Winning the competition's clients

Hi All,

First, I should state that, while I've done a fair amount of mostly
successful marketing-related work, I am not a marketer by trade, and
have no formal marketing education, aside from one or two junior
Marketing/Commerce electives I took in pursuit of my science degree. :-)

Brief background: I own a service-oriented web hosting company which has
a loyal following of clients that have largely been acquired as a result
of word-of-mouth referrals. A little more than half of our clients are
from Saskatchewan, Canada, where I'm doing business. This company is
four years old.

The local/regional market is small, so there are only one or two nearby
competitors I have to worry about. One such competitor has grown quickly
and is at least an order of magnitude larger than we are. That's fine;
they offer a good service. I *do*, however, know of more than a few
instances where certain clients of theirs are either not thrilled with
the service, or would be a better fit for our style of support.

Note I am by no means planning to use any deceptive sales techniques...
simply timely correspondence written for a specific group of potential
clients, inviting those clients to experience the benefits of another
competing service provider. Is there anything ethically problematic with
that? If not, are there specific strategies I should be considering to
maximize success and minimize risk? I know this has been done over and
over again.. yet I have these concerns.

Maybe I just don't have enough battle scars, yet. :-)

Thanks,
- Ryan

"Ryan Thompson" <a@ry.ca> wrote in message
news:bfuuvr039p@enews1.newsguy.com...
>
>
> Hi All,
<snip> Brief background: I own a service-oriented web hosting company which
has a loyal following of clients that have largely been acquired as a
result of word-of-mouth referrals. A little more than half of our clients
are
from Saskatchewan, Canada, where I'm doing business. This company is four
years old.
>
> The local/regional market is small, so there are only one or two nearby
competitors I have to worry about. One such competitor has grown quickly
and is at least an order of magnitude larger than we are.
<snip>
Note I am by no means planning to use any deceptive sales techniques...
simply timely correspondence written for a specific group of potential
clients, inviting those clients to experience the benefits of another
competing service provider. Is there anything ethically problematic with
that? If not, are there specific strategies I should be considering to
maximize success and minimize risk? <snip> Thanks,
> - Ryan
>
Dear Ryan,

There's nothing intrinsically wrong with trying to lure away the
competition's customers. Tell the truth, promote your business and
services, and you'll be fine.

However, the key issue for you is how to persuade these prospects to prefer
/ try your service. So, I believe the key is to determine your message -
how will you persuade them?

A handy tool for this sort of analysis is the comparitive matrix - compare
services vs price - compare customer-desired-services vs. the offerings of
you and your competitors. Do you win on price? Do you win on quality of
service? Do you win on quantity and type of services?

When you can see an advantage, then you can focus your marketing message
accordingly. Remember Avis, for example, making # 2 a good thing for the
customer.

If you can't see an advantage, one of two things has to be done. First,
expand your matrix choices - talk with customers (theirs and yours) and find
out what people think is important about the service, why they like you (or
the other guy) and try more cost - service comparisons to see where you can
come out on top. Second, you may need to look at your business and see what
you can change to come out the winner in comparisons.

Good luck. If you'd like to talk more, drop me an email at
gkingNOSPAM@geking.com, dropping the NOSPAM.

George King
g.e. king Marketing

[Moderator's note: The purpose of this public forum is to provide a place for
people to share ideas and to ask for/provide advice. Taking these conversations
off-line and into private email, so quickly, defeats the purpose of this group.
There are some things, of course, that warrent or require off-line discussions.
In all other cases, for the benefit of all, lets keep these discussions online.
-- Mike]

Ryan, what you need to do (IMO) is a competitive analysis (which is also
called benchmarking.) If you search the Internet and/or books on business,
you'll find a lot of good information.

And no, there is nothing unethical about what you are doing. What would not
be ethical would be to sit there and watch a competitors business grow
faster than yours and not take any action. So you are on the right path.

Mike

Thanks, Mike and George, for the invaluable advice.


Mike Turco wrote to :

> Ryan, what you need to do (IMO) is a competitive analysis (which is
> also called benchmarking.) If you search the Internet and/or books on
> business, you'll find a lot of good information.


I think Mike says this part the best:

> And no, there is nothing unethical about what you are doing. What
> would not be ethical would be to sit there and watch a competitors
> business grow faster than yours and not take any action. So you are on
> the right path.
>
> Mike


I don't think there'll be much problem in finding (and promoting)
advantages in our service. (And, more specifically, the needs of certain
groups currently being serviced by the competition). I do have a
tendency toward micro-management, but at least I know where my clients
come from that way. :-)

Thanks again,
- Ryan

"Mike Turco" <miketurco@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:bg3itd02jum@enews1.newsguy.com...
>
>
> Ryan, what you need to do (IMO) is a competitive analysis (which is also
> called benchmarking.) If you search the Internet and/or books on business,
> you'll find a lot of good information.
>
<snip> Mike


O, noble & righteous moderator... may I pick a small nit?
Competitive analysis typically involves measuring one's business and one's
competitors against each other or a quantitative / qualitative yardstick -
all phases of the business from product feature/function/benefit to price
structures, distribution, packaging, customer support, etc., etc. It is
typically done without the cooperation of the target organizations.

Whereas benchmarking is the detailed analysis of how a particular business -
not necessarily a competitor, and not necessarily even in the same
industry - performs a particular function of their operations. It typically
involves the target organization granting access to their internal
operations and metrics. And, wherever possible, you seek to benchmark
whoever is the very best at that particular operation. For example, LL
Bean's ordering/fulfillment process was benchmarked by so many different
companies in so many different industries that they finally had to beg off
from any more, because the studying was getting in the way of the operation.

Thanks for letting me get that off my chest.

George