| 1 Sell ‘Value’ & Not Products
Quite a cliché. I am sure you must have heard this many times from many people. So what does it mean to your business? In the present times our customers are looking for an optimum balance of value/cost equation. The moment value perception exceeds the cost incurred, sales will or continue to happen. Value is no more in terms of physical product but in terms of the performance, guaranty, brand, pre & post sales support etc. To your advantage SEI (Schneider Electric India) has wide range of ‘optimum’ offers which excel in its performance & value delivery. Products like Simpact, Neo-break, Activa, Harmony, Starters etc. can be leveraged to strengthen high value/ low cost equation.
2 Sell ‘More’ to customers
Think about selling other Schneider products to existing customers. This way you maximize your billing from the existing account without incurring addition cost of customer development & logistics. How about selling Harmony to your PB customer who buys MCCBs or MCBs? Very apt when total number of enquiries have gone down in the market place.
3 ‘Defend’ your price
For any individual who makes a living by selling, defending price should be his second nature. You don’t go far by lowering your price. As a matter of fact you are going to hit the limit sooner than you think. Use your energy in promoting the value, bundle it with volumes & leverage with after sales service like AMCs etc (wherever applicable in consultation with CSD).Next time you visit your customer carry the product, spend time with customer & illustrate every possible USPs (unique selling proposition).I am sure none of you have purchased your swanky automobile just bargaining on price but on generously test driving it.
4 ‘Bond’ with customer
It is important to focus on retaining your old customers. Getting new ones will be tough, but retaining an old customer is lot easier. There are the times when you can bond with them & show them you care. The way you can strengthen your relationship now, you won’t be able to do in your entire lifetime. Focus on making the most of recession to grow & nurture relationships. They will yield results when things are fine in future.
5 ‘Move up’ the value Chain
Having got close to your customer try to figure out an opportunity where in you can offer doing a small part of the job your customer does after buying from you. For instance, if your customer is buying contactor & relay how about wiring them as per the required circuit diagram & mounting in on the frame (same frame that customer uses).This way you are cutting out into a space of offering a starter assembly & not merely contactors & relays. Easy said than done. All you need is a team with basic skills, ability to win customer confidence & entrepreneurial ambition. I still remember the story of a very successful PB who made his first panel with switchgear fitted in Godrej iron cupboard.
6 ‘Fund Management’
It is hard to decide where to spend money & where to restrict. The times are tough for all & everyone is trying to retain as much working capital as they can. However, investing today in sectors such as telecom, government (PWD,MES), health care, hotel, educational institutes, and budget homes where lot of projects are lined up for coming moths can be helpful. What you sow now is what you’ll reap later. Keep away for ‘speculative’ trends & risky projects. Be prudent in selecting your debtors. Today’s cash payments are better than high margin credit business. Weed out your non moving stocks today. Optimum stocks are more effective than over/under stocking. Key to figure out this is to know your customers (supply chain) well, delivery lead times of Schneider products, up to date stock monitoring & providing forecast (at least for high qty items).
7 ‘Train & develop’ your people
Some one said it well “If I had eight hours to chop a tree I would spend 6 hours sharpening my axe”. This is the time to improve & acquire new skills for your team. Apart from products it is the people who make all the difference in a business. Recession gives us all the time to enroll our team or ourselves to a technical program. Schneider has a published product training calendar for you to pick & chose apart from dedicated distributor/partner training program. How about making it mandatory for you & your team to train for minimum 10 days in a calendar year? Remember the aim of all this learning is not merely knowledge but action.
8 Get ‘Disciplined’
It all starts with how effectively you manage each minute of your day. We have exactly same no. of hours per day that were given to Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci & Albert Einstein. Better organizing your day will leave you with enough time to make those extra calls to the customer, follow-up for payments, spend time with team & keep up the commitments with family. Putting one more extra hour every day adds up to 5 additional years of your work life. All of us have many ways of squeezing this extra hour..may be by sleeping one hour less, coming to office 1hr early or avoiding the daily time wasters.
9 ‘Align’ with SEI’s strategy
In times like this it pays to be closer to Schneider Electric both at operational & strategic levels. This closeness will foster sharing of information, identifying opportunities & creating success stories. Never miss out on attending meetings with SEI team. Our company is working meticulously to address the challenges of the present times & and can assist you in every possible way.
10 Be‘focused’
Don’t take your eyes off your goal. Recession is nature’s way of evolving the business. The good news is that once it is over you are more evolved, robust & seasoned to capitalize the opportunities. Stay in there & play your best. |
