Marketing means the delivery of the right message to the right market via the right media. It is a brick-by-brick process, as well as, an art and a science. As an art, it involves creativity and insight. As a science, it involves planning, analysis and discipline. The two must blend and balance to maximize potential and to capitalize on strengths of your company and personnel. Seminar Objectives: To provide practical marketing strategies that effectively utilize resources of money, time and personnel. Participants will recognize the value of a marketing plan for charting goals and strategies; they will learn how to market and plan strategically, to segment their market, to identify consumer behavior, to investigate market research techniques, and to analyze successful pricing, advertising and promotion tactics.

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In today's service-oriented economy, excellent customer service is more than a competitive edge it is a survival skill. It means meeting and exceeding expectations of both internal and external customers. There is a remarkably close and consistent link between how internal customers are treated, and how external customers perceive the quality of a company's services. Satisfying all the customers results in loyalty, enthusiasm, teamwork, enhanced productivity, and continual demand for your service. Seminar Objectives: To demonstrate principles, techniques and action plans for developing a true spirit of service to your customers, to your employees and to your company. Participants will learn proven manageable and measurable strategies for building a quality service based on customer-centred values.

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Merchandising encompasses the areas of merchandise planning, resources, negotiating, pricing, distribution and control. Developing and implementing a merchandise plan is a primary component of retail strategy. To be successful, retailers must plan and supervise the marketing of goods and services at the right place, the right time, the right price and quantity to realize marketing objectives of the business. Seminar Objectives: To discuss buying and handling aspects of merchandise planning, to explore financial, retail and planning aspects of merchandising. Participants will discuss stages of merchandising, attributes of buying organizations and factors to be considered in planning merchandise quality, innovativeness, assortment and sources of supply.

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The number of competitors in an industry, their size, and the prices they charge can greatly influence a business' pricing decision, desired image, sales and profits. Learning how to exploit elements of product or service quality, reputation and positioning, and how to develop the right pricing strategy can expand profits, expand market share and increase sales towards marketing goals. Seminar Objectives: To examine factors that affect pricing decision, to explain common pricing methods and policies. Participants will learn how to determine effective pricing objectives and appropriate pricing methods for products/services, as well as recognize common pricing mistakes and their effect on gross margin.

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Exports are the goods and services sold by individuals or nations. Opportunities to conduct exporting are everywhere because the world market has become much more interdependent, and because trade conditions among nations change rapidly. Learning the fundamentals of trade transactions and swinging with political/economic changes can launch businesses into profitable international trade opportunities. Seminar Objectives: To explore the elements that must be implemented in order to export successfully. Participants will explore such factors as assessment of markets and exportability of products, evaluation of competition and overseas distributors, inventory management and distribution abroad, and financing strategies.

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Demanding customers, technological innovations and incredible competition have changed the way sales personnel do business today. Sales forces that develop creative selling presentations and engage in planning and evaluation techniques maximize continuous quality service; those that develop effective listening and communication skills guarantee the fostering of strategic, long-term relationships with customers. Seminar Objectives: To examine techniques for defining, developing, and refining effective sales presentations. Participants will learn techniques for determining customer needs and concerns for offering solutions for making persuasive product/service presentations and for evaluating personal selling techniques.

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Promotion is the function of informing, persuading, and influencing the customer's purchase decision. The mix of a business' promotional strategy, personal selling, and advertising are all methods of communicating a product or service to the customer and should be simple and straightforward. This can turn everybody in the company into a promoter to clients to banks to employees or to the public. Seminar Objectives: To discuss relationships between promotion and communication processes to identify various elements of the promotional mix. Participants will examine methods for determining budgets for promotion and advertising, and will schedule and design strategies for informing and influencing customer buying decisions.

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In a tough economy resources are strained and marketing dollars must be stretched to the limit while still launching effective and profitable marketing programs. By learning how to implement a marketing mix appropriate to their funds and their stage of growth, entrepreneurs can create a track record that will bring big returns on creative time investments. Seminar Objectives: To present the "real line" on practical, low-cost marketing strategies that can be understood and initiated in short order. Participants will learn basic marketing essentials and creative, low-cost strategies for promoting their business.

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