Www.mbc-pa.com Operated by The Enterprise Center Successful Contractors Working With Corporations Alliance Baltimore 2015 October 29, 2015 James W. Haile

www.mbc-pa.com Operated by The Enterprise Center

Successful ContractorsWorking With Corporations

Alliance Baltimore 2015

October 29, 2015

James W. Haile Jr., C.P.M.

JWH & AssociatesA Supply Management Training and Consulting Company

Solving Problems and Creating Value

5200 Hilltop Blvd., CC3, Brookhaven, PA 19015610-490-0470 (o) 610-745-9061 (c) [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


Workshop Purpose

This presentation is designed to help your company become a very successful corporate contractor by developing your business and your personal capabilities in the areas of:

-awareness and understanding of your customer’s business and

pain points

-and identifying and utilizing the skills and tools

that will optimize your customer relationships, enhance your overall performance and creates business growth.

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Agenda

I. Customer Expectations

II. Planning, Resources Required and Tools Used to Achieve Success

-Your Business Foundation: Strategy, Organization and Performance

-Sales Relationships and Identifying Different Customer Segments

-Creating Added Value

III. Helpful Business Hints

IV. Summary

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I. Customer Expectations

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In Search of Contractor Success

• What must you do to achieve success as a contractor?

• What do customers want from their contractors?

• Are you prepared?• Are your employees

prepared• What does excellent

Customer Service entail and what are the results?


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Building and Maintaining Relationships

• Preparation is the foundation for success

• Understand your customer’s business and their “pain points” before you try to sell your products or services

• Solve Problems and Create Value

• Create a “psychological contract” between you and your customer by displaying your personal expertise and sharing your experiences

• The above relationship will build trust, respect and comfort

• Become consistent in getting things done and in being responsive to your customer

• Make certain that your firm can do what you say they can do

• Communicate your customer’s “expectations” to your company so that everyone is aligned

• Meet periodically with your customer, the internal end-user and document your past accomplishments so they know who you are and what you have done for them

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Building and Maintaining Relationships

•Here are examples of bad behavior

-Not prepared and wasting

people’s time

-Arrogance and Poor Listening

-Speaking before you Think

-Giving sarcastic remarks!

-Giving an answer to a question

without any knowledge of the

topic or the situation

• Unhappy customers will remember you always

• They will smile, but never buy from you

• Buyers move to other companies or other locations and they remember

• Buyers will tell others about your bad performance.

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Voice of Customer: ExpectationsA. Perfect Execution of a Purchase Order or a Contract

The Supplier provides required supplies/services at the lowest cost with the required quality with the required quantity to be delivered at the required time in the required condition

B. Continuous Improvement: Examples: cost improvements, process efficiencies, technology updates, added functions, cycle time reduction, etc.) C. Innovation: Locate or create leading edge options for products, services or processes that generate “Competitive Advantage “ in the marketplace which leads to incremental profit for both customer and supplier

D. Business Continuity Planning: A planning process which insures continuity of critical supply/services


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Voice of Customer: Expectations

E. Providing optimum “Value” using the formula:

Value = Benefits/Costs

F. Excellent Customer Service: Responsible, Responsive and Prompt

G. Excellent Behavior: Honest, Legal and Ethical

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Excellent Supplier PerformancePerfect Execution, Continuous Improvement and Innovation

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Business Continuity Planning• Your customers expect to have minimum or zero risks in

their supply chains when buying products and services from your company. You must help to insure continuity of supply and services by having a robust Business Continuity Plan (BCP) for your organization.

• The BCP should be designed to cover your total company which covers your Operations, your critical Organizational structure, key Staff members and the business ownership.

• Customers want to be risk free and they do not want to have long term agreements with companies who have risks!

• As a business owner, you must prepare and plan to minimize any disruptions in performances to protect your customers due to accidents, economic downturns, material shortages, political upheavals, criminal incidents or acts of God!

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Business Continuity Planning

• What happens if you get sick or die? Who is your back-up? Do you have a personal succession plan?

• Does your company stop operating effectively when you or a critical member of your staff is not available?

• Have you thought about succession planning for yourself or key family members if the business is family owned?

• If you have not prepared for the above, your business is at risk and your customers will be unhappy!

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II. Planning, Resources Required and Tools Used to Achieve Excellence

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Planning, Resources Required and Tools:Achieving Excellence

• Do you have a solid Business Vision and a Sales Strategy?

• Do you have a skilled organization and is it aligned with your vision and strategy?

• Do you have the appropriate capable resources (i.e. people, money, time, processes and appropriate assets) to execute your vision and strategy?

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• Do you have the right people in the correct positions to add value to your business and your customers?

• Do you have enough people in critical positions like Sales?

• When people are sick, quit or fired, have you someone who can fill their roles.

• Do you have the right resources and assets to be successful with your business?

• Do you have systems, processes and procedures to insure Quality, Financial Control, Inventory Control, HR, Safety and Info Management?

• If not, your business is at Risk!

Your Business: Organizational Structure and Performance

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Your Business: Organizational Structure and Performance

• How well is your company performing in growing sales dollars, gaining new customers, keeping old customers, entering new areas of industries and geographic locations? Do you measure this performance?

• Do you measure how well you are performing in making perfect deliveries on Purchase Orders and Contracts?

• Does your customer measure your performance?• Keeping track of your performance is an “Excellent”

marketing tool and an even better business tool for your organization.

• If you do not measure yourself, how do you know how well you are performing?

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Your Business: Strategy, Organizational Structure and Performance

• Do you have a process to audit each function in your business?

• What is your competition doing in the marketplace?

• Have you identified your business internal strengths and external opportunities?

• Have you identified your internal weaknesses and any external threats?

• Use a SWOT Analysis to improve your business


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Sales and Identifying Different Customer Segments and Opportunities

• Your first contact with the customer may be your web site and your business card. Make certain they represent your business.

• Your in-house and outside account sales force must be “Excellent”! See slide #19

• Are all customers the same? Do they all fit in the same category? See slides #20 and #21.

• Make certain you critically review the above as they pertain to your business!

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Characteristics of an Excellent Salesperson!

• Perform Consultative Selling• Know your Customer’s products and services• Good Listener• Be Informative and pleasant• Know your products and services• Be effective in Your Company• Honest and Ethical• Customer focused• Problem solver and Creative• Good communicator• Think before you speak• Show empathy and be careful of your outward expressions

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Customer Segment MatrixSales Opportunities

• Know your customer before you engage them. Learn about their business!

• Look at the their websites or sales literature.• Use the Customer Segment Matrix (slide #24) to

gain a general understanding of your customer or potential customers.

• Use this matrix to set priorities re which customers you want to engage first.

• Organizations in each segment usually operate differently from each other.

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Customer Segment MatrixSales Opportunities

Federal Government Private Sector(Industrial Corporations)

State Government Healthcare/Medical

City Government Educational

Local Government General Contractors(Construction)

Utilities (Energy/Water/

Alternatives)

Small and Minority

Businesses

Integrators, Consortiums and Third Party Purchasing Outsourcing

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Creating Added Value for Your Customer

• Customers are like flowers. They must be nurtured!

• Provide info regarding the emerging industry environment using open houses at your site and or technical workshops at customer sites.

• Develop cost savings initiatives during the year (productivity gains, holding inventory on your site, shipping costs, packaging reductions, cheaper pallets, finding lower cost alternate raw materials, etc.)

• Greening sustainability Initiatives (reduce usage, recycle, reduce the carbon footprint, lower energy or use a different type of energy, smaller, etc.)

• Solving a customer’s problem or creating an innovation using all of your available resources

• Providing customized relevant reports

• In The Midnight Hour: providing emergencies services

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III. Helpful Business Hints

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Helpful Hints• Most purchasing groups have been downsized as a result of the economic

downturn. Therefore, buyers are doing extra work and may not have as much time to investigate new suppliers. In some cases, the experienced buyers have also been replaced with less experienced people.

• Make certain that your business card has all of the correct contact information and an accurate description re the product or service that your company provides. You want to be remembered!

• Your website may be the first impression of your company before anyone from your company meets any buyer. Make certain that your website functions appropriately.

• Make certain that your web site and literature is aligned with your products and image. If colors or color printing is integrated into your products, make certain the website and literature has colors to replicate what your product line contains.

• A wrong image will create missed opportunities and lost sales.

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Helpful HintsDo not depend on a few major customers to maintain the revenue of your business. Diversify your income by doing business with a mix of customers that bring varying levels of revenue and bear varying levels of risk. Create and nurture multiple contacts at every firm that purchases your service or product so that your partnership does not rely on one connection. Learn the requirements and culture of your customer. People come and go, so you must stay on top of keeping your internal network with your customer up to date! Touch base with this network every 10-12 weeks if you are not continuously doing business with your customer.

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Helpful Hints

Ask questions about the bidding and evaluation process. When bidding against incumbents, understand that your pricing will be compared and added to the cost of changing the incumbent. You could be a low bidder, but when you add the change costs, you are high or the difference does not make sense to change suppliers.

What are the change costs?

-Validation/Compatibility trials (materials), machine run time costs and machine clean-out time

-Expenses (Travel/Labor) for Packaging /Quality personnel to conduct trials.

-New graphic plates or engraving rolls

-Administrative time to change supplier in computer and other

systems (i.e. Quality, Specs, etc.)

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Helpful Hints

• When there is a problem with the delivery of an order re quality or arrival time, maintain a professional status. No matter how well you know or don’t know your purchasing contact, it is not the time to generate wise crack remarks! You want to resolve the issue with all of your available resources within the quickest possible timeframe.

• Be open and honest at all times! Keep your customers informed ASAP of any issues that may affect availability of delivery of product or services. The earlier you inform the more flexibility the customer has to manage any internal issues within their company. When you do not inform ASAP, you lose trust, you lose credibility and you erode the relationship!

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Helpful Hints• Increase your Knowledge by obtaining Business Intelligence. Do your

homework! Investigate your:

-Competitors to gain ideas re services, potential customers and

general competitive information

-Potential Customers to gain understanding of their direction, culture,

values, their requirements, emerging environment or anything that is

common with your business that can be leveraged into an opportunity or

relationship that may result in a sale or prevention of sales for your

product or service.

-Existing Customers to gain understanding of their direction, culture,

values, their requirements, emerging environment or anything that is

common with your business that can be leveraged into an opportunity or

relationship that may result in the continuation or stoppage of sales for

your product or service.

-Key Suppliers to determine if they have services that you can

leverage that will provide an advantage for your company to

obtain a sale. 28


Helpful Hints

• Use professional organizations to network, gain knowledge, spread your sales message and to create awareness of your business.

• Determine, within the customer organization, who is the key decision-maker as it relates to your business! It is not always Procurement! Ask about the selection process!

• Determine what resources or added value that you bring that provides a true competitive advantage for you with a specific customer (collaborative partnerships, technical resources, e-commerce, custom delivery, on-site resources, location, volume pricing, inventory management on your site, volume pricing, quality due to technology, flexibility re last minute deliveries or short/long production runs, custom reporting, sustainability, business continuity plans, etc.) .

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Helpful Hints

• Once you gain a customer, stay close to your contact and their internal customer. Communicate appropriately in person and via phone or email.

• Understand the organization of your procurement contact. Develop new contacts including the internal user of your product or services.

• Find out what are your customer’s big opportunities or issues? How can you create value or create value by solving their problems?

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IV. Summary

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Summary

• Listen to the “Voice of the Customer” • Use Web Sites, LinkedIn, Google and

networking to understand your Customer’s product/services, culture, the procurement contact and their internal customers to build and maintain relationships.

• Grow the relationship by “Creating Value” for your Customer

• Be Professional: Create a “Win-Win” Environment during the good/bad times

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Summary

• Be Ethical, Consistent, Responsive and Fair • Read some procurement magazines so you can

stay current with procurement trends (i.e. commodity teams, reverse auctions, business continuity planning, buying consortiums, global leverage activities, etc.)

• Make certain there is “total alignment” with all parties within your own organization re your customers’ “expectations of service”.

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Summary

• Be proactive and don’t sell what your company can not deliver

• When you know there is a delay in delivery, tell your customer. Do not wait until the last minute or day of delivery to inform your customer. With advance notice, the buyer can manage internal expectations and can work with you

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Thank You

James W. Haile Jr., C.P.M.

JWH & Associates

A Supply Management Training and Consulting CompanySolving Problems and Creating Value

5200 Hilltop Blvd., CC3, Brookhaven, PA 19015

610-490-0470 (o) 610-745-9061 (c) [email protected]

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mailto:[email protected]

Documents

Www.mbc-pa.com Operated by The Enterprise Center Successful Contractors Working With Corporations Alliance Baltimore 2015 October 29, 2015 James W. Haile