Highlighting VALUE in your next submission

When making a submission or responding to a tender, it's easy to answer all the questions but fail to show the real VALUE in your offer.
I was reminded of this when I recently, took a week’s holiday on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. We stayed at some holiday apartments (of reasonable quality) overlooking the beach. On arriving in our apartment, we found there was less than half a roll of toilet paper; enough dishwashing liquid for one wash; and one small soap each. The owners had presumed that everyone who came to the apartments did so on the basis of price (and that was the sole value driver in the relationship); and further more, if we had gone to the property down the road the situation would have been the same. Okay, so they have to be competitive in a very tight market; but they missed an opportunity to make us very satisfied (at no extra cost) and we would have not only used them again, but recommended them to our friends.
So, what could they have done?
On arrival, they could have given us a “welcome” note or card which explained the apartment philosophy (especially how it differs in service level to a hotel/motel) and offered to sell a pack of “emergency rations” to save us having to go to a supermarket and buy (relatively large) packets of washing powder etc.This wouldn’t have cost them anything; and, in fact they could make money on the ration packs at the same time as making us satisfied. If only they had understood that “convenience” was a value driver for us (and I would suspect, for quite a large number of their customers)!
So, back to your submission – have you made it obvious what additional VALUE you are bringing to the table? Does your Executive Summary say why you are different to everyone else? Are you telling a good story?
Give the purchaser more reasons to deal with you rather than your competitors.

Loyalty in tough times

Loyalty for marketers is the Holy Grail. Problem is, how do you make money from it? In an attempt to find a way, I researched and developed a Model that can help drive your strategy.

The Brand Alignment Model came out of an in-depth research project on customer loyalty. In discussing the Model with senior executives in a range of companies, it became very clear that building customer loyalty was a key value driver in all their businesses. And not just loyalty per se - the important thing is to manage the relationship to best meet the needs of the customer and the company.

As one of them said, “it’s 5 years before they are going to make another purchase, which is good and bad. We’ve got 5 years to move them up the pyramid; but we’ve also got plenty of opportunity to stuff it up. That means we have to keep in touch with them and try to keep them satisfied and try to involve them more.”

We have published the results of the study, together with insights gleaned from seasoned marketers, plus an outline of how to work with the Model, in a book entitled Customer Savvy. The book is the first title in our Business Bites series which aims to present mission critical information in a concise actionable format. Copies are available for $19.95 from www.tenderlink.com/notification (click the Workshop button).