Happy new year to all!. A little late to greet a new year. Consulting my crystal ball, it's a good year for me if I keep myself in track. My first order of business is to investigate a closing project which is basically six months overdue and getting negative feedback from end users.
When I first got this project, let's call it project A. I was told by the owner himself that the first few demos presented to them before me where from Great Plains and another integrated software development company that I didn't mind knowing. "Know your enemy" as the going says. But for me if I already bag the project why would I waste time knowing my competitors when I already know just by their name that they are way above me, more advanced, better logistics, not to mention a wealth of advertising resources. But then again why do I try competing way down under?, it is simple arithmetic. The investment needed to get the services of my competitors are way beyond budget allocation for my target clients, which is also the target of my competitors. With all the come-ons and stretched-out payment schemes, it just won’t cut out for my target market. My target clients would rather spent on other company needed budget allocation than investing a big chunk in one basket of a solution.
OK it's like this. I presented an alternative to the owner. I assured the owner that what he needs can be satisfied through demo of my current products -- the management or top position people surrounding the owner also agrees. I explained that my product is customization driven and keeps evolving without sacrificing what is being basic and direct. I presented, the owner approved, we got commitments from each other, I customized. Very simple business process but it has its drawback. The one very affected area is the direct users of the system. Users need to adjust and not have false expectation what I offer other than getting what the owner want as an end result and not compare my products to those named software brands because the owner preferred a system at a fraction of an investment. As what I always say "Sacrifice user wants to get the company needs at an investment not even my competitors can chew on". I keep on dreaming that known software names are my competitors, what can I say, some of my clients tell me that those competitors came to them first and good faith has chosen me for obvious reasons. Now don’t get me wrong, we just squeeze in what we can do for a win-win situation or we can un-squeeze with better budget allocation, the bottom line is we get what the owner needs to decide. For the direct users of the system, the computer encoders and operators contentment is a different story.
I always tell my clients, “If you prefer, show me a known business system brand that you want and I can make a parallel system at one-fourth (1/4) the investment”. Invest more get more. . .
Thank you.
J.Arzadon
