Thoughtful Thursdays - Battling with the big guys

We see competition every day in almost everything we do. Whether it is purchasing necessities of life or deciding on how to use our discretionary budget. Competition keeps us on our toes.

We run across situations where the competition may be much larger and established. When starting a business it is often one of the most common obstacles to overcome. How do you compete with the big guys?

When you run into that kind of competitive situation think about your own buying habits. Specifically identify the suppliers you patronize who are not the big players. It could be the corner store, an independent garage, or any number of privately owned retail outlets.

Once you have this list, make another stating the reasons why you do business with them instead of the larger alternatives.

If my suspicions are correct, the reasons for your loyalty will be related to service or convenience. It will be due to a more enjoyable buying experience. The factors that affect the experience can be numerous, but in my experience the word "enjoyable" keeps coming up. You like dealing with them.

Your business can compete with the big guys. It may not be on total revenues, employee count or physical size of facilities. If those are the most important factors when your customer makes a purchasing decision, you are not likely going to get the business.

If your prospects are looking for the same characteristics demonstrated by the smaller suppliers you deal with on an ongoing basis, you can be superior and compete very successfully. It has been said many times by many people - bigger is not always better.

Good selling,

Richard

Thoughtful Thursdays - Is time your friend or foe?

In recent weeks I have experienced a common point of discussion in meetings with my clients.  I would like to share it with you today.

It is the age old issue of running out of time. A colleague says, and I agree, that it is endemic to new business owners.  I would also take it a step further and add that at some point everyone experiences the feeling of having too much to do and not enough time to do it. Time becomes the foe rather than friend.

Some seem to be able to achieve an incredible volume of productive activity in a given time and others are overwhelmed and become paralyzed.

It may be that your expectations of what can be accomplished in a certain amount of time are unreasonable. This can lead to over booking yourself and the result will be that you are not able to cross every task of your list. You might benefit from reviewing your processes and re-mapping them to determine total effort and duration required.

You may be allowing more than enough time, but distractions cause delays. It is worthwhile to analyze the source of the distractions and put helpful routines in place. As an example, you may want to block off parts of your day for uninterrupted work. During that time you do not answer the phone or take other meetings. Stopping and re-starting can be a real time eater. This time is dedicated to a particular task. If you do this, you want to schedule times when you check voicemail and return calls. Working from a home office requires added discipline to minimize the effect of the numerous distractions that inevitably surface on a daily basis.

Events not in your control are more difficult to address as they often cause a well timed process to be compressed. Depending on the root cause, you may be able to negotiate for additional time and it is worth having that discusssion.

By adopting routines that work to put you in control of your time it can turn it into a best friend. Time does not have to be your foe if used wisely like any other valuable resource.

Good selling,
Richard

Thoughtful Thursdays - The other price objection

Today's thought is about the other price objection. Not every business will face this price objection, but it is worth discussing, especially if you submit price quotations and proposals.

This objection may not be verbalized yet almost always results in loosing the business.

You work hard determining the needs of your potential customer and establishing the value of your products/services. Everything is looking favourable and you are ready to prepare and submit your quotation.

If you look at the accompanying image, at first glance everything looks okay, but upon closer examination something just is not right. Graphic artist M.C. Escher is famous for his so-called impossible structures simplified by this impossible triangle.

The objection I am referring to is the opposite of the most common "Your price is too high."
It is "Your price is too low." The value that you worked so hard on establishing has been betrayed by a low price. The customer has decided that the products/services being offering can not be delivered for the indicated price.

You have heard the phrase "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."

Be competitive, not unbelievable.

Good selling,

Richard