Friday, April 28, 2006
Marketing - A little experiment about expectations as a client or as a provider: results
This morning I checked the votes on my second poll on Ecademy.
Here are the two polls with results:
What is the main thing you expect from a provider?
Quality: 17%
Service: 22%
Tight deadlines: 6%
Price: 0%
I want it all!: 56%
(18 votes)
Your most profitable clients are those who:
- Want quality: 33%
- Want service: 27%
- Want tight deadlines: 3%
- Want price: 0%
- Want it all: 36%
(33 votes)
So - Beyond the fact that we seem more prone to answer when asked about your clients, what conclusions do we draw?
- First: a confirmation that price doesn't sell. This is pretty obvious if you are a provider, but it doesn't appear to be the main concern of the client either.
- Second: the feature the client wants most is service, ahead of quality. But Quality is a strong asset if you are the provider.
- Third: deadlines are the "soft spot" in the client-provider relationship, so it is clearly where the negociation margin lies when it comes to the triangle Quality/Price/Deadline.
- Fourth: demanding clients are profitable. This is probably because they know quality and service have a price (all the respondants dumped the clients who wanted everything for free before voting - clever guys!).
Now I realise I should have included a sixth possible choice in the 2nd poll:
"Your most profitable clients are those who spread the word about how great you are".
By the way - Are your clients doing so?
Here are the two polls with results:
What is the main thing you expect from a provider?
Quality: 17%
Service: 22%
Tight deadlines: 6%
Price: 0%
I want it all!: 56%
(18 votes)
Your most profitable clients are those who:
- Want quality: 33%
- Want service: 27%
- Want tight deadlines: 3%
- Want price: 0%
- Want it all: 36%
(33 votes)
So - Beyond the fact that we seem more prone to answer when asked about your clients, what conclusions do we draw?
- First: a confirmation that price doesn't sell. This is pretty obvious if you are a provider, but it doesn't appear to be the main concern of the client either.
- Second: the feature the client wants most is service, ahead of quality. But Quality is a strong asset if you are the provider.
- Third: deadlines are the "soft spot" in the client-provider relationship, so it is clearly where the negociation margin lies when it comes to the triangle Quality/Price/Deadline.
- Fourth: demanding clients are profitable. This is probably because they know quality and service have a price (all the respondants dumped the clients who wanted everything for free before voting - clever guys!).
Now I realise I should have included a sixth possible choice in the 2nd poll:
"Your most profitable clients are those who spread the word about how great you are".
By the way - Are your clients doing so?
