Reply to: Pimps

[pzz76077]

Possibly the combination of all of these things is unique - therefore making one USP?

OP does point out

Then would suggest pitching it as a new methodology or framework that gives x benefits over doing it the old way, saves y time and z costs savings.

This would be a USP and would give a product to sell in the market place as opposed to a bunch of stuff that every Co is peddling .

PZZ

[MPwannadecentincome]

Not sure any of these are USP's, just about any IT company in the world would offer any/all of em. USP's are things that you cant buy anywhere else IMO.

PZZ

Possibly the combination of all of these things is unique - therefore making one USP?

OP does point out

Disclosure - unlike competitors

[pzz76077]

Apologies, in advance, that this isn't a rant about how sh!t pimps are.

I spent the weekend in quiet contemplation about the Menelaus brand and what I could use it for. Despite being a codemonkey I'm also a bit of a creative (when I'm off my meds) and have identified five USPs for Menelaus as a "brand", including:

1. Speed - delivering models and thus benefit in extra-fast time

2. Price - as a smaller organisation than the competitors, models are a lot cheaper

3. Disclosure - unlike competitors, disclosing the full detail of how a model works, including weightings

4. Innovation - creating new modelling methods and types which make life better and easier

5. Cross-pollination - working in a number of research fields means better view of model development

So here's the question. Can any of you recommend a pimp who'd be good to find me an excellent sales director? As noted above, as a codemonkey, I'm a-bit-more-than-adequate, as a salesman I'm rubbish.

Not sure any of these are USP's, just about any IT company in the world would offer any/all of em. USP's are things that you cant buy anywhere else IMO.

PZZ

[FSM with Cheddar]

Thanks for sticking up for me guys.

(man hug, not a girly one)

[suityou01]

Right, thanks.

[MPwannadecentincome]

He didn't start the thread, try specsavers!

Hth.

WHS

[Churchill]

Why start the thread then? Sheesh. Sorry for asking questions. Go on a customer management course as well.

HTH

He didn't start the thread, try specsavers!

Hth.

[suityou01]

MPwannadecentincome - Thanks for saying what I couldn't be bothered to say.

For the record.

Sales / Marketing guy I am talking to at the moment represents quite a few small IT related business. They are all doing very well in the sales department even though some of them are offering noddy solutions.

So I think it is well worth the investment.

Why start the thread then? Sheesh. Sorry for asking questions. Go on a customer management course as well.

HTH

[MPwannadecentincome]

MPwannadecentincome - Thanks for saying what I couldn't be bothered to say.

For the record.

Sales / Marketing guy I am talking to at the moment represents quite a few small IT related business. They are all doing very well in the sales department even though some of them are offering noddy solutions.

So I think it is well worth the investment.

Your welcome and good luck!

Now I should do some work - finding it difficult to motivate myself today, maybe I should help businesses with their marketing instead

[FSM with Cheddar]

MPwannadecentincome - Thanks for saying what I couldn't be bothered to say.

For the record.

Sales / Marketing guy I am talking to at the moment represents quite a few small IT related business. They are all doing very well in the sales department even though some of them are offering noddy solutions.

So I think it is well worth the investment.

[MPwannadecentincome]

So in essence it is not possible to turn raw services into a product. You have to develop a product using those services, and then market that. I thought the OP was saying you can't market your services per se, rather you had to dress them up as some sort of product.

.....

My guess is

System specification (to 100 pages)
Data model (To 20 tables)
Prototype (To 10 Screens)
System Testing
UAT
Rollout and Training
1 Years Remote support

Only £49,999

Sort of.

As with all sales and marketing you have to stretch the truth. Businesses do not want to buy a service they want a problem solved.

So you have to target your sales towards how you can solve that problem.

"This web system will help your business cut down order administration time by x%".

Or, to borrow minestrone's current gig - this web system will reduce fraud and increase accuracy of taxi travelling expense claims and administration by x%.

So you have to dress up your service as a product that can solve the problem. OK if they sign on the dotted line, you have to develop it all, but you have a framework to help you or another system you already have the IP for which you can adapt?

Your guess is suitable if addressed to the IT director of a company. Maybe there is a market for that - a fixed price web development service - but how can you put a fixed price on it without knowing what the requirements are, e.g. how many fields on the screen, what background processing should take place, what other systems will it interact with etc etc.

But I suspect the approach being discussed in OP is going to get better results targetted at the business. Why? well...

* businesses have problems which need to be solved
* their IT depts are too busy to solve all of them
* their IT depts may not know how to solve them
* the company may be too small to have an IT dept

etc

Joe in the corner shop may not be interested in specs, tables, UAT etc. What he may be interested is in a web ordering system that, say, allows me to put in an order for a few things I need to pick up in the morning but I want to order it whilst the shop is closed, then it is ready for me as he's packed it all up I just have to go and pay and collect. Or whatever, £49,000 is OTT for that but its just an example of the top of my head.

[suityou01]

The product here clearly is a website of some sort. To sell it you have to show its value to someone. To find the value you have to look at what you have done in the past for whom and what benefit they got out of it.

So for example you may have developed a custom web-site to allow a business to take orders from its agents who are selling to clients.

So its a web-enalbed sales order processing system.

What industries could this be used in?

How many people no longer had to do dreary admin / order keying?

What business improvements resulted with the new system?

Who else is selling similar products?

What is unique about the system that could not be purchased elsewhere 'off the shelf'?

For the above - yes you need a marketing person, you might find someone who has been made redundant and is keen to get a bit of work - in fact just interview a few people and set them the above as a 'test' - after a few interviews you might have most of the material you need

To sell the product - sack the marketing person and get a sales person - the two skills are very different. The sales person needs to be familiar with the type of companies and industries you are targeting - ie to be able to talk their language.

You might find someone who will work for you on a commission only basis - ie they will be working for other people too just make sure they are not working for your competitors. Alternatively, you could find a consultant who works in those industries, where they see an opportunity to use your product if they sell it you pay them commission.

HTH

So in essence it is not possible to turn raw services into a product. You have to develop a product using those services, and then market that. I thought the OP was saying you can't market your services per se, rather you had to dress them up as some sort of product.

For example, in the motor trade, mechanic skills can be boxed up as

Tune up
Oil Change
Service
MOT

etc etc

I was trying to draw a parallel to the aforementioned services with IT related ones.

My guess is

System specification (to 100 pages)
Data model (To 20 tables)
Prototype (To 10 Screens)
System Testing
UAT
Rollout and Training
1 Years Remote support

Only £49,999

[MPwannadecentincome]

So for example lets take the following services

C# Programming
Data modelling
SQL Server 2005/2008
Web development

These are the component parts of building a web enabled database and deploying it. How would one make this a product? Just a starter for ten would be nice.

The product here clearly is a website of some sort. To sell it you have to show its value to someone. To find the value you have to look at what you have done in the past for whom and what benefit they got out of it.

So for example you may have developed a custom web-site to allow a business to take orders from its agents who are selling to clients.

So its a web-enalbed sales order processing system.

What industries could this be used in?

How many people no longer had to do dreary admin / order keying?

What business improvements resulted with the new system?

Who else is selling similar products?

What is unique about the system that could not be purchased elsewhere 'off the shelf'?

For the above - yes you need a marketing person, you might find someone who has been made redundant and is keen to get a bit of work - in fact just interview a few people and set them the above as a 'test' - after a few interviews you might have most of the material you need

To sell the product - sack the marketing person and get a sales person - the two skills are very different. The sales person needs to be familiar with the type of companies and industries you are targeting - ie to be able to talk their language.

You might find someone who will work for you on a commission only basis - ie they will be working for other people too just make sure they are not working for your competitors. Alternatively, you could find a consultant who works in those industries, where they see an opportunity to use your product if they sell it you pay them commission.

HTH

[alreadypacked]

Oh, and, FYI? I won't be either.

Marketing = bollocks, IMHO.

Bad Marketing = bollocks

[alreadypacked]

Straight to the important stuff
You get to choose i.e. Men choose English, Women choose some yougerty thing.

Currently on a diet, so I only think of food

So invite me to the next one, I can work/eat