What do you do if you're a mid - to large-size supplier of products and services for businesses and you want to expand your slice of the market pie?
Beat up on your competition? Engage in a price war? Buy them out? Come up with a better mousetrap? Here's some information business-to-business corporations should mull over when looking for an increase in the bottom line:- Find a niche:
Unless you come up with another pet rock that needs no care (ask your parents), an electronic baby that requires constant care (ask your kids) or something neither of us can envision right now, the only way you can expand your company is to provide a needed or wanted service or product that your competitors won't or can't provide, then make it profitable for both you and your customer to do business.
Gary Luiza, president of Penny Wise (800-942-3311), an offshoot of Jacobs Gardner Office Supply Company, did just that. His seven-year-old corporation supplies more than 20,000 office products to small- and mid-sized businesses across America at discount prices; and Penny Wise makes a profit. Gary says, "We not only provide the same products you can find in your local super supply store, we can usually provide those products for less money, make a next-day delivery to your office or home and bill you monthly for your purchases."
- Find the vehicle: The next secret to success is in allying yourself with the organizations that support your new clientele. If real estate agents are your target, contact and make alliances with organizations that support them. This could include printers, photographers, construction firms, yard maintenance groups and whatever. Use your imagination, then get busy building bridges.
"We felt the best way to get our name known as a supplier to small businesses was to work with the small business organizations that provide support and help to the entrepreneur. We're currently affiliated with more than 400 groups and are constantly looking for more all the time," says Luiza.
- Provide the incentive: Once you've identified the product or service you wish to provide, work on providing the incentive for your market to do business with you. It does absolutely nothing for the user (or you) if all you do is wrap your present product in a new suit of clothes. You must extend your reach to provide services that may feel uncomfortable at first.
"The decision to allow the first- time buyer to set up a house account didn't come easy. Neither did our decision to offer absolutely free next-day delivery anywhere in the United States for an order over $25. But the results are in, and both outreaches work for the mutual benefit of us and our customer." Gary says. "We now have 39 centralized distribution centers that match the next-day delivery zones of United Parcel . . . and, yes, we can and do make next-day delivery schedules - as promised and on time."
- Make it easy to use: Without an easy-to-use method of ordering your merchandise, you might as well pack it in as a poorly projected project. In today's electronic world your customer wants what they want when they want it, and they don't want to wait on the mail, and sometimes not even fax or phone. Two of the honest methods of order submission today are Internet ordering and electronic bulletin board ordering.
"Our 64-page flier makes it easy to order by product number. More than 80 percent of all purchases are from this catalog, and they can be ordered using phone, fax, mail, e-mail or our private bulletin board. On request, we will deliver our really big 1,000-page catalog, but we like to include this monster with a second order to save the postage costs," Gary says, adding that an Internet order system - with photos, prices and all the bells and whistles - is in the works and should be up and running soon.
- Make it profitable: "It's just another idea gone wrong" is what you'll be saying if you don't make your new project profitable. Here's a few things to keep in mind: Internet, phone, e-mail, fax or phone-ordering do not require a sales force, which means dramatically lower cost of sales. Conversely, it means you need a dynamic people person to make and service the affiliation contacts. Your phone service crew should be top-notch, helpful, friendly and, above all, service-oriented. If you say you'll do it, then do it! No excuses, even if it costs you money.
You will get the reputation you earn, so make it a good one. Correspond regularly with your customers. A personalized message in each new catalog from the president will build a one-on-one relationship that will mean increased business. Keep it simple, keep it friendly and make sure you let "Aunt Matilda" (your conscience) read it for meaning before you send it out.