We provide sales & marketing planning service to the senior management of companies ranging from start-ups to major corporations. Additionally, our wholly owned subsidiary, AGI International Sourcing & Marketing, offers a broad spectrum of professional services in export development, international marketing, global sourcing or outsourcing, and offshore manufacturing. For details, please go to: http://www.agiicorp.com/ism/

The process includes identifying the most important attributes of specific brands and projects, effectively communicating these core concepts to employees and customers, establishing measurable financial goals and developing plans to achieve them. We also provide ongoing support for the implementation of these plans.

Sales and marketing is a broad field that encompasses many different specialties and disciplines. Within this field, we specialize in providing consulting services to help clients improve the sales performance of their organization. Each situation is unique. In some cases, we help clients develop and implement a comprehensive, sales and marketing plan to make sure everyone is operating from the same page. In other cases, we look at the performance of the sales organization and recommend new structures, compensation plans, target markets, pricing strategies, etc. Situations vary, but the outcome is the same; we provide a way for clients to translate business and marketing strategies into actions that generate sales results.

At AGI, we know the importance of linking marketing and sales planning with the overall business goals and objectives. Organizations need to be structured to properly improve execution of the strategies. Different processes will either help or hinder execution of the strategies and affect customer satisfaction and profitability. A critical factor is the communication, teamwork and the interplay between sales and marketing, as well as, understanding the importance of hiring, training, and managing the right sales people to execute the strategies and plans. We will determine why gaps exist between plans and performance and the remedies that will close the gaps to improve performance.

We consults with clients on Sales & Marketing issues in the following ways:

Developing/Evaluating Marketing Strategies & Plans

1. Developing marketing and sales strategies and plans that align with and support the overall business goals and objectives.
2. Reviewing and assessing marketing and sales strategies, to determine if plans align with and support the overall business goals and objectives.
3. Translating strategies into specific actions for the sales force to implement so the overall business goals and objectives will be achieved.

We begin by reviewing the overall business strategies to understand the value proposition of the firm, the vision, values, strategy and goals, followed by analyzing marketing strategies to see if they are consistent with the business strategies. Next, we review the marketing mix for the client's business (product, price, place, promotion, and people). As simple as this sounds, our experience shows that companies struggle to achieve sales results because of a problem in one or more of these five areas, or because of a disconnect between the overall business plans and marketing plans.

Consequently, we specifically review each of the five elements of the marketing mix to determine where to focus initial efforts in solving client sales problems. This process of developing Marketing and Sales Strategies and Plans starts at the business strategy and continues to work down to the level of the front-line sales organization with specific sales strategies, goals, tactics, objectives and plans. The outcome of this process is a set of clearly defined sales targets that link with high level business objectives. The result of these assessments is to guide clients to understand areas that need change, refinement or better communication to improve sales results.

Assessing & Improving Organizational Performance

At AGI, we determine why sales results aren't meeting expectations and often find problems originate in one or more of several key areas. The problems stem from an unclear or misunderstood strategy, poor organizational design, weak processes, or weak sales management.

We achieve success for clients by following a 5-step process:

1. Identify gaps in sales performance verses internal expectations.
2. Compare client practices to best practices in that particular industry.
3. Determine root causes of performance gaps.
4. Evaluate potential fixes for the performance gaps.
5. Recommend changes to improve client performance.

Business & Market Development

Business and market development consulting helps clients expand their businesses. In this area we provide market intelligence and research of new market opportunities.

As companies look to expand their business, it is critical to evaluate the opportunities and threats in potential markets. These markets may represent a new market segment for the client company (the energy industry), a new geography for existing products and services, (expansion into a new state), expansion into related products and services (maintenance or consulting services for an equipment manufacturer or distributor) and potential alliance and acquisition targets.

AGI will help clients by:

1. Researching and evaluating the target market opportunity and potential.
2. Identifying key competitive threats, potential alliance and acquisition targets.
3. Reviewing, evaluating and ranking market opportunities based on defined criteria.
4. Recommending marketing strategies, sales channels and possible business partners.
5. Initiating contact with potential business partners to gauge and confirm interest.

Strategic Alliance Formation

When companies decide to expand, one path they often choose is a strategic alliance with another company. Some businesses choose a partner that provides access to a desired target customer segment. Others partner to provide a more complete or a turnkey solution to the same customers. Some businesses partner with a company who provides a critical part of the value chain, allowing each company to focus on their core competency. While the reasons may vary, often alliances require companies to work together in joint marketing or sales efforts to achieve their missions.

Strategic alliances are more complex than traditional vendor-client relationships and nearly as involved as mergers and acquisitions. Our experience in forming alliances and conducting M&A provides a benefit to our clients because we know what pitfalls to avoid. We will identify the business objectives, provide an understanding of and identify potential alliance partners, recommend structural considerations of the combination and propose terms and conditions, including a provision for an exit strategy when the possibility that the alliance no longer meets both parties' needs.

AGI International Sourcing & Marketing, our wholly owned subsidiary, offers a broad spectrum of professional services in export development, international marketing, global sourcing or outsourcing, and offshore manufacturing. For details, please go to: http://www.agiicorp.com/ism/

To inquire more about our Sales & Marketing Planning service, email us at: companies@agiicorp.com