Objective and Task

With the objective and task method, you set a sales objective, then use the behavior funnel to determine how many customers are required at each stage to end up with your sales objective. The objective is the sales (or action) objective; the tasks are the intermediate objectives (for example, 170 customers prefer our product or service). For example, according to the numbers in Exhibit 19.4, you will need to make 1,000 customers aware of your product or service in order for you to have 40 customers actually make purchases.

To use the objective and task method, you need to estimate how many people will purchase your product or service as the result of a specific advertising campaign (Exhibit 19.6). It is not easy to make those estimates, but you

Source: "Arrow Guide—Advertising Decisions," The Arrow Group, Ltd., New York, NY, 2008. Used here with permission.

Source: "Arrow Guide—Advertising Decisions," The Arrow Group, Ltd., New York, NY, 2008. Used here with permission.

can make a subjective estimate as to what you think might be the percentage who saw or heard your ad and would purchase your product or service.

Next, you would need to make an estimate of what you think a new customer might be worth to you. That would be based on how much you think they might purchase over time and your profits on those purchases. Then you can estimate the extra profit that you think you might obtain from an advertising campaign. By comparing it with the cost of the campaign, you can decide whether you wish to go ahead with the advertising.

The objective and task approach can be very helpful in giving you an overall idea of what type of advertising effort you will need to meet your business objectives. It requires you to think through the process of how you acquire customers, and that is often a useful exercise.

Continue reading here: Sales Objectives

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