Home  Clients  How We Work  Services  Case Studies   About Us

Archive for the 'Customers' Category

« Previous Entries


How important is attitude?
Sunday, October 28th, 2007

The other day, Joe wanted his supplier to give a discount because part of an order was defective. Joe started with a friendly approach. When the supplier wanted more information to understand the problem, Joe became hostile and accused the supplier of unethical behavior.

At this point, the supplier became frustrated and said, “Joe, you have been a good customer for several years. I think that I have been a good supplier for your business for several years. That said, your business isn’t worth the insults and abuse. Joe, I am going to eat the cost of your order. In the future though, please take your business elsewhere.”

To this comment, Joe replied, “You mean that you are going to give up my business that has brought you several thousand dollars a year?”

The supplier said, “Yes, Joe. That is exactly what I mean. The cost of having you as a customer outweighs the benefits. I hope that you find a supplier that better meets your needs.”

What steps might have enabled Joe or the supplier to avoid this situation? How could the issue have been defused in the conversation? Are these issues that you have encountered in your supplier or customer relationships? If so, what steps did you take? What would you do differently, if you faced this issue today?

In short, how important is attitude in your business (and what action do you take to manage it)?

Posted in Business Acumen, Customers, Negotiations, Solving Problems, Sourcing | No Comments »



Family lodge is an example of geotourism
Saturday, July 21st, 2007

Growing up at my family’s fishing lodge, I had the ability to interact with customers.  We talked about many things - gardening, fishing, business, and substantive issues of the day.  It was networking person-to-person.

Places like my family’s lodge are rare.  It was built as a retirement home by my great-grandparents.  They had so many friends that wanted to get away from the city though that they had to turn it into a business.  It is extremely rural - surrounded by national forest and on a wild and scenic river.  Time stands still there in many ways.  Neighbors help each other.  Everyone knows everything about everyone else.  Masks disappear in such an environment.  Business and friendship intermingle.  I literally grew up at the lodge and customers were my mentors, teachers, suppliers, advisers, and friends.  To this day, that remains the case.  In some instances they also became neighbors, having decided that the area was extremely special.

People go to the lodge for a variety of reasons.  Some seek to fish.  The Rogue River has a reputation for being one of the finest fly fishing streams in the world.  Others want to walk.  There are several trails with varying degrees of maintenance and people can just walk on their own in many areas.  People enjoy seeing the gardens and eating fresh produce that was picked that day.  They enjoy watching wild animals in the animals’ habitats.  It is a heritage that many in the United States experienced, but many are generations removed from such a life style.  When they walk in the door at the lodge, customers are invited to make themselves at home.  Everything that we can reasonably do to accommodate the customer, is done.  Sometimes, customers have particular food preferences.  Just as those preferences would be accommodated in a family, we try to accommodate them.

Reading the newspaper this morning, I found out that there is a name for what we have been doing for roughly 70 years.  That name is geotourism.  With geotourism, the distinctiveness of the locale is emphasized and, as described above, both the tourist and the residents benefit.  That is what happened with my family business.  Customers got to step back in time.  I grew the knowledge that I needed and customers introduced a world of possibilities.  Even today, they do so.  National Geographic provided more information about geotourism.

If you are interested in staying a vacation at my family’s business, please let me know.  I am happy to talk with you about it. 

 

Technorati Tags:            
 
Posted in About Coleen Davis, Business Trends, Customers | No Comments »



Relationship Tip: Be a Trusted Advisor
Thursday, July 19th, 2007

Often, consultants are people who tell clients how to do things that the consultants have never done.  This is a recipe for a bad business relationship.  What can be done?

When people help clients solve problems they have faced, they:

Can provide better advice

Set their clients up for success

Bring a greater understanding of issues that may arise

Have greater ability to anticipate and suggest solutions for issues that the clients may encounter

Are more trustworthy and more credibility

Can help people look at the issues from a fresh perspective

In business, each of us should strive to be a trusted advisor.  Steps that can be taken to become a trused advisor include:  

Obtaining real world experience before providing business advice on a topic

Focusing on issues that matter to us

Asking intelligent questions and sharing relevant information

Looking at the issue from different perspectives

Being a student of the issue, rather than experts on it

Think about it. 

Does it make sense? 

If so, what does it mean for you as far as your current focus and activities?  What does it suggest you should do now?

Are you a trusted advisor for your business contacts?

Posted in Business Acumen, Customers, Negotiations, Solving Problems | No Comments »



Positioning: Using context to reposition offerings and find opportunities
Sunday, July 15th, 2007

Some businesses are complaining about the weather in the Dallas area, at the same time other businesses are benefitting from the unusual amounts of rain. 

As noted in the Dallas Morning News, umbrella sales, car washes, and car dealers are doing well.  In contrast, concrete, water parks, and some restaurants are experiencing difficulties this summer. 

This situation illustrates an important aspect about facts.  In isolation, facts have meaning only in context.  Our perspectives provide context and help us decide what the fact means.  Each of us has a slightly (or substantially) different perspective so every person may see things a little differently from others.  

Think about what this means for a business and how context can be used to create opportunities.  What is your strategy for doing so?  Let’s consider a scenario so that you can decide if there are opportunities to improve your current strategy.

Scenario

Suppose that a customer offers $30,000 for a product or service. 

If the product or service normally sells for $20,000, the supplier is likely to be happy. 

If the product or service normally sells at $50,000, the supplier is likely to be unhappy or disappointed.

Positioning

If presented by a situation in which the customer wants to pay less than what a supplier normally charges, many suppliers reposition their offering.

Three types of changes that can be made to reposition an offering are:

Message.  Message questions relate to the content and manner of communication. 

What is communicated? 

When is it communicated? 

To whom is it communicated? 

How is it communicated? 

Where is it communicated? 

How often is it communicated?

Offering.  Changes to the value of an offering can be made by:

Eliminating unnecessary features and functionality.

Adding features and functionality.

Finding new uses for the features and functionality.

Modifications to the method of doing business that are based on customer requests and feedback.

Creating a new offering that is better aligned with the customer’s needs. 

Markets.  Changing the markets where the product or service is offered by:

Finding groups that will need the offering.

Helping customers define their perspectives and understand their needs.

Exporting the product to other countries.

Changing where the product is offered (either increases or reductions). 

Finding markets where the same customers may be more likely to buy the offering or are more likely to buy it in a way that is aligned with the supplier’s needs.

Next Steps

Think about the critical success factors that explain why customers purchase your product currently.

Consider positioning options that bear similarities to the current positioning.  This can be an easier approach to expand the positioning because you are able to build on what already exists.  The credibility built through the current positioning allows the positioning to evolve into the new opportunities.  Success in this situation requires the new customers to understand how they are similar to the existing customers.

As the information is gathered, keeping an open mind and listening to the customer is important.  In many cases, customers will see opportunities that suppliers may overlook.

Engaging customers and potential customers in the dialogue, building relationships, and creating value for them increases the likelihood that they will share their candid feedback with you.  Sometimes, their feedback may be different from what you are hoping, expecting, and looking for.  When this happens, you have important information that can be explored and evaluated.

Technorati Tags:            
 
Posted in Business Acumen, Customers, Marketing | No Comments »



Value: What matters to your customer?
Friday, July 13th, 2007

One of the buzz words in business is “value proposition.”  How many times do people ask, “what is your value proposition?” 

Before defining a value proposition, it is very helpful to think about what your customers value.  In other words, what matters and has value to customers?

Typically, customers find value in having the solutions to their actual problem provided in a way that makes sense at a reasonable price.  Speaking from a procurement perspective, customers often value: 

Tailoring of the solution to their environment so that customers can roll the solution out and, like a piece in a jigsaw puzzle, it just fits snuggly into place without gaps or overlaps.

Quality of the processes and deliverable solution so that the project is relatively painless - the process is smooth, conflict is minimal and quickly resolved, administration of the contract is easy for the parties to do, and the results meet the business needs. 

Responsiveness to the customer’s needs is often valued.  From project to project and customer to customer, the responsiveness that the customer needs can vary a great deal.

Some people try to sell customers on a solution to a situation that the customers do not perceive as a problem.  This involves multiple layers of selling.  Customers have to be sold on the idea that they have a problem.  Then, customers have to be sold on the importance of resolving that problem.  The third thing that customers have to be sold on is that the specific problem is more important than whatever the funding would have otherwise been used to correct.  Finally, after all that, customers have to be sold on a supplier’s suitability.  Wouldn’t it make more sense to find out what the customer perceives as the problem, understand why the customer needs to resolve it, explore the customer’s budget, and save the selling for the end when it is necessary to help the customer understand the supplier’s qualifications?

Reasonable prices.  Price is a double-edged sword.  If a supplier is perceived to undercharge on price, the supplier is likely to be eliminated based on quality concerns.  In other words, the customer is uncertain if the supplier can meet the customer’s needs.  In contrast, if the supplier is perceived to overcharge on price, the customer tries to negotiate price (often with inadequate information) or walks away because the price is too high.

By understanding what matters to customers, suppliers can tailor their offering to reflect what customers value.  At the end of the day, this is the most compelling value proposition of all.  How do you get there from here? 

Technorati Tags:      
 
Posted in Business Acumen, Customers, Marketing, Negotiations | No Comments »



Negotiation Scenarios: Disparity of Bargaining Power
Thursday, July 12th, 2007

Suppose that Sam Supplier is with a small firm that is providing products and services to a large customer.  In this situation, Sam’s firm and the large customer are likely to have differences in their relative bargaining power.

Often, small firms are so anxious to win business, especially from large companies that they are likely to agree to provisions that can cause challenges for them. At times, the customers pressure the small firms to do more. In many cases though, the small firms pressure themselves to do so.

Whenever there is a difference in bargaining power, it is a good idea to talk about the small firm’s ability to meet the big customer’s needs. 

Think about what this scenario means for your business.  Specifically, consider questions like:

How could disparity of bargaining power arise for your business?

Are there certain signs that would lead you to think there is a disparity in bargaining power?

If the parties have disparity in bargaining power, what are some steps that you might take to deal with the issues?

What are some communication techniques that might help you identify and deal with disparity in the parties’ bargaining power?

Technorati Tags:          
 
Posted in Business Acumen, Customers, Negotiations, Planning Tips, Solving Problems, Sourcing | No Comments »



Where does one buy steelhead salmon?
Wednesday, July 11th, 2007

Reading the food section of today’s Dallas Morning News, I had a WTF moment when I read Tina Danze’s article about fish. 

One of the recipes is called Evita’s Dilled Steelhead Salmon.  Sure enough, the recipe calls for six one-inch thick steelhead salmon fillets with skin on.

I dare Ms. Danze to find a steelhead salmon.  Is that like a turducken?   

Steelhead and salmon are different fish.  Steelhead is a type of trout that goes into the ocean, but reproduces in fresh water.  It has a light flavor.  In contrast, salmon has a rich, full-bodied flavor. 

Have Ms. Danze or the editors ever eaten real steelhead or real salmon?  Stores usually sell farm raised varieties and that is what most restaurants serve.  It is about as much like the real thing as “pinks” are like real tomatoes. 

Sadly, people don’t realize though that there is a difference.  That is one of the problems with modern life.  If customers don’t know what the real thing tastes like, they have no way of evaluating what suppliers provide.  This is why it is so important to do what we know and to share what we know with others. 

 

Technorati Tags:            
 
Posted in Business Acumen, Customers, Solving Problems, Sourcing | No Comments »



« Previous Entries