The products were sold in 55 gallon drums, 300 gallon containers called "totes", tank trucks and even railcars. Purchasing usually involved convincing a whole committee that your company could do the job effectively and the selling process could take months, even years. On the other hand, the Institutional/Commercial market had smaller, simpler systems to treat. The products wee sold in 5 gal. Pails, 15 gallon and sometimes 55 gallon drums. Buying was done by one person. The process took a few calls. A less technically trained salesperson, who was a stronger "closer" was better suited to this segment. Finally, the government segment was all sold on bid, almost always on price, so we set up a group of inside people to handle the bidding process. Products were specified, containers and sizes were specified and they usually didn't want salespeople to call on them. The product formulas were all the same, but prices, packaging, promotion and place were all different.
This is a good example of strategically developed marketing that was successful in three very different environments. We answered the three important elements of a strategic marketing plan:.
What business should we be in? In this case, heating & cooling water treatments.
How should we compete? By adapting our sales/marketing efforts to the differing needs of the segments.
What is needed to implement the strategies that are derived from thoroughly answering the first two questions? We needed separate sales organizations with different pricing and packaging to effectively compete in these very different segments.
Selection of target customers is probably the most critical decision made by the industrial marketing plan. This is because the selection becomes a commitment to serving the needs of those customers and that will shape the firm's resources/skills, business strategy and even organizational structure.
