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45Chapter 3: Seeing Your Product through Your Customers’ Eyes
Chapter 4 has more on winning a greater share of your customer’s buying
decisions and thereby increasing your sales to existing customers.
ߜ Same product, new customer: Invite new customers into your business
with a fairly risk-free introductory or trial offer or some other way to
sample your product and service. Issue invitations to free seminars or
guest lectures — or even host a community fundraiser that attracts the
kinds of people you serve. For more information on how to build interest
among new prospects, see Chapter 10.
Even products have life cycles
Products get old. They follow a life cycle (shown in Figure 3-3) that begins
with product development and proceeds until the product reaches the point
where it is old hat, at which time its growth rate halts and profits decrease.
Product Reaches Maturity
Increased Promotion Growth Rate Slows
Competitors Enter Similar Products Introduced
Figure 3-3: Repeat Purchase and New Sales Price Wars
Sales New Product Sales Sales Decline
Development Product Withdrawal or Reinvention
follow a
predictable
curve
throughout
the product
life cycle.
Introduction Growth Maturity Saturation Decline
Product Life Cycle
Raising a healthy product
Sales follow a predictable pattern as a product moves through the life cycle
illustrated in Figure 3-3. The following descriptions explain the marketing steps
and sales expectations that accompany each phase of the product’s life:
