Know-How Exchange : Strategy

The most important thing you need to know in any marketing project is what pain is the prospective client feeling? What's costing them money, keeping them up at night, raising their costs? Once you understand the world from the prospect's point of view, next you need to determine how the product/service you offer solves one of those worries, problems or costs for the prospect.

From what you've said, your prospects aren't motivated by littering fines, they don't think they should have to pay for garbage collection, and the small providers underbid you.

So that means that you'll need to figure out what benefit they receive from comprehensive waste management BESIDES having the trash hauled away.

Do you reduce parking lot mess from overfilled bins? Eliminate nasty odors? Can you offer them compost in return for their garbage to use in their landscaping? Can you create a "Green Credit" by partnering with other environmentally-friendly companies to give a coupon or discount on other services when a prospect signs up for your recycling/disposal service?

If you want to start with the target of malls, large stand-alone retailers and restaurants, then study their garbage needs and the problems associated with their garbage. I can give you a few just as a consumer--the dumpsters sit in the sun for a week and smell so bad that you lose your appetite when you walk next to one or park near it. The bins look nasty--unappetizing. There's usually trash all around them. They aren't aesthetically pleasing and don't blend in.

Now....what would you learn if you actually talked to the person at the mall/restaurant/store who takes out the trash? Are the existing provider's bins too tall for short people? Is there a safety issue around taking out the trash (we had a mugging here recently because the dumpsters were out behind the plaza). Go around and talk to the person who takes out the trash and find out what they hate about it. Then ask the manager or the store owner what their pet peeve is around their garbage.

Trash is trash--it's service that makes all the difference. If you find out what your prospect's pain and problem is regarding their trash, you'll know how to add value and differentiate yourself by incorporating the service aspect or delivery details that solve the problem. You won't be competing on price anymore because your service won't be a commodity, and it doesn't matter whether your prospects care about doing good for the environment or not. It's all about solving the problem.