Top 20 Questions
[ ] Originated to help develop advertising brochures and promotional pieces, the Top 20 Questions are what most people will ask you about your business. This questionnaire helps you develop and enhance your responses to these questions.
[ ] The answers to these questions can be used to create an initial summary of the status of your business, which can be used as source material for your marketing and sales m 757o1423h aterials (for example, brochures, advertisements, company background, etc.).
[ ] The first and most gratifying thing to do is to use the Replace or Change function (usually under the Edit menu) and customize all items identified within the "[ ]" brackets with your information. To make sure your have filled in all the variables, use your word processors FIND function to locate and "[" which contain an uncompleted variable.
[ ] Upon completion, delete all comments that are preceded with [ ] and any unnecessary blank lines that remain.
[ ] You may format this document any way you like.
1. What type of business do you have?
[Service / Product / Both Product & Service]
2. What is the purpose of your business?
Help business owners start a new business.
Help business owners build their business to run more efficiently and with fewer errors
3. Who are your target customers?
Entrepreneurs, business owners, managers of small companies
0 - $10 million in sales
0 - 20 employees
0 - 10 years in business
4. What is your primary product / service?
Software titles, web directory of business experts local to our customers
[ ] If you offer more than one product / service, focus on your primary or main one or ones.
5. What is the primary function of your product / service?
Enable customers to replace current business functions with more efficient means for handling each task
6. What are three unique benefits of your product / services?
Simple, bolt-on business expertise fills in weak areas of business management to prevent problems from arising in the future.
Models to implement efficient business management practices make it easier for business owners to run their businesses
Use your own word-processor and spreadsheet software because you are already familiar with them and therefore don't have to learn another software product.
7. What is your reason for being in this
business?
(What's a nice person like you doing in a business like this?)
I've worked for a number of large corporations and I've helped develop a many small companies. My grandfather and father both ran their own businesses and I grew up hearing and seeing what business owners go through every day. I am well versed in what they need, how much (little) time they have to focus on any one area and I know how much a mistake can cost in cash, lost opportunity and wasted time.
8. What led you to develop your product / service?
I was developing business plans and marketing materials for clients and it occurred to me that I could develop effective models and template documents to cover many areas of a business. People could buy these very inexpensively and use them to build their business on their own and save a ton of money in the process.
9. Who is your competition?
[ ] List both direct and indirect competitors.
Stationery store forms
Books (bookstores)
Low-level consultants
Ignorance / "I can handle it all myself" attitude
xyz company
xyz company
10. How is your product different from that of your competition?
We use these documents and spreadsheets ourselves to run our own business so we know what works and where/how to use them... and, as a result , we are constantly improving them to solve our own problems.
Competitors copy us so they must wait for our innovations to imitate.
We are business people experienced in the realities of actually running a business while most competitors are just propeller-head computer programmer geeks.
11. What are the top three objections to buying your product / service immediately?
[ ] Address any possible objections up front. This will keep you from having to be on the defensive, acting like you overlooked something or have something to hide.
I don't need no stinkin' spreadsheets or documents to run my business...
$49 for a collection of spreadsheets and documents? I could make those myself!!!
Where's the computer program with a menu and fill-in-the-blanks?
I can get those from my buddy Bob down the street... he's got some stuff he uses to run his boatyard... those'll work OK for me.
12. What is the pricing of your product versus your competition?
About the same or a little more. Our customers are betting the farm on their business so they want to invest in the right stuff to use as the foundation of their business.
13. When did you first offer your product or when will your product be available?
June 1997
14. Is this product / service used in connection with other products / services?
We have a line of 8 other software titles we hope our customers will buy when they're ready to take on the next big business hurdle
15. Are you making any special offers to distributors or customers?
The suggested retail price is about $49.95, but people can buy it for $39 and it will be available in all the software stores
16. What is the key message or phrase that describes your business?
[ ] Try to keep the key message to one sentence.
Powerful Software to Build Your Business
17. What are your current plans for advertising and promoting your product / service?
Direct mail campaign to our customers in our database
Marketing and Ad co-op with our retailers
Listing and description on our website
18. Do you have Datasheets, brochures, diagrams, sketches, photographs, related press releases or other documentation about your product / service?
[ ] List all of your marketing collateral materials. If you do not presently have any, determine what materials you will develop and the dates when you will have them available.
Datasheet
Retail package
Prospecting brochure
Website description
19. How will your marketing assist the growth of your business?
We will promote this title as well as our company brand name and image to have people see the value of this software and their experience using it will hopefully demonstrate the quality and depth of our products to really help people with their businesses. We even plan to include updates from our website as we make changes or add new things.
20. Do you have the marketing and sales management expertise needed to achieve your business goals?
[ ] List the names of your sales and marketing managers and their qualifications.
[name]-Vice President of Sales has extensive retail marketing experience
[name]-Vice President of Marketing has extensive direct marketing experience as well as advertising and packaging knowledge
[name]-Web Marketing Manager is a brilliant web programmer and knows how to show a product o our website as well as link to other websites
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