DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY
It is important to consider a variety of distribution strategies that will assist in the overall realization of the businesses goals. The major considerations will be whether to use direct means or indirect means where intermediaries may be required (Tanner & Raymond, 2012). Therefore, we are going to consider the best channel for distribution and whether using partners may be a viable option. To get our target market interested in our services, we are going to require intensive marketing efforts.
One of the ways that services reach their desired targets is through the use of partners. There are many factors that inform the use of these intermediaries. The major reason that a business may consider employing the help of one or more intermediaries is that they may have more experience in sales than the business. They may already have a client base that would be important in reaching the business’ bottomline. Our business will consider either directly or indirectly employing an intermediary to help in selling the service to a large number of people (Christ, 2011). It may be hard for the business to convince customers that we are capable on our own. As we will be dealing with several clusters, for example caring for 1 to 2 year-olds, we will require specialized equipment and personnel. We may therefore require having different intermediaries that will help in marketing the specific clusters informing clients on the different services offered and the facilities required to offer such services. Another consideration is that partners in most cases help add value to the services provided. They deal directly with the client offering information as and when the client requires it thereby leaving us the providers to solely focus on offering the service.
There are several options that we have to consider in order to settle on a singular distribution channel or an amalgam of several channels. The first consideration is whether our own sales force can adequately market the business. If we do choose to market the services ourselves, then we have to choose the best mix of distribution methods. Here, we may consider directly calling our prospective clients, setting up a website for interaction with customers, having a heavy presence in the social media, putting up newspaper and magazine advertisements, directly mailing our clients and cataloguing prospective clients.
Secondly, we could consider contracting a firm that would perform the sales functions on our behalf. This will be carefully considered in order to establish the positives that may arise like adding value to our services and the negatives like reducing the company’s returns. Caution will be taken in order to ensure that the partner we choose is reputable and will do more in attracting customers beyond what we could have done ourselves.
In settling on a single distribution channel, our business will have to operate for sometime. I propose that we have a grace period of 3 months in which to observe whether we can adequately market the services ourselves. This will require contracting experience sales people and also care providers. As I lack the experience to singularly care for all the clusters of clientele we target, there is going to be need for more employees coming into the fold. During the marketing of our services, the resumes of these employees will form the basis for our professionalism. Customers will be able to assess these employees’ information as they will be the ones responsible for dealing with their children.
We are going to make sure that we have adequate facilities to cater for all the clusters of children that we will care for. Once we are satisfied that adequate and high quality facilities are available, we are going to communicate this to our clients. This means that we should have a strong online presence where customers can easily access information about our business.
Other considerations in choosing the right distribution strategy will be: the purchasing methods preferred by our customers meaning that we must avail a number of convenient and flexible payment methods, the value attached to the brand we produce, the required pre-sale services required by our customers and also the after sale services they may require.
After the lapse of our 3 month grace period, the business will carry out an evaluation to decide on whether our sales efforts adequately cover the target market. If our own efforts are not sufficient, then we will employ a distribution partner. We will consider the intensity in which these partners will market our service; informed by whether the will be limited to our service or not, and whether they will have exclusive marketing rights. We will additionally consider the various ways in which we can motivate these distributors, our own ability to manage these distributors, the level of integration that we will have with these partners and the cost of contracting these partners (Kotler et al., 2009).
Our business will continuously and consistently be evaluated to ensure that the distribution channels chosen serve their desired purpose. Eventually, I envisage a situation where our own efforts and those of any distribution partners that we may have will be enough to achieve the business’ bottomline. We would like to be in a position to service large accounts with established customers while at the same time allowing our partners to cover smaller customers while prospecting for new ones.
References
Christ, P., (2011). Principles of Marketing. KnowThis.com.
Kotler, P., Keller, K.L. & Burton, S., (2009). Marketing Management. Frenchs Forest: Pearson Education Australia
Tanner J. & Raymond, M.A., (2012). Principles of marketing, 2nd ed., Lardbucket
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