Toshiba Phone Systems and More

Did this ever happen to you?

Recently I had an opportunity to bid on a job. There were several other vendors who had already made their bid, and I was coming in to the situation late. So I got a chance to sit down with the client and was able to convince him that our brand of equipment and the available features it offered made the most sense for their business needs.

We then sat down and reviewed the proposal together, and covered every detail. That’s normal for us, since we believe in educating our clients. Anyhow, everything seemed to go just fine, and I really believed that our company was going to get the job!

Well, a few days later the client called back and stated that he thought my price was too high and that I should sharpen my pencil. So I said “let’s cut to the chase, tell me where I need to be to win your business, you obviously like what I am saying and I would like to do business with you.” And he said “I agree” and he gave me a number. I met the number and thought it was all set. A done deal as they say.

Well, next thing you know I hear through the grape vine the business owner called his previous vendor and asked them if they sold what our company offered. When he heard “yes,” he then showed my competitor our price and told them beat this price and the job is yours.
And in a flash we lost the job. It was gone just like that.

Has this ever happened to you? Any thoughts?

So we have been trying to be creative in our marketing. I set up a Facebook and MySpace page for Pilothouse, but now I don’t really know what to do with it. I see MySpace pages now the 24 hour news programs for people to comment and interact. I know the up and coming executives grew up on MySpace but how do you get to them using this media? Is anyone using these social networking sites to generate business?

Recently I had the opportunity to speak to a room full of people at customer forum. I decided NOT to use multi media, power points or any thing else, just me live! I told them who I was, who my company was, what we did, then I told them a story.

I talked about one of customers and the experience they had before and after we helped them, I was able to paint a picture of a real success story that they could relate to. Not a lot of product info or feature descriptions just a good story.

It worked! I was well received and the President of the firm hosting the forum came up to me and said “that was a great story”

Stories work, try it next time.

CJ Carlson