe these effective techniques.

However, it’s most likely that there aren’t enough referred leads at any one time to insure that you meet your sales quota. Or because of human nature your clients refer you down to the people who look up to them – so unless you are already at the very top of the pyramid you’ll find yourself being referred lower and lower. This is the opposite of the direction you want to go.

For that reason cold calls can actually save your selling career when you know how to make them. You don’t have to wait for a referral to the Chairman, you can just call.

A process of making cold calls effectively and efficiently is vital. A technique that take only a couple of minutes systematically contacting someone who ought to be a prospect for your products and services is critical.

So critical in fact that the lead article on the first page of our directory of sales and sales training articles describes just such a method – converting those who are ready to buy into sales and those who are not into follow up prospects who’ll be looking for your next contact.

It is possible you’ll want to buy a book on selling, attend a sales training seminar, or hire a sales coach or consultant to help you and/or your sales force achieve your full potential. The sales articles published on our web site and available via our search engine that are written by sales experts will help you better understand your needs – before hiring the sales coach and before signing up for the sales seminar.

These sales related articles written by professional sales people offer street-smart sales strategies and tactics will help you take advantage of your competitive advantage, understand the high probability selling process, and learn how to sell using non-verbal communication.

In addition you’ll learn how to develop effective prospecting using self-promotion, articulate your unique selling proposition, and intuitively ask the right questions.

Early last year our site’s layout was updated to integrate Google’s context based ads that now magically show up along side the articles on our web site. This technology leverages the message of each article by a factor of ten. If you are intrigued by the article’s message there are advertisers right there – as well as a link to the article author’s web site – where you can drill down for more information based.

If you are serious about improving your sales results you’ll want to investigate sales articles written by people who seem to be just like you or are folks you’d like to be like.

The key is to use all these resources with an open mind and you’ll come up with a version of the idea that may be perfect for you and your business.

Back in 1999 our web site was launched around a D-I-Y framework. Sales and sales training articles that are now connected via our search engine across over two-dozen web sites and directories are the latest effort to further implement our do-it-yourself focus.

Articles for business owners in twenty plus directories, such as strategic planning, leadership, and conflict resolution – as well as those added daily to our blog by one or more of its nineteen contributors.

About the Author:
Determined to realize your organization’s potential? Join our free email monthly announcement series at http://www.iBizResources.com/announcements.html and receive a COST OF CONFLICT calculator at no charge. Lawyers, accountants, financial planners and business coaches should http://www.familybusinessadvisors.biz join the brand new directory of professionals.

In direct sales marketing, you are the buyer of the goods and the seller: people can come directly to you to buy the things that they want, and because you can set a price on your goods, you earn income from their purchases. In a variant of direct sales, you buy the products from a main seller and place a price on them; when people buy the products from you, you get commissions; and when you can recruit these people to be part of your network, then the people that they recruit and who buy products from them will likewise contribute to your commissions pool. This variant is termed as network marketing, simply because you are earning money from people down the line from you, termed as your downlines.

What are the advantages of direct sales programs and network marketing? For one, direct sales programs can allow you to pick what products you would like to sell, giving you full control over your product line. You can pick what products you believe in, and what products you yourself use; this way, you can market the products better to your downlines, and you know what kinds of people would comprise your market, given the goods that you would like to sell. The more people there are in your network who match your products or your market composition, the more people you can sell to, and the higher your commissions.

One disadvantage of network marketing, however, is that it needs you to have a good personality, one that will win you sales through your enthusiasm, but with a tempered kind of enthusiasm that does not border on hard sell. Once you engage in hard selling techniques, you risk alienating potential customers, and you can end up losing a lot of sales. You will need to tread lightly as a seller, so this requires that you practice a lot: direct selling also means that you will need to do some marketing, so this can be a good way for you to practice your skills for your future home business.

So what are the best direct sales programs for you? They should allow you to earn a lot for as little input as possible, both in terms of effort and financially. Moreover, they should be legal, so always check with your local business bureau if you doubt the veracity of a network marketing schemes claim.

These are only a few things to keep in mind as you go about looking for the best direct sales programs to meet your needs and budget. Soon, with more practice and with a lot of downlines, perhaps you will have the skills and money to put up your own business, as well as the network that will serve as your market. Happy selling, and happy learning!

About the Author:
Daegan Smith Is And Expert Online Marketer “Wanna Lean The Secret To Making $85,147,717 Per Month While Quickly And Easily EXPLODING Your Network Marketing Organization by 7,141 People Without EVER Buying Or Calling a Single Stinking Lead?” Free CD Explains All: http://www.easymlmprofits.com

Indeed many companies will offer sales staff a lower basic salary than their office based peers but they will offer a high bonus per sale. This provides the sales person a great deal of incentive for making a sale. This is obviously a great way of motivating the sales staff and the benefits of doing this for the company are good as they can depend on the sales staff to force sales through. Alternatively it is great for the sales staff as they are able to make a lot of money if they work hard and have a successful year.

The focus of sales jobs is to make money and make sales. As a result the majority of candidates that apply for sales jobs are highly self motivated and hardworking. The nature of the job is that the sales team are often extremely good at communicating with people and are very driven toward achieving success. There is an enormous range of types of jobs and levels of experience required for each type. Because there are so many different types of sales jobs it is difficult to say how much a member of the sales staff should earn. For example the salary bracket of a sales administrator is likely to differ greatly from that of a sales director.

The salary that a sales person can command depends greatly between roles and dependant on the regional location of the job. A sales administrator in London is likely to earn around 17,500 pounds whereas someone fulfilling a similar role in the North East will earn around 11,500. The trends are the same in all types of sales Jobs. For example a regional sales manager in the south east will earn around 44,000 pounds whereas a regional sales manager in Yorkshire is likely to earn much less at around 33,500 pounds. This is also the case with the top end sales jobs such as sales and marketing director earning on average 70,000 pounds in London with the average in east midlands being around 55,000 pounds.

There are a number of different jobs in sales and finding the right job title to suit your abilities will help you refine your search for a sales job. Some of the job titles are as follows; sales administrator, sales rep, sales executive, regional sales manager, account manager, key account manager, business development manager, commercial manager, sales manager, sales and marketing manager, sales director and sales and marketing director.

The likely salaries for these positions are as follows. A sales administrator will earn around 15,500 pounds. A sales rep should earn around 18,500 pounds. A sales executive should earn around 27,000 pounds. A regional sales manager will look to earn around 37,000. An account manager will earn around 22,000 pounds. A key account manager should be receiving around 28,000 pounds per year. A business development manager will earn around 46,000 pounds whilst a commercial manager should pull in around 29,000 pounds. A sales manager should achieve around 33,000 pounds per year whilst a sales and marketing manager will look to earn nearer 49,000 pounds. A sales director will look to earn around 54,000 pounds whilst a sales and marketing director could earn as much as 70,000 pounds per year.

The strengths and weaknesses of a business can be found in the following:

. Management sector: The over dependence of an employee on a manager or an owner is one of the major weaknesses in a business that often leads to the requirement of more managers. This area needs to be worked upon in order to reduce the expense of the organization and to improve the business.

. The work force: The difficulty in finding skilled staff as well as the employee turnover has to be handled efficiently to help a business grow successfully.

. Sales: The strength of sales, how dependent your sales are on external factors, and cyclical sales are some of the factors that affect the business.

. Financial: The factors affecting the financial condition of your business determine its strengths and weaknesses. The major aspects related to finance are the flow of cash, time to collect on invoices, and the ease of obtaining loans.

. Operations: Strengths and weaknesses are also determined by the internal efficiency as well as the speed of manufacture and delivery of goods.

Opportunities and threats are found in the following categories:
. Threats posed by the new rivals in the market: A new entrant in the market, selling a similar product or service, is considered to be one of the greatest threats, as you might not have a patent that could put a brake on new competitors.

. Bargaining power of suppliers: Suppliers can pose a major threat for the business as they might force you to take large deliveries. Many times they are also difficult to find, or the supply may not be available.

. Customer influence: There are some businesses that rely on a handful of customers, which include a lot of late payers. In addition, many customers bargain for lower prices. In such cases, the business tends to either face the threat of loss of customers or of being unprofitable.

. Substitution: People often get bored using a particular brand of product and tend to opt for a change. The market usually has a number of similar products of similar quality. So the major threat is that people might try a product other than yours, and eventually end up substituting your product with it.

You can use two methods to grade these strengths, weaknesses, opportunities or threats, namely, pictorial and numerical.

If you opt for the pictorial way, you need to first create four sectors on a writing pad, putting the titles Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats in each sector, and a large question mark in the center. Now place each of the SWOTs in each sector, with the most problematic factors being farthest away from the question mark, and the better factors closer to it. The closer the display is bunched towards the center of the grid, the better the shape of your business.

However, if you pick the numerical method of assessment, you need to rate each item from 1 to 5 according to how important each is to your business. In this rating, 5 is considered to be the most important. Besides, each factor should also be rated from A to E according to its impact on the business, where E would indicate the highest impact. Then, check how many Es and 5s you end up with. If there are bad factors then you need to change or work on them. And, if there are strengths and opportunities, then it is important to build upon those factors. This would help to boost your business.