Know-How Exchange : Other

Can you explain what this has to do with marketing your business?

We would need a better explanation of what the marketing issue is. This is a forum for folks interested in professional marketing.

This is about competition. You are trying to find ways that are cheaper than your opposition so that you get more work.

Now: if someone comes to me with a tale like yours I tell them one thing. If your question is about money, it is the wrong question. Usually the management want to cut costs because that is all they can see. They then pay themselves more because they are the more successful thereby.

So if you can, get away from the issue of cost. Present it as "cost" to the management by all means, their level of understanding can cope with little more. Anything else will sail over their heads and they will ask for a cost breakdown. So have on plan for the reality of the situation, and one you write up for the management.

If that is possible.

Because you have a problem with competition. If everybody uses money as the metric, they are not doing their job properly. Okay? Just forcing people to work for less usually ends up being more expensive in one way or other. That the management don't see it this way does not alter the fact.

THE HARD BIT. You deal with real human beings. Your very best customers come to you because you do things in a special way - not just because it is cost effective. Find out what that is, and you are onto a winner. So how do you find this out? It's actually blindingly obvious - only as with all things blindingly obvious they are pretty darned difficult to spot! The obvious thing to do in this case is to ask your customers what they like about you. What they like about your service and the things you provide.

Ask them: 1) what do you like about my service?
2) what do you like about my company's service?
3) what do you not like about our services?
4) are there things we could improve on?

The answers will give you some real food for thought. What's more the customers have had no lead-ins as to what they should say, as is so common with managers who ask such things.

Does this help any? Clearing up these points will put us in the right direction to really help you.

Moriarty