General Information About You And Your Business
1. Contact Name: ______Phone: ______Email: ______
2. Alternate Contact: ______Phone: ______Email: ______
3. Company: ______Industry/Profession: ______
4. Address: ______
______
5. Website: ______
6. Number of Employees: ______Number of Salespeople: ______Annual Volume: £______
7. Percent of increase or decrease this year compared to last year: ______%
8. How long has this upward or downward trend been sustained?: ______
9. What factor(s) do you believe are responsible for the upward or downward trend? ______
______
______
______
10. Describe what your business does (what you sell, how you sell it, and who you sell to, by industry, commercial category, or specific niche): ______
______
______
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11. What is your business philosophy as it relates to your customers? ______
______
______
12. What is your vision for your business for the next:
6 months: No. of new customers:______Gross Sales: £______New Profit: £______
Other ______
12 months: No. of new customers:______Gross Sales: £______New Profit: £______
Other______
3-5 years: No. of new customers:______Gross Sales: £______New Profit: £______
Other______
13. What are your biggest opportunities to achieve this vision? ______
______
______
______
Notes: ______
______
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General Marketing Information
1. What is the “lifetime value” of your typical customer (i.e. how much revenue will he/she generate for you over the entire period he/she does business with your company)? £______
2.What are your target markets and how did you arrive at them?
Primary target market: ______
______
Secondary target market: ______
______
Who is your typical customer? (Are they all kinds of people/companies, or can you identify the most probable prospects in your marketing area, and if so, who would they be?______
______
3. Can you assemble a listing by name and contact information of these prospects? ___ Yes ___ No
4. Do you have your current customers in a computer database? ___ Yes ___ No
How many are there? ______
Are they segmented into groups with similar buying habits/patterns? ___ Yes ___ No
Do you keep in touch with them on a regular basis? ___ Yes ___ No
How often per year? ______
When was the last time you contacted them? ______
What was the occasion? ______
5. Do you have your past customers in a computer database? ___ Yes ___ No
How many are there? ______
Are they segmented into groups with similar buying habits/patterns? ___ Yes ___ No
Do you keep in touch with them on a regular basis? ___ Yes ___ No
How often per year? ______
When was the last time you contacted them? ______
What was the occasion? ______
6. What do your customers really want… from their point of view? (Be specific. Don’t just answer a “quality product,” “low prices,” or “outstanding service.”): ______
______
______
7. How do your products/services solve those wants for your customers? ______
______
______
8. Does your average customer come back after the first purchase…
To buy more of the same product? ___ Yes ___ No
Other, complimentary products? ___ Yes ___ No What?______
Non related products? ___ Yes ___ No What?______
How often do they buy from you in a year’s time? ______
9. How many customers do you serve each week?______x 52 = ______/year ÷ 12 = ______/mo.
10. How many customers have you served since establishing your business? ______
11. Who are your top three competitors, and what do they offer that you do not?
Name of Company
/ Unique Advantages1
2
3
12. What steps are you taking to offset their advantage? Are they working? If not, what needs to be changed? ______
______
______
13. What are your competitor’s biggest failings and how do you specifically fill those voids?
Competitor No.1: ______
______
Competitor No.2: ______
______
Competitor No.3: ______
______
14. What advantages do you have over your competition?
Competitor
/ Your Advantage1
2
3
15. What is your market potential (universe) and what is your and your top three competitors’ current share of that market?
Name of Company
/ Percent of Your Primary Market / Percent of Your Secondary MarketYour Company
1
2
3
16. How do your competitors get customers?
Competitor
/ Primary Source of Business / Secondary Source of Business1
2
3
17. Where do you get your present customers?
Primary source:______
Secondary source:______
18. What methods of marketing have you used to attract new business?
Most Successful Methods
/ Least Successful Methods1
2
3
19. Are you still using the “most successful” strategies? If not, why not?______
______
______
20. What was the one marketing method most responsible for building your company to its current success? ______
______
21. Are you still using this strategy? If so, how is it working for you now?______
______
If not, why not?______
______
22. How many inquiries from prospects do you receive each week/month and what percentage are converted to sales?
Source of Prospect Inquiries
/ Number/week / Conversion Rate1
2
3
23. Geographically, where are most of your existing customers? ______
24. Geographically, where do most of your new customers come from?______
- What is your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) for your top three products? (What is it about your product/service that distinguishes it from that offered by your competition? Why should your prospects or customers buy this product from you and not your competitors?)
Product No.1:______
______
Product No.2:______
______
Product No.3:______
______
26. What is your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) for you or your company? (What is it about you that distinguishes you from your competition? Why should your prospects or customers do business with you and not your competitors?)______
______
27. Are your USPs consistent themes in all of your marketing and sales efforts? If so, how? If not, why not?______
______
28. What other businesses that sell similar products/services as you do your customers patronize?______
______
______
29. What other businesses regardless of similarities to your products/services do your customers patronize?
______
______
30. How much is your marketing budget? £______per ______
31. How did you arrive at that figure? ______
______
32. How much could you afford to spend on marketing over the next 90 days? £______
33. How much does it cost for you to acquire a new customer? (If you run an ad that costs £1,000 and you acquire two new customers, your Cost of Acquisition is £500.): £______
34. What are the average sales and profits generated from a new customer in the first year?
First year gross income: £______First year net profit: £ ______
35. Right now, how much more business could you comfortable accommodate without having to add any more staff, machinery, move premises, etc?
Number of customers:______Gross revenues: £______
36. How much of your business currently comes from referrals?
No. of customers:______per____ Percent of new business:______% Gross revenue: £______
37. Describe your current, proactive referral-generating script/strategy:______
______
______
______
38. Who is in a position to refer customers to your business?
Supplier/Vendor /Associations
/ Centres of Influence / Competitors / Individuals39. What specific offers do you use to get new customers?
Offer
/ Effectiveness(No. of customers) / Effectiveness
(Gross revenue)
1 / £
2 / £
3 / £
40. Briefly describe your marketing program… all the different types of marketing you use and how they interrelate (i.e. yellow pages, newspaper and magazine ads, direct mail, direct sales, telemarketing, etc.):
______
______
______
______
41. What has been your biggest marketing success to date (defined as a specific promotion, advertising campaign, telemarketing script, etc.)?______
______
______
Are you still using it, or a version of it? _____ If no, why not? ______
______
42. After the initial sale, are there systematic, formal methods you use to communicate with and resell your customer? If so, what are they? If not, should there be?______
______
______
43. Do you have a systematic, formal program in place for routinely “up-selling” or “cross-selling” your customers when they are making any initial purchase? If so, how does the system work? If not, should there be such a system?______
______
______
44. Do you offer “packages” or “bundles” of one or more complimentary products to customers making a purchase? If so, how does the system work? If not, should there be such a system? ______
______
______
45. Do you use bonuses in your sales/marketing promotions? If not, why not? If so, how does this affect the response?______
______
46. Do you have an effective “back-end?” In other words, selling your own, or others’, products to existing customers? ___ Yes ___ No
47. Who would be an ideal or logical candidate to consider for back-end joint ventures?
Name of Business
/ Back-End Product1
2
3
48. Do you have any incentives for multiple purchases? If so, explain. If not, why not? ______
______
______
49. Do you regularly solicit current customers to buy from you again? If so, how? If not, why not?______
______
50. Do you regularly solicit past customers to buy from you again? If so, how? If not, why not? ______
______
51. Do you have an adequate supply of current customer testimonials? ___ Yes ___ No If not, why not? ______
52. Explain your system for obtaining testimonials from satisfied customers: ______
______
______
53. How do you use testimonials in your marketing/sales efforts? ______
______
______
54. Do you offer a guarantee or warranty? If not, why not? If so, what do you offer, and how does it compare with your competitors and the industry at large?______
______
______
______
55. When was the last time you introduced a new product or service to your market (both existing customers and prospects)? How well did it work and what was the reason for its success or failure?
______
______
______
56. Which sector of your market do you think offers the most potential for growth and profit?______
______
Why?______
Are you currently serving that sector? ___ Yes ___ No If not, why not? If so, what percentage of penetration do you now possess? ______
______
57. For consumer businesses:
Do most of your customers own their own home or rent? Rent ______% Own ______%
What percentage are self-employed? ______%
What is the average income of your typical customer? £______
58. How do your prices compare with similar products offered by your competitors?
Product/Service
/ Top Competitor / Your Competitiveness(Above or Below)
1 / £______%
2 / £______%
3 / £______%
59. Who are your suppliers/vendors, and how much do you spend with them per year?
Supplier/Vendor
/ Product/Service / Annual Expenditure1 / £______
2 / £______
3 / £______
Notes: ______
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Advertising Information
1. What is your advertising philosophy? What influenced or forged your thoughts on this? Describe how you embody it in your ads:______
______
______
2. Do you use Direct Response advertising, as opposed to “image” or “institutional” advertising? If not, why not? If yes, describe the essence of the offer or proposition you typically make: ______
______
______
3. Are your ads working? ___ Yes ___ No How do you know? ______
______
4. Do you have a testing and tracking system in place that allows you to consistently measure the results of your advertising efforts? If not, why not? If so, describe how it works:______
______
______
5. Do you use one-step, two-step, or multi-step advertising? Describe your system: ______
______
______
6. What is your conversion ratio? (Out of every “X” leads, you get “Y” customers or sales.): ______%
7. What have you done in the past to improve your conversion rate?______
______
______
8. What is your advertising cost per sale? (i.e., when you run an ad that costs £1,000, you generate “X” number of sales. Ad cost divided by the number of sales gives you ad cost per sale.) £______
9.How much have you spent in the last year on advertising and what return did you get?
Advertising Source
/ Cost / Return(Number of customers) / Return on Investment
(ROI)
1 / £
2 / £
3 / £
Notes: ______
______
______
______
______
Direct Mail / Telemarketing Information
1. How much prospecting mail do you drop each week?
Number of letters: ______To whom?______Why?______
Postcards: ______To whom?______Why? ______
2. Do you use a list broker? If not, where do you get your names from?______
______
3. Who are some non-competing companies that sell complementary products/services that you could approach for use of their lists?
Name of Company /Type of Product
4. Do you test the different aspects of your mailings? If so, what do you test? (Check all that apply):
Headline List Body copy
Offer Price Other
5. How often do you mail to your own list of customers? Is your mail informational only, or do you solicit additional sales through these mailings?______
6. Have you ever used telemarketing as a follow-up to a direct mailing? If yes, how effective was it? If not, why not? If you haven’t tested telemarketing follow-up, why haven’t you?______
______
______
7. Do you use telemarketing to generate leads or to close sales, or both? If so, how do you use it and how does it work?______
______
8. What is your conversion ratio in direct mail and telemarketing?
Direct Mail
(No telemarketing follow-up) /Telemarketing
(No Direct Mail)
/Direct Mail Followed by Telemarketing
% / % / %% / % / %
% / % / %
9. What is your Cost of Acquisition in direct mail and telemarketing?
Direct Mail
(No telemarketing follow-up) /Telemarketing
(No Direct Mail)
/Direct Mail Followed by Telemarketing
£ / £ / ££ / £ / £
£ / £ / £
Direct Sales Force Information
1. If you have a sales force, how are they compensated? ______
______
2. What different types of compensation programs have you tried, and what results did you get?
Programme No.1: ______
Result: ______
Programme No.2: ______
Result: ______
Programme No.3: ______
Result: ______
3. If you use another form of direct sales (independent sales reps, dealers, manufacturers reps), have you ever compared the results to an inside or outside sales force?______
______
4. Do you have a Sales Manager? Describe his/her duties and objectives. How do they coincide and fit with your overall marketing strategy?______
______
______
5. What is your gross income and net income per salesperson?
Salesperson /Number of Accounts Accountable For
/Gross Amount Accountable For
/Profit Amount Accountable For
£ / ££ / £
£ / £
£ / £
Average of all salespeople / £ / £
6. What is your average order amount?
Product or Service
/Average Order Amount
1 / £2 / £
3 / £
Trade Show Information
1. If you attend trade shows, how many do you attend each year? ______
2. What is your main purpose of attending these shows? (Check all that apply):
Lead generation for later appointments
Demonstrating your products/services
Selling products/services
Other:______
3. Do you own your own booth display? ___ Yes ___ No
4. What is the idea behind the graphics? (i.e., demonstrate the features of your products/services, display the product in use, project the image of your company, etc.)______
______
5. How do you get prospects to stop at your booth? Describe the methods you use, both before and during the trade show:______
______
______
______
6. Do you collect the names and addresses of everyone that attends your booth? ___ Yes ___ No
How do you collect these names?______
Does this method attract qualified leads? ___ Yes ___ No
How do you know?______
7. Do you have a system in place for following up on these leads? ___ Yes ___ No
Describe the system (i.e., assigned to sales team, direct mail, telemarketing, etc.):______
______
______
8. Do you use a two-step trade show process to qualify your leads and then move them on to the next step in the buying process, or is it a one-step sale where you close them at the show? ______
9. What trade organisations/associations do you belong to, and do you attend their meetings and frequent their programmes? ______
______
______
Notes: ______
______
______
______
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Other Marketing Information
1. Are there any other primary methods of marketing you use which were not covered (billboards, broadcast fax, classified advertising etc.) Do they work? How do you know?______
______
______
2. How well-connected or how involved are you with your customers at the sales transaction level? (Do you still sometimes take orders, or sell, or follow-up?)______
______
3. What ongoing sales efforts do you personally perform today? How do these functions differ from those you performed when you started your business?______
______
4. If you had a magic wand, would you rather attract more new customers or garner more money from your existing customers, and why?______
______
______
5. When you create a new customer for your business or profession, who else have you indirectly created a new customer for?______
______
______
6. If you had as much money as you wanted, what would you do to improve your marketing? (i.e., what is your biggest marketing challenge or nightmare today?)______
______
______
7. Do you hold regular training/sales meetings with your staff? ___ Yes ___ No
8. What percentage of a typical meeting’s time is spent on the following?
Subject / Time(Hrs or Mins) / Time
(Percent)
1 / New product introductions / %
2 / Reviewing current/old products / %
3 / Administrative/paperwork / %
4 / Formal sales training / %
5 / Role play / %
6 / Other / %
9. What are your specific expectations of working together in a consulting arrangement with our firm?
______
______
The Internet
Web Site:
- How long have you had your web site? ______
- Why did you put your web site up in the first place? ______
______
______
- What is the purpose of your web site? ______
______
______
- Do you test and measure the effectiveness of your web site? If so, how? ______
______
- What sort of results are you getting from your web site (sales, leads, etc)? ______
______
______
Traffic:
- Do you track and measure your traffic? If so, do you have the statistics available? What type? ______
______
- What is the average number of unique visitors (not hits!) per month? ______
- Is your site optimised for search engine traffic (Search Engine Optimisation)? Yes/No
If yes, did you do it yourself or did you use a specialist SEO company? ______
- What sort of results have you had since optimising your site? ______
______
- Do you use ‘pay per click search engines’ (Overture, etc) to drive traffic to your site? If so who?
______
- Do you use ‘Google AdWords’ to drive traffic to your site? Yes/No ______
- Is your web site address on all your marketing material? Yes/No. If not, why not? ______
______
- Do you use any ‘off-line’ marketing strategies to drive traffic to your site (postcards, sales letters etc)? If so please list: ______
______
______
- What other off-line or on-line marketing strategies do you use to drive traffic to your site? ______
______
______
Email Marketing:
- Do you have a system for capturing the name and email address of your visitors? Yes/No If not, why not? ______
______
If yes, what? ______
______
- Do you have a system for emailing your visitors on a regular basis? Yes/No. If yes, what? ______
______
______
- Do you use an ‘autoresponder’ to systemise your email marketing campaigns? Yes/No
- Do you test and measure your email marketing campaigns? Yes/No If Yes, how? ______
______
Additional Notes/Comments
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