Pinoy Business Coach

Business coaching- PINOY style!

Products for your 10,000 peso business

By; Paul Ryan Gusay




The 10,000 peso Entrepreneur might be caught up in webs and views that often can trap the mission and vision for his business.

"Ang ganda ng produkto ko !" (My product is so good.)

"Etong produkto ko ang bumubuhay sa negosyo ko.." (The product is what makes the business survive.)

While we all know the role of products that play in a business, a new Entrepreneur might in essence be so focused on his product and promotion that the other aspects of the business turn out to be neglected.

In my consumer distribution business, I am in constant search of products that are innovative, can serve a particular niche and can be easily promoted.  At the start of the year, my team and I have scourged through different products and services and have been able to decide on 1, that is how slow we decide on taking on a product.

Did+some+shopping+and+had+some+products+for+free
http://www.flickr.com/photos/63991153@N00/2590036459

Here are few guidelines that I take as personal pointers before I take on the product under my wing:
1. Will the manufacturer be willing to sell the product to us on payment terms? (it might be cash on the first few transactions but will eventually turn into terms).
2. Is the manufacturer/principal distributor policy on returning bad stocks flexible and helpful?
3. Would the logistical cost of the products not pose a burden to the end user?
4. Is the profit margin and price mark-up acceptable to our team or not?
5. Will the manufacturer/principal distributor be willing to start out on a few initial orders and grow the volume eventually?

These are just 5 guide questions that we use so that we do not get burned in the process.  Of course this does not apply if you would like to go into retailing.

If I were to go into retailing then I would probably not try to sell everything to everybody.  I would at first identify the segment of the market with the appropriate buying capacity and then would find products to sell to this segment, this way I am able to appropriate initial scarce resources to inventory. One approach to starting a business is to look at the segment in which you think you can market effectively.

Looking around, you can observe that many Chinese traders go into product segments that can be classified as "commodities" : rice, corn, edible cooking oil etc.  Most of these traders believe that there will always be customers to these essentials.  As a matter of observation also, I do not know a lot of Chinese traders who run internet cafes or who go into selling products and services that are regarded as pleasure items.

Remember, the product or service IS NOT the business. You do not need to love a product that you are selling, though it helps that you have experience with the product but then again, having an efficient marketing system to reach the customers is one important point that is missed by new start-ups.

For small to medium sized companies, hiring a product manager is actually a good idea, given that the product manager is indeed an expert and knows more about the product and the promotion to your selected target market.

Cash flow remains to be the vital point of every business in this day and age.

Main+Street+%2312+-+Logistics+made+simple
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23433155@N07/2375537962

1 comments :

viene.taylor@gmail.com said...

I totally agree with your post. That above everything the Marketing Strategy to reach the customer is one key hole in being successful.

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