Holidays and Competitor Surveys
For many printers the holiday season brings with it a slowdown in sales. So how can you fill this time with a beneficial project that will help you in 2010? Conduct a survey of competitors that will reveal not only their pricing practices but the cleanliness of their facilities and the friendliness of their CSR staff.
As I write this blog I have a client who is undertaking just such a project. He has chosen 11 competitors in his market area. He has avoided choosing "garage" printers, and instead has selected printers with good reputations and longevity in his local community.
He has selected approximately five items, with two quantities for each, that he would like to survey. He has prepared an informal looking bid sheet and has hired a woman to conduct the project for him.
She is a local graphic artist and has been instructed to spend the next five days personally visiting each location under the guise of starting up her own graphic services business, and thus needs to get some printing done. She has also been instructed to tell each printer that she is not necessarily looking for the lowest price, but rather she wants to establish a long-term relationship with a local printer.
In addition to recording all prices and estimates she receives, she has been instructed to take notes on the overall appearance of the location and how she was treated by the CSRs who assisted her. She is also to record exactly how long it takes to receive quotes from these printers.
The goal of this market survey is to establish where this client fits in regards to pricing specific items and the measure how competitors rate when it comes to overall customer service and responsiveness to requests for quotes.
We expect that at least 2-3 printers on this list will fail to get back to our shopper in the 3-4 days allotted for this project.
I will report back on our findings. Happy holidays.
As I write this blog I have a client who is undertaking just such a project. He has chosen 11 competitors in his market area. He has avoided choosing "garage" printers, and instead has selected printers with good reputations and longevity in his local community.
He has selected approximately five items, with two quantities for each, that he would like to survey. He has prepared an informal looking bid sheet and has hired a woman to conduct the project for him.
She is a local graphic artist and has been instructed to spend the next five days personally visiting each location under the guise of starting up her own graphic services business, and thus needs to get some printing done. She has also been instructed to tell each printer that she is not necessarily looking for the lowest price, but rather she wants to establish a long-term relationship with a local printer.
In addition to recording all prices and estimates she receives, she has been instructed to take notes on the overall appearance of the location and how she was treated by the CSRs who assisted her. She is also to record exactly how long it takes to receive quotes from these printers.
The goal of this market survey is to establish where this client fits in regards to pricing specific items and the measure how competitors rate when it comes to overall customer service and responsiveness to requests for quotes.
We expect that at least 2-3 printers on this list will fail to get back to our shopper in the 3-4 days allotted for this project.
I will report back on our findings. Happy holidays.
Labels: competitor pricing, shopping competitors
posted by The Quick Consultant at
9:53 AM
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