About competitive advantages, or Do not make the customer feel like an idiot
I wrote most of my previous articles on the part of IT specialists and companies ( How to scare highly skilled specialists. A guide for companies , Debriefing: how to describe vacancies , When I spoke ... ), today I want to look at the process of selecting a performer through the eyes of a customer.
Did you have to do repairs, for example, order the door to the apartment? It would seem that nothing complicated: I went to a search engine, got acquainted with the assortment, chose a suitable model, it remains only to choose the executing company, whose price / quality / time ratio will be optimal.
Several movements on the keyboard - and here you have a list of potential companies. In the process of collecting and analyzing information about these companies, it suddenly turns out that the price for the doors is the same for everyone, since they receive products from the same manufacturer (the price on the manufacturer's website is the same). Here you feel discomfort for the first time, because you cannot understand what the companies earn and what are their competitive advantages.
')
Ok, if there is no difference, call the first company. Here, a second surprise awaits you: the manager asks you to answer a huge number of questions, for example, what exact dimensions of openings, the shape and number of platbands, what accessories to use, whether thresholds are needed, what handles to insert, etc. After you move away from a small shock, you will be told that you still need to pay the measurer, the carrier, the loader, the assembler, and the final cost will be clear only after you make an advance payment and carry out the “preparatory work”, since “prices can change "is" external factors that they can not influence.
Then follows a period of “clarifications”, during which you will be given an educational campaign on building materials, will tell about the history of the tree from which they will make doors, share information about trends in the production of accessories and varnishes, tell about all the advantages and disadvantages of a particular model. and also they will offer to come to the office in order “to make sure of the quality of the doors and the services provided”.
In general, it is in this place that you will surely feel like a complete idiot who cannot even choose the doors by himself.
However, with a deeper immersion, you will learn to understand the types of doors, installation difficulties and to distinguish good German accessories from Chinese ones by smell. But it takes some time.
Finally, after the experience gained, you make an application in which you specify all the technical specifications (color, form factor, etc.), describe all the requests and ask to send the cost / terms of the order, including delivery and installation.
And here begins the most interesting.
Some companies send the cost of the order without specifying the deadlines, others send the cost without shipping and installation, some send just the general price, and some ... do not send anything. In addition, some of the ratings are framed in plain text in an e-mail, and some in Excel with an interactive calculator.
So, you received five to ten assessments in different formats, which need to be reduced to a format that you understand, analyze the information received and understand why the cost of performing the same order at the same prices for basic services differ by 15-25% (which can be justified!).
It is difficult if you are not a pro. But you are not a pro, you are an ordinary person who just wants to install these freaking doors !!!
Now you understand what the customer feels, who wanted to find an artist for creating a website or a mobile application?
But unlike the door handles that the customer can feel in the store, he is unlikely to be able to “feel” at the physical level the difference between C # 4.0 and C # 4.5, MonoTouch and Marmelade, HTML4 and HTML5.
It is clear that software development is a more complex process than the manufacture of doors, but only in terms of technology. From the point of view of organizational issues and approaches to working with the customer - everything is the same *.
* If you think differently, it means that you did not have to act as a customer or you did not deal with people who are more knowledgeable in a certain issue.
Thus, performing companies must understand that a customer is of two types: one that knows nothing at all, but has the necessary finances and the desire to order something from you, and one that has already been brainwashed and who already more or less understands the question, which will allow him to critically analyze your ratings and suggestions.
What type of customer is worse for you? Of course, the second. A person who understands that he is a layman in a certain matter is easier to follow the advice and opinions of the "experts." The more advanced will ask a lot of questions and think for a long time, since he still does not have the critical knowledge base for quick decision making, and he has already passed the “layman” level.
Therefore, if a customer has come to you, the first thing to do is to find out the level of his “prowess”, then try to limit his decision-making to the maximum, leaving simple questions for him, such as “color” and “size”. You have a maximum of one attempt to find answers to critical questions that can significantly affect the final grade. If, as a result, the customer is not satisfied with the price or other parameters, you can always enter into a constructive conversation with him and defend your opinion. But you do not need to expose him as an idiot, since you can remain trivial with your opinion and high CSW, but without a client.
And yes, if the customer clearly indicates that he needs cost and time, then pay the most attention to this, because these are the main criteria for his assessment, and he will choose the performer according to them, and not according to the generally accepted or familiar to you.
If at the first request you start asking questions of what color the icon on the twenty-fifth screen will be in a specific situation, then you will cause the very “idiot effect” with which you implicitly reward the customer. I do not think that many will agree with you to continue cooperation.
Did you have to do repairs, for example, order the door to the apartment? It would seem that nothing complicated: I went to a search engine, got acquainted with the assortment, chose a suitable model, it remains only to choose the executing company, whose price / quality / time ratio will be optimal.
Several movements on the keyboard - and here you have a list of potential companies. In the process of collecting and analyzing information about these companies, it suddenly turns out that the price for the doors is the same for everyone, since they receive products from the same manufacturer (the price on the manufacturer's website is the same). Here you feel discomfort for the first time, because you cannot understand what the companies earn and what are their competitive advantages.
')
Ok, if there is no difference, call the first company. Here, a second surprise awaits you: the manager asks you to answer a huge number of questions, for example, what exact dimensions of openings, the shape and number of platbands, what accessories to use, whether thresholds are needed, what handles to insert, etc. After you move away from a small shock, you will be told that you still need to pay the measurer, the carrier, the loader, the assembler, and the final cost will be clear only after you make an advance payment and carry out the “preparatory work”, since “prices can change "is" external factors that they can not influence.
Then follows a period of “clarifications”, during which you will be given an educational campaign on building materials, will tell about the history of the tree from which they will make doors, share information about trends in the production of accessories and varnishes, tell about all the advantages and disadvantages of a particular model. and also they will offer to come to the office in order “to make sure of the quality of the doors and the services provided”.
In general, it is in this place that you will surely feel like a complete idiot who cannot even choose the doors by himself.
However, with a deeper immersion, you will learn to understand the types of doors, installation difficulties and to distinguish good German accessories from Chinese ones by smell. But it takes some time.
Finally, after the experience gained, you make an application in which you specify all the technical specifications (color, form factor, etc.), describe all the requests and ask to send the cost / terms of the order, including delivery and installation.
And here begins the most interesting.
Some companies send the cost of the order without specifying the deadlines, others send the cost without shipping and installation, some send just the general price, and some ... do not send anything. In addition, some of the ratings are framed in plain text in an e-mail, and some in Excel with an interactive calculator.
So, you received five to ten assessments in different formats, which need to be reduced to a format that you understand, analyze the information received and understand why the cost of performing the same order at the same prices for basic services differ by 15-25% (which can be justified!).
It is difficult if you are not a pro. But you are not a pro, you are an ordinary person who just wants to install these freaking doors !!!
Now you understand what the customer feels, who wanted to find an artist for creating a website or a mobile application?
But unlike the door handles that the customer can feel in the store, he is unlikely to be able to “feel” at the physical level the difference between C # 4.0 and C # 4.5, MonoTouch and Marmelade, HTML4 and HTML5.
It is clear that software development is a more complex process than the manufacture of doors, but only in terms of technology. From the point of view of organizational issues and approaches to working with the customer - everything is the same *.
* If you think differently, it means that you did not have to act as a customer or you did not deal with people who are more knowledgeable in a certain issue.
Thus, performing companies must understand that a customer is of two types: one that knows nothing at all, but has the necessary finances and the desire to order something from you, and one that has already been brainwashed and who already more or less understands the question, which will allow him to critically analyze your ratings and suggestions.
What type of customer is worse for you? Of course, the second. A person who understands that he is a layman in a certain matter is easier to follow the advice and opinions of the "experts." The more advanced will ask a lot of questions and think for a long time, since he still does not have the critical knowledge base for quick decision making, and he has already passed the “layman” level.
Therefore, if a customer has come to you, the first thing to do is to find out the level of his “prowess”, then try to limit his decision-making to the maximum, leaving simple questions for him, such as “color” and “size”. You have a maximum of one attempt to find answers to critical questions that can significantly affect the final grade. If, as a result, the customer is not satisfied with the price or other parameters, you can always enter into a constructive conversation with him and defend your opinion. But you do not need to expose him as an idiot, since you can remain trivial with your opinion and high CSW, but without a client.
And yes, if the customer clearly indicates that he needs cost and time, then pay the most attention to this, because these are the main criteria for his assessment, and he will choose the performer according to them, and not according to the generally accepted or familiar to you.
If at the first request you start asking questions of what color the icon on the twenty-fifth screen will be in a specific situation, then you will cause the very “idiot effect” with which you implicitly reward the customer. I do not think that many will agree with you to continue cooperation.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/170083/
All Articles