WINNING POSITION

The history of marketing is filled with stories of good products — some win, some fail. “It was ahead of its time” or “it was a product looking for a market” are often the explanations for the failures. But what makes a winner?

The Duff Company has played key roles in positioning products for successful market entry and in repositioning products to extend their useful life. In one case we set up a research protocol to prove a declining product should be repositioned rather than terminated, resulting in a fivefold sales increase in four years. We offer analytical skills, product and market knowledge, and the strategic thinking needed to help you position products for success.

And we get to know the people who drive your markets. Market knowledge is much more than numbers; it requires a feel for the issues and trends that affect your fortunes. We work hard to help you win the people who influence decisions and those who buy.

MAPPING EFFECTIVE DISTRIBUTION STRATEGIES

The selling channels make or break a product, whether it is new, growing, mature, or even off-patent. The customer is always the consumer who starts the cash-flow, but many influencers of the buying decisions can create barriers to sales that must be addressed. From influencer mapping to sales barrier identification, we work closely with you and your sales force to develop effective, real-world strategies and tactics to overcome barriers and increase sales.

The Duff Company has the experience and expertise to help clients build performance from current channels or evaluate alternative distribution channels to cost-effectively reach the customers. Then we help clients monitor the outcome and movements in the marketplace that continually change.

We strive to become a marketing partner working to improve sales and the profitability of our clients’ businesses.

MAKING THE RIGHT MOVES IN A CHANGING MARKETPLACE

So far to go; so little time. New technology, market fragmentation, collapsing distribution, rapid shifts in business alliances and a host of other changes in today’s business environment severely complicate the marketing decision-making process. Established products are threatened by competition that didn’t exist just months earlier; new products die before they’re hardly off the launch pad.

More than ever, you need an experienced, professional staff of experts that can help you sort through all the available information and provide you with timely, realistic and imaginative choices for success in this new business environment.

The Duff Company can provide that counsel from an unbiased, third-party viewpoint, then work side-by-side with you in executing the resulting decisions.

ENERGIZING SALES AND SERVICE

Sluggish product performance is often the result of slow acceptance by the people who represent your products to the customer. Sometimes they are your employees; sometimes they are someone else’s. In either case, there are ways to prod them into action on your products’ behalf and to breathe new life into your sales.

It may be a product training program that stimulates independent dealer sales people to recommend your product over its competitors. Perhaps it’s a sales incentive program tied to a promotional program…or any of dozens of other approaches.

Whatever the technique, The Duff Company can help you build and maintain the interactive databases you need to reach the individuals who most affect your sales and we can help ensure that each individual is addressed appropriately.

Some say a good product will find its own way into the customer’s hands; we believe a good product and an energized sales force will ensure it gets there.

EXPLORING NEW MARKETS

Nothing is more daunting than taking your products into unexplored territory. You know there is promise of great rewards but what are the dangers?

The Duff Company has an excellent record for taking products into new markets whether they are crossing into a different domestic venue, or crossing national borders. Whether the client is an established company entering a new market or a new company on its first foray into any market, we can help with the entire marketing from researching feasibilty studies to brand development and launch.

Whatever markets you’re considering, we can be your guide.

INTRODUCING NEW PRODUCTS

Today’s markets move fast and are fragmented in ways undreamed of a decade ago. Established products are declining rapidly or finding new life in emerging segments. Product life cycles are becoming increasingly brief and the array of product choices facing your customers is staggering.

The Duff Company offers incisive market research, local market intelligence and market instincts honed by years of experience. We can help you develop your product concept, its position and the marketing strategies most likely to succeed, then guide you through testing and the various phases of introduction. Your investment in product development can pay dividends only if the product introduction is well conceived and well executed.

The Duff Company has guided many new products successfully into new markets. We’d like to help your product emerge in the right markets with profound success.