Finding Customers Who Need What We Have (or Could Have)

A Business Development Strategy For Companies Pursuing Control Over Their Destiny

Published in: Georgia Printer, Winter 2000

If you think of your company as a printer, you may be in serious trouble. I've personally become convinced over the last few years that though a company may have outstanding cost controls, image reproduction, productivity, and even terrific advertising campaigns (read that as calendars and giveaways), if we haven't developed the capacity to develop customers and new business, we are guaranteed to eventually suffer – and fail. A traditional focus on graphic products or equipment is an out-of-date orientation. Ultimately, we are in the business of understanding and improving our target customers' business performance.

The challenge then is to understand your target customers' or prospects' business environment in order to demonstrate how your company's resources can make a difference in their business performance.

Though not always true, we appear to have entered a time when a graphic arts company's ability to develop business no longer depends on the quality of their print production. Price, quality (of print), and reliable delivery are practically a given in today's buying environment. (When was the last time you heard an account executive say to a buyer, "You may pick any two, but you can't have all three"?)

A growing number of customers perceive they can buy acceptable print materials from numerous sources, and for some – if not most of them – they're correct. In effect, increasing supply choices, technical advances in print production, and consolidation of suppliers by buyers have converged to create a commodity perception for many buyers and suppliers in our industry.

What we do best should no longer occupy our focus. Rather, we should concentrate on our ability to discern what target customers need – what they're having difficulty finding or accomplishing – that ultimately produces opportunities for a sustained customer/supplier working relationship. As a footnote to that development, consider that we're looking at "moving targets." What worked well for creating supplier value with our customer last month or last year, may be passe today or, more importantly, tomorrow.

If we don't know our customers' business development objectives or challenges, we are reduced to a reactive position. In essence, only when we look toward our potential future by researching our target customers' and prospects' business environments, can we illuminate the path to our potential as a meaningful supplier. Only then will we become a proactive supplier, and not a traditional, reactive supplier.

As a point of reference, at the Graphic Arts Sales Foundation week-long Sales Institute, many attendees testify (after several months back at their home companies) that the most valuable skill they developed was learning how and why to research their target customers and prospects for future business development.

TO CREATE VALUE - WE'RE ULTIMATELY IN OUR CUSTOMER'S BUSINESS

When meeting folks at trade shows or educational programs, I'll sometimes ask them to tell me about their company. Invariably, III hear comments like:

• "We do high-end work."

• "We're an adhesive label and bottle-wrap printer"

• "We're a quick-copy shop that's moving more into commercial work."

Much of the scope of these comments focuses on equipment or products produced, rather than on the target customer's markets for which they've developed an expertise in serving. Almost all graphic arts companies have developed areas of customer strength; that's partly why their customers continue to award them work.

As an alternative, put yourself in your buyer's position, and assess how the following very different responses might sound to you, if you heard them from your graphic arts supplier.

• "We're a high-end commercial printer specializing in designer and ad agency promotion work for medium-sized local corporations."

• "We're a local quick-copy shop transitioning to a commercial printer. We specialize in local small business print and print-related needs that support increased productivity."

• "We specialize in supplying bottle-wrap products to a wide range of local beverage companies, from milk to coffee, to nutritional juices, to soft drinks. Our specialty is increasing our customers' productivity."

In this second series of supplier responses, the focus is on the customers' business, and business performance needs. That is a very different customer orientation and focus. Such a supplier response also generates a very different set of images and understandings in the buyer/listener.

The McKinsey & Co. report to PIA some years ago demonstrated that buyers appreciate understanding and support of their needs. It was clear that customers were willing to pay a premium to suppliers who could reliably demonstrate specialization and expertise in the customer's business performance. Its conclusions are even more true today.

In a marketplace overcrowded with suppliers, buyers don't have time to see the suppliers who call for appointments. (Major New York agencies reportedly receive more than 200 requests from graphic arts companies for appointments each month.) If the prospective supplier rep doesn't demonstrate – on the first visit – a working knowledge of either the buyer's business or industry, the chances for obtaining repeat appointments predictably goes down.

Again, we're not so much in the printing or graphic arts business, as we're ultimately in our customers' businesses.

CUSTOMER AND PROSPECT INFORMATION TO PURSUE

Differentiation

What separates your customer from its competitors? Study everything you can get your hands on about the business. Be curious. Gather sales literature, check their Web site, begin asking yourself questions about their products, services, and customers. Try to discern issues related to their differentiation such as market direction, performance objectives, obstacles, and challenges.

Mission or Market Direction

Every business has an implied or expressed purpose for existing. It should revolve around who the business serves, what makes it different, to whom it is most valuable, and what it's trying to accomplish. In essence, it should be what the company is trying to become, and not so much what it is.

Products and Services, Including Specialties

Every business has a profile of products and services. More sophisticated companies develop these into packages and programs. Integrate this information with your thinking and ask yourself questions, such as, "How could print and print-related products and services make a difference in this company's challenges and objectives?"

Profile of Customers or Users

Every business has customers. Well-run or purposeful businesses have targeted customers. In doing your research, study the profile of customers or users, and ask yourself, "How can our capabilities assist this company in serving its target customers?" There are almost always opportunities, but we must develop our capacity to think outside the box of a traditional graphics supplier.

Distribution

Distribution is a key to graphics and imaging needs, from packaging to labels to documentation to promotional pieces. Study your customer's distribution needs, and you'll uncover a trail of print and print-related needs. Ask yourself, "What happens to this item after it leaves my customer's location?" That question is relevant for print-type products, as well as the products and services your customer produces.

Organizational Structure

One of the profound experiences that I repeatedly observe is that most companies, regardless of size, have more than one buying position, as well as more than one buying influence position. This market trend has been partly accelerated by organizational downsizing, and the resulting "increase in the buying center" effect. That is to say, buyers are increasingly dependent on others within their organization for advice and guidance. This effect is often a result of buyers having less knowledge about the increasing numbers of products and services that they must manage.

Information Needs

If you want to distinguish yourself in the eyes of your buyer, become – from the first visit – a meaningful source of information for your buyer and your buyer's organization. This can be as simple as: becoming a reliable source for graphic arts technical issues; managing their mailing list; assisting them with follow-up from their trade shows; or supplying them with timely information about their competitors. Rule of thumb: Never make a sales call on a target buyer without supplying at least two useful pieces of information.

Competitors

Studying your prospects' or customers' competitors can serve your mutual interests in numerous ways. As strange as it may sound, a supplier rep can often provide a buyer with more timely competitor information than they receive from their own company. Remember, our objectives are to become an invaluable resource, and to increase buyer-perceived customer value. The side benefit to such information gathering: You do indeed become more knowledgeable about your customer's business through wider study of the global picture. In time, customers have been known to include knowledgeable suppliers in business development planning and product launches.

Beginning Sources of Customer and Prospect Information

A visit to a good local library can help you uncover profound resources. Public and college business libraries have changed significantly over the last few years. Introduce yourself to the business and science staff. Explain the types of information you need, and how you plan to use it. My experience: one afternoon per month has the predictable result of steadily improving productivity and constantly uncovering new sources of information. A small investment of time can have a payback of more than 1,000 to one. Also, check the Internet, and the Web site of your prospect or customer (as well as their competitors). Finally, don't overlook your suppliers and associates as invaluable sources of information.