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1.) Why has product differentiation become so important in sales and marketing?

ID: 404338 • Letter: 1

Question

1.)


Why has product differentiation become so important in sales and marketing?


3.)


Explain what is meant by positioning as a product selling strategy. What is a value proposition?


5.)


Briefly describe the influence of electronic commerce on pricing. What types of products are likely to be sold on the internet?


7.)


Read the Selling in Action feature titled "How Do Customers Judge Service Quality?" on page 141. How might this information help a salesperson who wants to adopt the value-added selling strategy?

Explanation / Answer

Explain what is meant by positioning as a product selling strategy. What is a value proposition?


Effective product positioning is necessary to success; even more so when marketing a new product. One way to develop, measure and track a new product plan is by using product life cycle software to help position, and differentiate, your business. Or you can measure and track your product's position directly and manually. Either method (automated or manual) can help you to grow sales.

Use product life cycle software to understand your product's stage in its life cycle - it's significant for building a strong positioning strategy.


Being right on your product positioning can result in increased sales; being wrong means you might not sell too much.

Product positioning has been described as 'winning the hearts and the minds of customers'. Great brands have long term customers (for example. the 'love affair' that Mac customers have with their Apple computers, etc.).

Positioning your product or service means you need to first define and then understand, your target market. (Services are intangible so you need to determine early on in service positioning what your target market values in your service area and how your services are different than many other services.)


Product management is a key element of marketing and marketing mixincluding: marketing mix product); positioning, product differentiation andproduct life cycle. All of these are important to building effective marketing strategies.