Wednesday 18 February 2015

Winning The Project

One of the major challenges as well as profitable deals in Retailing and distribution of any product line is a huge order in a single go. It is so lucrative that sellers across the world want to do it compared to any other orders. It is extremely profitable, but when it comes to execution this becomes a big challenge. There are a number of issues that prevent such a deal. Build Avenue recognizes that many of our ceramic products dealers too face the same problem. In our case, it is termed a Project. Getting a project deal is quiet demanding as well as rewarding. Let us look at some of the aspects of the same.

·      Big Order Buyers have options

It is imperative to note that when a buyer has a large order, he has lot many options. Secondly the buyer will like to analyze each and every option before finalizing. So, the seller will have to be ready for a number of meetings as well as making their deals real sweet and invincible. This is a big ask, however, it is worth the effort to make your deal so lucrative that the buyer is always in a quandary.

·      Influencers Matter the Most

In large orders and Project deals, the influencer has a very big role to play. Being Technical and/or aesthetics person, he has the right to refuse a products without any valid reason. He also has the power to introduce you to the buyer or the consumer directly. This has led every brand to develop and maintain good relations with architects and interior designers. It is always worthwhile to invest in such relations and branding with these influencers in mind.

Another key aspect of the influencer is he needs lots of information and normally does not have the time to filter the information he needs. It is very beneficial to the seller who is updated and on line with every new technology and style entering the market. The influencer normally wishes to associate with the seller who is well informed, up to date and ready to go beyond normal know how to make the influencer’s life little easy.

Going a step further, the seller, should always have a good newsletter going to the influencer. This newsletter should be directed to the key person as well as his assistants. The key person normally is starved of time. However, the growing assistants are knowledge hungry and  read as well as study the newsletter.

What should the newsletter include? It should have all the new launched designs duly presented in concepts. It should have upcoming designs as well. If there is a technology adoption done, present it in a language that the consultants can understand and communicate to clients and the boss. Some tips on installations are always useful.

With Internet proliferation a monthly newsletter can server a great purpose. Effectively executed, it is one of the most profitable branding exercises. The ROI on such and activity will always be exponentially high.

·      Relation with Builders

Builders and developers normally deal with parties they can trust. Trust is developed by relationships. Though this is not sufficient, this is totally and positively necessary. Relation always keeps a door open for you. It gives the seller a chance to present himself at length, normally not possible for a newbie.

These relations can be enhanced by more regular meetings and site visits. The turning point in your favor comes with the knowledge and information again. Nobody like just laggards who are pushy and do not add value.

Always think of adding value to the projects of these builder and developers. It has a domino effect to increase your markets and empower you to close deals easily.

These relations are also very helpful in recovery of payments and getting further orders.

·      Pricing

This is one of the diciest questions of all. What is the right price? The seller will learn this largely through experience. However, looking to the competition in the country at present, no thumb rule will do creativity will be a consistent demand in pricing.

Some major aspects will include, landed costs, logistics, marketing effort to marketing margins’ ratio, total volumes, batches of delivery, and most of all the payment terms. These factors can be guides to what is Break even for us. From this point on, working upwards normally helps. In a market with subsiding demand the buyer will exercise his negotiation power. It is best to never offer baseline price immediately. Giving multiple prices with a confusing analysis helps carry on the discussion. This keeps the door open for further negotiation and reshaping the proposition with all terms in question.

HIGHER PRICE: May have a drawback of a newbie entering your markets easily. It can be sustained if it has a good sweetner attached to it. Like X Volume promises a foreign trip, or a car or something of the sort, depending on the size of the project. It has not to be at over compromising of the terms like payment credit days. This normally does not fare well in quality long term business. In fact a smart discount with advance payment works the best as you reduce your follow up time and frustration if the project goes wayward.

LOWER PRICE: Something that attracts the buyer immediately. This is where you can win profits on terms and conditions, like logistics, Payment terms, Delivery scheduling, smart demands of other products’ orders as well. This should however be done with a stringent execution. Any problem in execution can lead to a huge loss as the deal is of a large quantity.

·      Experience Sharing

This is a process where you bring the buyer as well as the influencer to a site where you have your products installed. A first hand experience is one of the most influential push to the buyer. This also give clarity to the buyer. He will not always ask all the questions. He will get some of his questions answered by seeing the products in performance state. This always earns your deal some points for your deal.

A client list and satisfied client videos are another way of doing the same. With multimedia and mobile internet on the rage, this can be done any time. This also saves you a lot of time and empowers the buyer to get reviews for your products.

·      Catalogue, CD, Web site and other Sales tools

No call starts without a good sales tool. No sales tool is complete without the next meeting date. In both these cases your sales tools become most vital weapon of your deal battle. There are many who are ill equipped and set a very poor impression. The sales tools empower the seller to answer most questions easily and smartly. It also sets an impression of a well organized brand and a well qualified person handling the sales account. This enhances the confidence of the buyer. This has a very positive effect in the favor of the deal.

Catalog should have new products as well as most Frequently asked questions. It can have an additional CD for products and layout videos to make your information bridge towards the influencer or the buyer. In both cases you have given all the tools to them to make an informed decision.

Remember, the buyer of big quantities will not make an ill informed decision. So with these tools you ensure that you have provided all the information that he would need.

·      Negotiation Time

This again is where an under-prepared seller looses. It is best to take the negotiation to the last stage of the deal. Once the terms, conditions as well as quantities are finalized, negotiation should come into picture.

We are sure many of you are already doing this, some tips will be very helpful.

Book More Projects this year.




1 comment:


  1. The information which you have provided is really nice and awesome. Provides some very useful insights of how things actually work. I want to share something more about this as well.

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