5 practical lessons from the field.

I went to a meet a prospective client today who makes construction components for houses.

When I drove into the industrial park I was amazed to see not 1, not 2 but 3 businesses in the same basic industry all within 100 metres of each other.  I wondered how they could all operate in such close proximity.

I later learned that one of them is actually a material supplier to the bigger of the two component manufacturers – my prospective client.  (The material and the end-product have very similar names).

It turned out to be a really cool meeting – with the web developer, myself on the SEO and copywriting plus a client who “gets” marketing.

As I learned more about their business I discovered that they’ve moved away from the lower price, higher volume end where loads of other makers scrabble for crumbs, shaving even more of their already thin margins.  The result is they now make far more profit on much more interesting applications with more appreciative clients.

The client also has a really wonderful product range – top-notch quality, a range to meet any preference, highly innovative and fabulous production standards.

They were wondering how to communicate all of this and I thought of the Schlitz beer ads developed by Claude Hopkins.

A quick overview for those who don’t know the story.

Claude Hopkins had won the Schlitz beer ad account and was being given a factory tour.  They were 6th in market share at the time.

As the production guy was explaining all of the components and the effort they went to in the production process – water selection, roasting the malt, cleaning, brewing and many more aspects, he was amazed at how much attention to detail they had.

He said they had to tell the story but the production guy said, “All the brewers use that process.”

Hopkins said, ‘Well no-one knows all the work that goes into a bottle of beer.”

So they told the story and within 18 months they were number 2.

Jay Abraham calls this the Theory of Pre-eminence. Which brings me back to today’s visit. My prospective client could see the value in using this method to express their passion and pride as they have so much to tell.

My next appointment was with someone from one of my networking meetings.

We meet most weeks but hadn’t spent any quality time listening to each other.

After we both explained to the other, we both realised how much knowledge the other had.  How expert we are at what we do.  How much experience and passion we each have for our businesses.

Later, as I was driving to yet another meeting, I thought on a few lessons from that morning.

1.Differentition – nothing immediately differentiated each of the three companies yet each are very different – so find your point of difference and make it obvious.

2.Integration – how can you integrate with other local companies to make more profit for both of you and give a better outcome for your customer?   Hint: It doesn’t have to be just the obvious supplier / buyer relationship.

3.Expertise – be confident in your expertise, don’t try to be a generalist.  The web developer knows what they are good at and that SEO is the foundation to a successful website, not an afterthought.  Ahhh – there’s a different type of integration you could use – collaborate with other experts to give a better total experience for your customers.

4.Marketing – the bigger company has been at the forefront of marketing in their sector, in fact they had the first website in their industry.  It’s no coincidence that they invest in marketing, are bigger and have a much better quality customer base.

5.Education – tell not just your customers, but friends and colleagues too, how much detail you go to to provide your service or how much expertise you really have.  And don’t be afraid to tell your story.

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