Know-How Exchange : Strategy

Service. Make it easier to find out how your software stacks up. Easier to install. Better after-market support. Videos. Webinars. Position yourselves as the friendliest way to solve your prospective users problems. And throw in a guarantee, to sweeten the pot.

Mature products are often sold through relationships. Maybe you could consider selling your solution through resellers who have existing relationships with your jargon market, such as accountants. Instead of trying to compete on technology and advertising, you could consider creating a better partner program.

Most everything comes down to having a better product, better price, or better service. I would look closely to understand which may be what this company has. Usually it is just one of these three, sometimes two areas, pretty much never can be better at all three.

Better product means look at your features and benefits to see how they compare with competitors in regards to what customers want. Also look at product quality.

Better service is in how easy is it for your customers to do business with you versus your competitors.

better price is pretty serf-obvious, but make sure you look at the total cost (including shipping, cost of installing, etc.).

Where your product is not significantly distinct from others in a crowded, competitive market, there are two ways to take the lead in sales:
1) Overwhelm your competitors with advertising and promotion. The age-old example is McDonald's -- they don't have the best burger, but they do have the best advertising, and plenty of it. That's not the only element of their success, but it's their cornerstone.
2) Create a distinction. Become the only one in your sector that specializes in a specific industry, or offers a second unit free, or matches customer purchases with donations to local charities ("For every ten sold, we'll donate one to XYZ."). Alternately, get a well-known spokesperson to represent your brand, such as a national celebrity or the local winning football coach or quarterback. Just make sure that your concept is distinctive enough that "everyone" won't copy it -- e.g., if your company is called ABC, then name your distinction "The ABC Advantage," and push it in every sales contact, printed material and ad spot.

Depending on your market, radio might also be an affordable way to elevate your brand quickly, making it seem superior to all the others, especially if your competitors are not on radio. However, you need to do so on an on-going basis to make this approach work -- at least several months, saturating the spots you pick, and picking time slots based on when your audience is commuting/listening, not on when the cheapest spots are aired.

In terms of career advice, if the prospective company isn't able or willing to do some of this, you will be more successful by choosing an alternate employer/partnership.

Hope this is helpful to you. Best of luck!

Heeey John,

your words: "launching a new product that is not unique, it has little or no advantages over competitor solutions, it will be priced similarly as others... so in very competitive market. Should the strategy be a very good sales and marketing strategy,"


While you can apply a lot of tactical efforts in a situation like this you have no "Real Distinction" which gives you any leverage.

If Billy is already cutting my yard front and back with an average 140cc* Briggs & Stratton, 21" Rear Bag Push Mower...and he's been faithfully showing up every saturday during the spring, summer and fall mowing my yard, hauling away my leaves away and blowing the excess grass off of my Drive way for two years doing a better than average job...sooo why would I now allow a new kid named Johnny who just wrong my door bell and interrupted me from watching my favorite hockey team. I want to get back to my game when he proudly tells me with a big smile, that he can charge me a similar price as Billy using a similar lawn mower as Billy...doing the same work as Billy. So why would I want to allow this new kid Johnny, to take up anymore of my time when he has not brought me any distinction that would make me want to even consider walking away from Billy?

Even with all of the similar performance benefits as Billy there is no "Beneficial Difference or Advantage" that would compel me to want to take the risk of trying Johnny out. As a matter of fact as I'm listening to Johnny go on and on about how he's the same as everybody else I'm noticing that I'm beginning to zoom out and I'm having trouble even looking him in the eye as I ask him to repeat what he just said to me because I really wasn't listening in the first place...my minds still in the living room where I left my snacks and that tall glass of lemonade on the coffee table. I finally get the guts to tell Johnny that I'm not interested and I've got to get back to the game..."Thanks but no thanks".

I guess if you don't want this kind of thing to happen to you in a highly competitive marketplace you might want to consider creating a "Real" New Product that's really got some New Benefits along with some New distinctions that make your Customer say "Wow" because if your Customer is not "Wowed" to say the least you definitely won't keep them long even if you Pay them to do business with you. I hate to be sooo forward with my response but I've worked with too many struggling companies that are wondering why their customers are leaving when they truly do not have any major distinctions that give them leverage. But I'd rather be totally honest with you than to lead you to believe that you can enter into an already crowded existing marketplace where Customers have been doing business for years and take new ground there.

Another question you have to ask yourself is why would a guy whose been working with Billy for two years take such a Big Risk to now start all over again with a new kid named Johnny who he doesn't know? I'm not saying it can't happen I'm just saying that's a Big Leap...staying with Billy is no risk because you know what kind of service you're getting...you know how much you're going to pay and you know what kind of quality of work Billy does.

Now if I were you I'd consider creating some real distinctions you can leverage...like Apple does not only in their products but in their services and prices. And while McDonald's may appear not to have the Best Burger...they are the Best in many other categories...they may not have the Best Burger but they do have a distinctly different burger for each of their Customer Types...(and this is coming from a person who doesn't eat at McDonald's even though I have been in the headquarters behind the scenes, including their Annual Stockholder meetings, stayed in their hotels and talked to several of their executives and CEO...but it does help that I only live 40 minutes from their headquarters).

So there are many strategies we need to consider beginning with creating distinctions specifically with the very things you quoted in the beginning of your conversation. I hope you're open enough to consider making the shift.

Is there anything else I can do for you?


Your Servant,

Deremiah, *CPE (Customer Passionate Executive)

*Caring Promotes Exuberance

PS
REMEMBER... our only real problem in life is our failure to be "MORE Creative" than we’ve ever been. If you “Invent” your opportunity YOU WILL most definitely create your future.