Off the Cuff: Differentiating Your Company From the Competition: Part 1 of 2

SALES & MARKETING

Off the Cuff: Differentiating Your Company From the Competition: Part 1 of 2

October 12, 2009
By Mark L. Venit, MBA, Contributing Writer

What’s so special about your company that would influence a prospect to buy from your company over another? What are you doing to create — and reinforce — the perceptions that buying from your company is a wiser choice than buying from your competitor?

For most companies in our industry, these questions don’t even show up on the radar. For many folks in our business, whining about how tough it is out there and carping about low-ball competitors cloud their opportunities to break out of the pack and move forward in building a loyal, growing account base.

But from a typical prospect’s perspective, what is the difference from one screen printer or embroiderer? As most prospective buyers see it, “All you guys sell the same products and do the same thing.” So, it’s little wonder that customers often make price the determinant of who gets the business. Issues of service and decorating quality aren’t readily apparent to them and, regrettably, few decorators are doing anything to change this perception.

Once someone has contacted you to discuss a pending purchase, what do you do to pull inquiring minds over the line to become — or remain — customers? Unfortunately, in our business, the answer — in a word — is: nothing! There's no romancing, further information, propaganda, nor even a follow-up telephone call or visit.

What do most companies in our business do to follow up on an order delivered to a customer? The response I get from most seminar attendees regarding when their first opportunity occurs to speak with new customers after completing an order usually is: “When they call us to re-order or buy something else.” What do most companies do to maintain existing accounts? Nothing. No proactive account maintenance, no "hi-hello-how-are-you" calls. Consider that three-quarters of all apparel decorating companies don’t even send Christmas cards to their customer list. So how are you demonstrating that your company is different — or better — than the other guys?

Let’s ask some big questions about how we can do a better job and provide some specific answers.

1. Does your company make a good first impression? On a scale of 1-10 (10 being the best score), how would you rate your company’s performance on responding on the telephone to a call or an e-mail initiated by a prospective buyer? Here are some criteria that should factor in your assessment:
• What kind of impression does your company project to an inquiring caller?
• Is the person who answers your phone engaging? Knowledgeable? Fast with answers and prompt with prices? Well-trained in effective call-handling techniques?
• Is a prospect likely to be impressed with how a call to your company is serviced?
• Is whomever represents your company on the phone an unemotional jargon-talking robot that deals strictly in numbers and devoid of personality — and who keeps callers waiting on the line for a price?

If a perfect score for exceptional call-handling is 40 points here, how’d you stack up?

2. Who's handling incoming inquiries? What best describes the person who answers the phone in your shop: Whomever’s available? Whomever answers first? Or are inquiries to your business handled by someone trained and skilled in harvesting the data that facilitates follow-up marketing — the prospects’ names, addresses, telephone numbers and e-mail addresses? For a detailed answer on how to accomplish this, click here.

If you want to convince callers you’re different — and better — from everyone else they’ll call, change the company’s goal on initial inquiries from simply asking and answering questions and hoping to get a sale, to making a great first impression and harvesting caller data, generating a sale — and a long-term account — soon enough.

3. What does your company's appearance and its professionalism say to first-time visitors? Are these prospects immediately impressed with what appears to be a clean, organized, updated environment? Does it say you deliver beautiful results? Does it say you’re proud of what you do? Will a prospect’s initial experience with your company be a pleasurable, informative, inspiring occasion, or will it say the place needs a coat of paint, some cleaning up, and might look better after a fire? Ultimately, does your shop (or catalog) scream out, “You're in the right place at the right time and we want your business?

If your showroom, Web site, or catalog is in need of a healthy dose of revitalization, your investment in upgrading the material to a convincingly friendly, professional look will prove well worth the time, effort and expense.

4. How do you construct or reinforce your company's positive identity? How many firms in our industry confirm every price quote given over the telephone — or in person — in writing? According to surveys conducted by the Apparel Graphics Institute LLC, about 1 in 50!

More than merely giving information, a written quote demonstrates you’re a pro and that your company is different! Unlike the information a price-shopper obtains from your competitors, your written quote underscores just how different your enterprise is. It also helps your prospect understand why your company may be a better choice and why price isn’t the only thing all that matters. Though you may not win the order on the first go ’round, your investment in creating a good impression in the prospect’s mind will likely pay dividends for you down the road. It’s always an easy way to make additional advertising impressions so that when these same first-time visitors see your name while making future searches for a good supplier, your company’s identity will earn you another shot at doing business.

In Part 2, we’ll look at educating your prospects about your product and service offerings, responding to inquiries, following up and how much these improvements will cost your company to implement.

Mark L. Venit, MBA, is president of Apparel Graphics Institute Ltd., Ocean Pines, Md., which provides management and marketing consulting and proprietary research to apparel graphics companies throughout the Americas and Europe. He also is the chairman of ShopWorks Software LLC, a provider of industry-specific business software. Venit teaches pricing, strategic marketing, salesmanship and other business management topics at the Imprinted Sportswear Shows. You can contact him at markvenit@cs.com.

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