© Small Business Marketing Solutions ~ White Paper Number 0004 ~ Dave Duncan ~ 2008

Marketing Strategies in a Down Market For Various Service Industries...

A down market is just another market and sitting around complaining about how business is off and how slow it is doesn't bring new clients in the door. How do you get interest in this type of a market? There is always one common issue in a down market. It is price and the single easiest way to gain interest is to demonstrate you have ability to help the client reduce their cost. It is important at this point that you realize that doing it for less money does not necessarily mean doing it for less profit.

 

A customer or a prospect does not want to run their suppliers out of business. They would be cautious in just adding one more name to their bid list in order to see if someone makes a mistake and they save a few pennies. Let a prospect know that you are in business to make a profit and you know they are also in business for the same reason and you can work with them to reduce their cost of products and be there next month as you will prosper also.

 

You must demonstrate a reason that you can do it faster and better. You must take a look at your "sweet spot". What do you do best and most competitively and why? If you are a machine shop and your milling machines have spindle speeds of over 20,000 RPM and you can mill faster than those shops with machines that only turn 7,000 RPM, and then you need to let the customer/prospects know that. With longer lasting expendable tooling because of less heat build up and better metal removal, you can make their parts cheaper. If you use a Laser for cutting sheet metal or a CNC pick and place unit to place electronic components, then you have a reason that you can work with them to reduce their costs.

 

You must ask yourself "why would the buyer or engineer want to change vendors and buy from me". The answer is that they want it faster, better and cheaper. Use the "Power of Legitimacy" to tell them why they can expect this. That "Power of Legitimacy" is a regular contact with demonstrable reasons that you can provide this.

 

A buyer's job is to bring services and products in faster, better and cheaper. How can you get a buyer to risk their job performance on you as an unknown? Back to the "Power of Legitimacy". You have to give them a strong reason to believe that. Through your marketing, you can present reasons to support a buyer taking a chance on you, but you have to be ready to perform. You must offer a proof. Offering a free review of one of their purchased products by your "Alternative Engineering Staff" is one way of following up on opportunities brought in by a marketing campaign. When sitting across from a buyer, the simple question of where would you like to see this price, will give you a guideline to go back and critically examine the opportunity and offer a way to meet that price point.

 

Use a down market as a tool. Let a prospect know that you understand that they are buying smaller quantities and face higher prices and they and their current vendors face cost increases that have to be passed on, but by working with you, they can achieve both their short term and longer term goals.

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