Question

Topic: Customer Behavior

Fishing Where The Fish Are...

Posted by Anonymous on 4/28/2004 at 2:01 AM ET 250 Points
I own and operate a technology strategy and consulting company. We help business-owners leverage technology to grow their companies.

To boil it down, we equip our clients with a technology plan. So, instead of reacting to every little technology fire that rears it's head, they are prepared to address the issue proactively. This saves untold aggravation, time and money. This plan also shows them the role that technology will play in growing their business and serves as a disaster recovery blueprint that they can consult in the case of an emergency. Our plans cover all the technology bases including training. We are outsourced CIO's of sorts.

I have also been told that businesses that can show some kind of disaster recovery plan are eligible for discounts on business insurance because they have a recovery plan in place in the event of an emergency. (I'm still verifying this.)

I have concluded that our target market is comprised of companies that have been in business for at least 3 years (I feel, that it's only at this point that they would recognize a need for our services and have the monies to pay our consulting fees - correct me if I'm wrong), have an income of at LEAST $100,000 (again, only then would they would be able to afford us) and be located in the NY-NJ-CT tri-state area. For the most part we do best with service related businesses but, we do have clients that are product-based.

My dilemma is:

1) Where do the owners of such companies 'live'? What do they read? What events do they attend? How can I find them? What keeps them up at night? (I don't believe in traditional paid advertising.)

2) If I find them, what message would most resonate with them about the benefits of working with us? (the 'what's in it for them')

3) The clients we DO get seem to be attracted to our web design services - which is NOT what I want - but, I think that's because a web site is something tangible with a physical result. We don't mind the web development work but, I don't want it to be our mainstay. How can we get more clients for our technology and disaster planning services?

4) How can I make the technology planning/strategy services more tangible? Creating a product maybe?

Any help you can give will be GREAT. This is keeping us from moving forward on a lot of initiatives. Thank you.
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by telemoxie on 4/28/2004 at 5:02 AM Member
    I'd be willing to bet most companies large enough to need a disaster recovery plan already have a CIO.

    Backup and recovery might be a bit more tangible than disaster recovery planning, and a hard drive crash is probably the most likely "disaster". CEOs should rightly be concerned about backup. I was once told (but have not verified) there are three areas in which a corporate CEO bears personal financial responsibility: 1) backup of computer systems, 2) payment of taxes, and 3) responding to sexual harrassment issues.

  • Posted by Pepper Blue on 4/28/2004 at 11:18 AM Accepted
    Hi webchhk:


    1) The easiest way to find out where they live, what they read, what events they attend, what keeps them up at night is to ask them - request this information from your current customers, if you need to prod them, offer them an incentive of some sort if you have to, not something chintzy, something of value - a small gift certificate at Amazon - because this information is well worth it.

    2) That working with you will help them sleep better at night. And because you have found this out in #1, you can address their problems with your solutions head on.

    3) Leverage those customers that are attracted to your web design services. Strengthen and deepen your relationship with them because you know have your "foot in the door". If you can't deepen your relationship with them because they have no need, then ask them who in their network they could refer - this is a powerful tool, your web design service is a perfect way to leverage it.

    4) Tangible could be clearly explaining "how much we can save you". Demonstrating service offerings by converting it to dollar signs and using real-life examples/testimonials can have a tremendous effect on people. Put together a well planned, logical ROI calculation table using worse case/real life and best case/real life scenarios. Maybe this is the "product".

    Lastly, if you are not doing so, you need to start capturing your customer and contact information and while doing so get their permission to communicate with them either through email marketing, direct marketing or both.

    Your website should have a clearly visible "sign up here for our newsletter" box, and briefly explain the purpose of the newsletter i.e. the benefit and value to them.

    Start planning a monthly e-newsletter that is based around solving the pains of your target market along with subtle information about what your company can do for them.

    Writing your own articles here is a perfect way to start getting your self exposed to the publishing world and establishes you as an expert in the field which can help you land speaking engagements which is exactly where you want to be - publically publishing and speaking.

    I hope that helps.


  • Posted by jcmedinave on 4/28/2004 at 12:11 PM Member
    Hello, Good question.

    Where will you find the Customer objective Group? Maybe in Associations, Networks, Public information, Commerce or Industry Chambers. There are Research Institutions that sell this information.

    How will you Find the Customer Information (habit, profile,..)? When you identify your focus group, you can pay or do it a research investigation by yourself. The advertising Companies will bring you the media depending on the specific profile. But, it will be better to segment the objective group (Example: the pharmaceuticals companies, the Banks,..) and then, identify the general profile of the Sector managers.

    How will you approach them? Maybe if we are talking about a technical product and service, the best way should be through the Technical Areas inside the Company. You could market directly to the manager if you are sure about their technical knowledge.

    What kind of message should you delivery? You are an expert in ABC Knowledge, your offer a full service, and the Company will receive $xxx benefits and savings.

    How can you make the technology planning/strategy services more tangible? Yes, The web service is one way, the newsletter, the training courses, the software simulators, the portfolio presentation, to package the software with the equipment (computer seller alliances,..),..

    Bye,

    Juan Carlos
  • Posted by tjh on 4/28/2004 at 1:16 PM Accepted
    After I started this response, I realized I was mostly free-flowing. Forgive the streaming...

    "2) If I find them, what message would most resonate with them about the benefits of working with us? (the 'what's in it for them')"

    "4) How can I make the technology planning/strategy services more tangible? Creating a product maybe?"

    Making a service more tangible or "real" to prospects is a constant issue.

    Survey past clients for the why's - why did they hire you? What, more than anything else, caused them to realize they might need your services?

    Make long lists of reasons you can think of as to "what's in it for them?"

    Survey or test the messaging from those lists.

    In large part, you're part of their risk management system. What are the cost values and/or pain values of those risks?

    What language will open that education process for them? What verbiage will make those risks look, well ... risky?

    What technology or data disasters can these companies have? How many of them have had them already? Are there insurance-related studies mentioning payouts or $$ losses already caused by such catastrophies? Can you develop a list of insurance companies that do offer discounts for a formal disaster recovery plan?

    I wondered if you're also able to explore technology solutions in a wide variety of industries, including any specialized hardware/software solutions, etc.

    If so, you're one of those places someone can go to get answers to questions like:

    What technology do I actually need?

    How much will it make me, or how much $$$ will it save?

    "I don't want to be the victim of the various technology sales people that walk through my door - what will actually work for me at this stage in our growth cycle?"

    Questions like this, and their answers, look like foundations for some white papers, articles for local/regional business-press newspapers, etc.

    In addition to educating your prospects to your existence and expertise, you expose their looming problems, their risks, and support they need for their business plans.

    Making heavy use of editorial (articles, interviews, published white papers, etc.), and regional PR about similar issues, seems to me to be a core tactic for you.

    Others have mentioned similar things. Productizing some of the evaluation services might be useful, but in the end, finding language that simultaneously tells them what you do, what your USP is, and emphasizes their need to contact you based on their various needs or risks, is the vital step.

    Have you developed a network of business partners in various technology solution fields? Data recovery people, hardware sales, installation, support, desktop-level support, VOIP folks, telecom, database specialists, and whatever else you may need, that you can also vet?
  • Posted on 5/1/2004 at 11:15 PM Author
    telemoxie: Thanks for the feedback but, every company needs a disaster recovery plan, no matter how small.
  • Posted on 5/1/2004 at 11:40 PM Author
    ConversionChronicles:

    Thanks for the advice. I actually am in the process of working on writing articles for publications that are geared toward our target market.

    The problem is knowing where my target market "hangs out" and what they read.

    I pretty much know WHAT to do to reach them once I find them. Finding them is the issue.

    Thanks, webchhk.
  • Posted on 5/2/2004 at 12:08 AM Author
    Pepper Blue:

    Thanks for the tips. Especially the part about the ROI caluculator/scenario. That will really help. Now, where can I FIND them???

    -webchhk
  • Posted on 5/2/2004 at 12:10 AM Author
    jcmedinave:

    Thanks for the feedback - unfortunately, we do not have the budget to implement your suggestions.

    Thanks, webchhk.
  • Posted on 5/2/2004 at 12:27 AM Author
    tjh:

    Thanks for the marketing ideas. I jotted some of them down (some were a new twist for me) but, I don't have a problem with ideas for how to market per se (although I did need ideas to promote the planning service and your info did help with that). I'm finding a hard time locating centers of influence...and people to work with who will refer the caliber of clients with whom I'm looking to work. Some research needs to be done here...
  • Posted on 5/2/2004 at 12:29 AM Author
    kwinters:

    Thanks for the information. Yes, you are right. I have to instill some form of fear and then offer to take it away with my services. I need to look for statistics, etc.

    Thanks, webchhk
  • Posted on 5/2/2004 at 12:36 AM Author
    aosterday,

    A lot of people have suggested that I survey my current clients. Unfortunately, I cannot do this because my current clients do not fit the profile of my target clients. So, that idea is out.

    I agree that fear is going to work best. I'm going to have to get a hold of some reputable statistics and really put them to work for me.

    Thanks for the link to smrb.com - I'll check it out.

    Here's the thing...our target market is companies WITHOUT CIO's but need the guidance of CIO's. If they have CIO's there's really no need for us - well, there shouldn't be if they are doing what they are hired to do.
  • Posted by tjh on 5/2/2004 at 11:17 AM Member
    webchhk,

    In thinking about the issue of finding the companies in your target group it seemed to me that you'll have to build a funnel on your own. You didn't mention if you had any particular vertical focus except to say that you seem to do best with service companies.

    So, for me, some approaches seemed to include:

    (An assumption in these is that these companies have someone in the group who is nominally doing CIO/CTO functions even if they're not of that real caliber, and possibly a company of the size described may simply be "winging it" on the tech front. So it could be useful to find ways to approach those at the top of the organization instead - those with business plan influence, or those with something to lose... and these people may not "see" the problems the same way you do from lack of expertise, but are sensitive to the risks when they're revealed. They'll have a "sense" that they're at risk, or that "something's missing" in their thinking, but may need you to educate them into seeing you.)

    - Buying and testing various, and probably very general, mailing lists of companies that meet your "age" range, and reasonable employee count (to hopefully approximate your minimum income requirements), and within your target trade area.

    Post card or other simple mailings, possibly offering a free white paper describing the relevant risks; fishing for responses to analyze and/or use, building a mailing list, etc.

    - You seem to be looking for companies that are at least just past start-up phase and actually have developed a business. So these owners probably subscribe to or read any regional business publications, including dailies or weeklies. Small advertorials in these pubs, or mailing to their lists, might be a start.

    - CEO clubs, president's clubs, sometimes a Chamber of Commerce, regional or local technology-related conferences you could sponsor or attend, venture capital events.

    - Smallish "Technology Risk Assesment and Planning" seminars held by you might be interesting. "Separating the Truly Useful Technology from the Nice-to-Haves", "Are You Going to Have Any of These 5 Common Technology Disasters?"

    - Promoting to business bankers (they often have breakfasts or lunches for collections of clients in the bank...), liability insurance companies, consulting divisions of accounting firms, etc.

    - Companies that buy and use CRM systems, build or maintain large or mission-critical databases and therefore buy database products, (off-site mirroring of databases, etc...) Other security and redundancy issues.

    - CFO's/Controllers/Finance managers will have an interest in your services, or should.

    - System Integrators might be interesting to speak with.

    - Venture capital types might be interesting to work. They're most likely to have a portfolio of companies in various stages of growth, know them intimately, and might be responsive to intelligent planning help and refer you out.

    ---

    As an aside, promoting your services might be better positioned as a necessity with fear as subtext - some products promoted around fear tend to look like optional products or services rather than things someone must have. It's amazing how businesses of all sizes "fly naked" on many fronts, including reasonable insurance.

    So the more practical and immediately useful the results of your work is, the better - and the risk avoidance or management they also get sweetens the offer. I'm sure you've thought about this - things like, "Save money now, and avoid these risks too."

    Hope any of that added something new to your thinking.
  • Posted on 5/2/2004 at 4:12 PM Author
    tjh:

    Wow, that information was awesome. It was DEFINITELY more along the lines of what I needed. I took copious notes.

    Thank you, thank you, thank you!

    -webchhk
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