2. Symptoms of the absence of a Beach-Head

3. Goals for a Beach-Head

4. How to establish a Beach-Head

5. Concluding the Beach-Head

6. Beyond the Beach Head

8. “This product solves problems in Financial, Engineering, Life Science etc. “

9. “We are marketing the product in Europe, Asia, America & Greenland”

10. “We are talking to a client in Boston and in Bangalore”

12. To refine the product and/or service

13. To prove/refine the business model

14. To secure X reference clients

16. How easy would it be for us to sell and service to this sector/group?

17. Are they located either physically or on line in proximity for us to establish and maintain a relationship?

18. Would they do business with an organisation such as ours? (Size, Location, Reputation, Language, Culture, Technology)

19. Are there barriers to entry Regulatory, Financial, Political etc.?

20. Are they known for being early adopters or laggards?

21. Have we previous relationships directly or through a friend/partner?

22. Does their buying process, match how we will be selling initially (EG do you have to be on an approved vendor list)?

24. Industry Vertical As a general rule the buyers will value a focus and knowledge of their business, processes and markets and place more value of products or services designed for them specifically. Sizing, targeting and positioning can be specifically refined to draw out your product or service differentiation.

25. Buyer/Customer profiles The characteristics of likely early adopters of a new supplier/product or service can be defined and there can be a focus. For example Tier 2 organisations in chosen sector(s), e.g. Financial Services or Telco’s as examples may be smaller more flexible, more entrepreneurial challengers in their business sector and therefore seeking more innovative products and services to capture market share in their business.

27. State clearly the target client profile

28. State clearly the value proposition for the Beach Head

29. Start building the CRM database within the Beach Head

30. Get talking to these clients

31. Identify a small number, you are willing to invest in as Beta clients on the basis they will become a reference site and case study (Generally don’t give anything for free, and have a clear upgrade plan so that these clients are commercially viable in the long term)Beyond the Beach-Head<br />Firstly there is usually a lot of learning when executing a beach-head strategy, do not be afraid to adapt as you learn in order that the beach-head can achieve its objectives. It’s also important that everyone understands it could fail, if it shows signs of failing , carry out an objective review , because perhaps it’s not failing but actually confirming a result, e.g. there is not a market for the product or service, or there may be a market but not at a viable price..etc. <br />Finally and most importantly, you must have a plan to scale as you secure success in the beach head, tactics may differ such as launch another beach-head, form a pincher movement, flood the market, think military how will we conquer our chosen market. (Perhaps the subject of a follow on opinion piece)<br />International & Virtual Beach-Heads<br />Though I have largely covered the area I intended, I want to acknowledge here that some products and services may have their potential either on line or Internationally. The key is still to create a focused Beach Head in order that initial goals can be secured. For example in a cloud based market, the service such as a SaaS service can be independent of customer location or vertical etc. However in order to secure initial objectives and focus the organisation, a beach-head strategy is still of very high value. Perhaps for example the on line integrated e-marketing plan will require SEO, partner web sites, social media forums, trade portals etc. , so having a clear plan and focus will enable higher chances of success.<br />