How many times have you heard marketing hype such as, "we provide the total solution," "one-stop shopping," "we work out of the box," or "you'll be saving money on your next project"? Often, it becomes difficult to separate the hype from reality.
Many consultants that make grand
claims provide little more than a point product. Surrounding this claim is a
halo of mystery - or at best collaborations, partnerships, or acquisitions
strong in hope and weak in integration.
One of the most common failures is the product or service can measure up, but is packaged in Trojan-Horse fashion. That is, the consultant makes an initial sale at a low level, but the client is then left on its own to discover the need for more products or services from the same consultant. It sounds reasonable, except that this process brings with it a significant increase in price and a lot of wasted time. This mismatch is usually a combination of intentional and unwitting malfeasance on the part of the consultant. Ignorance on both sides is almost always part of the equation, but it's rare when the desire for a quick sale doesn't figure in.
Normally, these discrepancies become points of frustration among clients in the course of project implementation. Sadly, it is only at this time that users realize they were sold a service or product that does not meet their needs - by either thoroughly missing the mark or, most often, through incompleteness. This reflects poorly on the consultant, especially its sales organization. It is indicative of the "sale and bail" approach, where the focus is to close the deal and move on to the next one without regard for the needs or satisfaction of the client.
Most users say that they don't
mind paying more up front for a service or product, as long as they get the
solution they were sold. It is not uncommon for clients to indicate that
they had to go back to a consultant for additional services, software and so
forth. If subcontracted services are involved, these additions can add an
extra level of complexity. The result of this Trojan-Horse sale is that the
client feels cheated and the consultant loses credibility.
Some of the remarks we don’t want to hear are: "The way they package their service is confusing," or "There were just too many hours of implementation needed for our environment," or most succinctly, "It's clear that they don't understand our business."
Admittedly, pricing, packaging and positioning are not easy challenges in today's services industry. With thousands of service providers, consultants, and resellers addressing various aspects of business process reengineering to infrastructure control to project and change management, fitting a solution to a problem isn't easy. Moreover, it is very much the exception when users understand both their needs and the market, making this challenge even more difficult. And finally, communication of complex problems is in itself difficult, no matter what the situation.
For organizations, it's important to resolve a problem with an eye to internal and external realities. What, in essence, are the core internal problems? What are the skills and products that you have in-house to address these? Where are you willing to get creative with new solutions? And finally, what does the market offer to address your needs?
Each of these questions can be daunting in itself, but setting some time aside to grapple with them is well worth the effort, before you start listening to pricing, positioning and packaging.
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