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n How can we get closer to our most worthwhile customers?
n How can we enrol all our stakeholders (employees, customers,

suppliers, distributors and the community) into our marketing
strategy?
n Can we specify where we are better at delivering customer
satisfaction than each individual competitor in order to approach
their best customers with an offer that is tailored to their
unsatisfied needs. (Use the simple Comparative/Competitive
Analysis in Key Management Solutions and you will be.)
n Are we planning for growth?
– Should we be?
n Do we propose to develop new products and services, penetrate
new markets, win their best customers from competition or
diversify?
n Are we ready to change our culture if we need to?
n Have we carefully analyzed the costs of growth – extended
resources, possible loss of focus, potential need to do things
differently, possible slow return?

The market dominance plan

n Have we completed a clear, comprehensive review of our strengths?
n Have we analyzed customer desires and expectations and identified

the best fit between these and our strengths and competencies?
n Have we considered emerging customer needs and expectations

and worked out how we will use our present strengths to address
these?
n Have we established what strengths we need to build or acquire to
dominate our chosen markets?
n Have we established meaningful targets and objectives?
n Do these include key financial objectives as well as marketing
objectives? (Turnover, profitability: units of sale, market share.)
n Do we have a realistic product plan? (Existing, improvements,
development, invention.)
n Do we have a comprehensive market plan? (Markets – current,
extended, new.)
n Do we have a strategic approach to pricing?
n Do we use pricing to attract those customers that we want rather
than use either “cost plus”, “finger in the wind” or “what are
competition doing?” as the basis of pricing policy?

144 Key management questions