Q & A Table of Contents
We Can't Get Their Attention
From: Khurram, Karachi, Pakistan
Question: We are a manufacturing company. We know some big potential customers of our products. These customers are buying from our competitors whom we know very closely.
We offer these parties much lower prices, better quality and prompt delivery. We offer them a lot of free samples which will show them our quality. We offer them very easy payment terms. But in spite of all these offers, they don't give any further attention to us, nor do they return our faxes, phone calls, emails, even don't bother to check our samples. They simply ignore us.
We know through our competitors' intelligence that our competitors charge them higher prices than the prices we offer these customers. But no response.
First, please tell me how you recall this situation in typical negotiation terms? What you think, where we are lacking ? Why we aren't able to convince and get these clients, which we obviously deserve. In which way we can better deal with them?
Response: There are many ways to get the attention of potential customers. The best way is to have people or companies you know they respect and with whom they do business say or write good things about your products or your company. Word of mouth is better than paid advertising or often even the best salesperson.
The first step you should take is to research with whom these potential customers have favorable business relationships. If any of their clients or suppliers do business with you, you should ask these third parties for advice and perhaps to help you get appointments with people who make decisions at the companies that have been ignoring you.
You also need to ask good questions about how your company differs from your competitors in ways that may be tangential to quality of goods, price, delivery, and other central business factors. For example if there are family ties, shared political connections, or even long-standing business relationships those may influence the likelihood of being able to open the closed doors.
In some parts of the world it is also possible that there is money changing hands to convince your potential customers to deal with your competitors instead of you. Bribery is unethical and is contrary to a company's interest on pragmatic grounds. If bribery is a factor, you need to figure out whether exposure will help you or hurt you. Exposure to government agencies, the press, or other institutions needs to be considered in terms of whether anyone cares, whether the potential customers or your competitors will respond negatively, and what it might do to your company's reputation. The bribery issue (which I hope is not relevant to your specific situation or Pakistan in general) has all kinds of unfortunate possibilities.
On a more positive note, you could make efforts to get favorable publicity for your company and products. It could be very good if there were stories in publications your potential customers read that discuss the high quality of the work you do and the products you make. If you can get favorable articles written, send copies to potential customers -- with no extraneous information except possibly your contact information.
You may also want to take a look at the interests of all the stakeholders in the business transactions you would like to undertake. In my book, Negotiating Skills for Managers (Tata McGraw-Hill), Chapter 5 describes the Interest Map which can help you devise strategies that can take you closer to your objectives.
Good luck,
Steve
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