Do you get compliments on your shirt? Talk about it and you may get an interesting story about the production (and the producers) of other shirts. Even better: buy one and contribute to the retention and creation of jobs for women in rural India. This way, it works both ways.
Jobs for rural women
A tour in a Pink City Rickshaw, luxurious bedsheets, ecologically responsible disposable crockery, hand-woven shawls and carpets, natural colored chalks, herbs, special types of rice or an elegant shirt… Every single one of these wonderful products with which women from low-income households in rural India (can) earn their money. Provided, of course, these products are sold.
How to sell your product
That is why the participants in the Customer in Focus Summit started selling their own products to the other participants. This proved to be rather difficult without a proper story and the right sales motivation. Back to the drawing-board. But a proper story and a strong elevator pitch are not enough. So get going with 3 of the 5 basic Ps of marketing (product and price were disregarded during this summit). Purpose: develop a framework for your own marketing communication plan. Who and where are your customers and what is your message with which you want to engage them? Which promotional activities can you use? What about timing & frequency? What is your budget to realize your growth ambition – yes, you must consider this! And – not unimportant – within the company or organization, who is responsible for the execution of the marketing communication plan?
Achievement and eagerness
Every time I work with the business partners of Women on Wings is a great experience. To realize that you can achieve so much in a relatively short time. That is caused primarily by the participants themselves: young and older, woman and man, with and without a marketing background, employee or CEO, they are all eager to learn, enthusiastic, open for feedback and prepared to share their own sales and marketing experiences (tops and flops).
Flexibility and entrepreneurship
And despite a tight time management schedule and full workshop program, they spontaneously managed to organize a sales exhibition of all products they had brought with them at the end of the final day. There is a lesson for us in this!
Nicolette Biessels
Expert Marketing Communications
(picture right)
