Three River Optical

Executive summary

Three River Optical is a family run business which has been faced with a marketing dilemma.  The company has been ranked among the 25 leading manufacturer of optical laboratories in the country. Steve, who is responsible for marketing has been faced with the problem of allocating marketing budget to the trade show which he thinks gives maximum returns. Just arriving from International Vision Expo East, Steve is a frustrated manager as he believes that the trade show did not meet the expectations despite being allocated a large share of marketing budget.  The problem with Steve marketing strategy is that he thinks that the company should hire new sales people only when the market is well developed to support pay good salary to the sales person. Steve does not believe in paying commission to his sales people. This has left the company with few options in marketing strategy except to rely on trade shows.

Based on the large geographical area of operation, Steve marketing strategy inhibits the growth potential of the company since there are very few sales people to engage in direct marketing for the company. This means that even after new accounts are opened in a trade show, they may be lost due to lack of sales people to market follow ups. Steve should rethink the marketing strategy to ensure  the company hires sales people even where the market has not shown full potential since the sales people can unlock this potential.  Based on the existing trade shows that the company is holding, it is important to concentrate on SECO since it seems to have positive impact in marketing as compared to the other trade shows. To ensure there is success in marketing through trade shows, the company should ensure that there is publicity regarding its participation in a trade show in order to attract more people to participate in the trade show. The company should also increase its budgetary allocation to trade shows and hire more sales people

Introduction

Three Rivers Optical (TRO) is faced with marketing problem.  The company is a family business manufacturing optical lens which are mainly marketed to opticians, optometrists and ophthalmologist.  Although the company is among the 25largest optical laboratories in the country, it has been faced with difficulties in marketing especial in identifying the high potential market coming up with strategies to market its product in the identified market. Steve, who is responsible for marketing products from the company has juts come from International  Vision Expo East but he thinks that the show has not bee successful has been expected.  Steve thinks that the company is allocated marketing budget to the wrong show which does not produce the expected results. Steve believe that  for business to grow, there must be a sales person but he can only hire that sales person when the market has been is good enough in a new market to support paying the sales person. This is the main reason why Steve has been relying on trade shows which he believe produce leads and in most cases new accounts. But the International Vision Expo East has bee short of giving such results.

Analysis

Based on the geographical region under which the business operates, Steve’s business growth plan is short of what would be expected of a growing business. There have been some particular issues  and believes that may have limited the potentiality of the company to acquire more markets especially in regard to hiring sales people (Dwyer and Tanner, 2009). Steve believes that the company can only hire new sales people when the business has been established in a region to pay that sales person. This shows that the business is not willing to factor the cost of paying the sales person in its budget or in other words, Steve is not willing to take that risk for the business. Steve believes in getting new accounts through trade shows and reinforcing business through sales people when accounts have been created. However, sales people are more effective in convincing customer to open new accounts with the business compared to sales people since they can engage in direct marketing (Dwyer and Tanner, 2009).  Therefore Steve’s plan should concentrate on hiring sales people to follow up new accounts and unlock market potential through direct marketing.

In any market, trade shows presents one of the viable options to generate more sales, sales leads, and new customer accounts.  However, it should be understood that trades shows does not present a one on one interaction with customers like in direct marketing (Dwyer and Tanner, 2009). Trade shows gives customers a chance to test products from a company and to make all enquiries regarding the products. With experience on different trade shows, Steve should chose SECO trade shows as it appears to have been more successful when compared to International Vision Expo East. SECO seems to capture more target market for the company.

TRO has pegged its growth on trade shows and it has been successful in some. For the shows it is already doing, there should be strategic plan to ensure that the company captures as many customers as possible.  The company should ensure that before the show is held, there is enough publicity informing its target market that it will be participating in the shows and therefore they should come for enquiries. This awareness is likely to bring more people to the show. It is also advisable for the company to increase its budgetary allocation to ensure that it captures the most ideal stand in the show where it can be accessed by many people. After the show, the company should follow up the new accounts opened which means, sales people have to be an integral part of its marketing plan. (Dwyer and Tanner, 2009)

Conclusion

Three River Optical is faced with the problem of establishing a working market strategy through trade shows. Steve thinks that company is using a lot in trade shows which are not giving positive results. Steve should rethink his marketing strategy to ensure that the company hires sales people apart from trade shows to make his marketing strategy more sensible. The company should also ensure that there is enough publicity of its participation in trade shows and increase its budget to shows which are giving positive results.

Work Cited:

Dwyer, F. R. & Tanner, J. F. (2009). Business Marketing: Connecting Strategy, Relationships, and Learning, Fourth Edition. Boston: McGraw-Hill/Irwin