Better Off Dead?
Eight ways to spot a product line that's doomed.
The owner of a small electronics manufacturing company was
searching for a way to kick-start sales, which had flattened over
the past three years. After a lengthy session of hand-wringing and
self-doubt, he came up with what he felt was the best way for the
company to get moving again. He would make sure his staff did
everything it could to improve customer service and concentrate
more on customer satisfaction. The company would have to
work harder at satisfying its customers because that was the only
thing holding them back--or so he thought.
Customer satisfaction plummets when companies get into
production problems that delay delivery or affect quality, but this
company didn't have those problems. It had a good record for
meeting customer delivery needs, had an excellent reputation for
product quality, and the staff seemed knowledgeable about how to
deal with customers. It was a good bet the problems were coming
from another area. But where?
The business owner stumbled across a clue during a conversation
with his sales manager. As the sales manager held one of the
company's primary products in his hand, he sighed and compared
it to a typewriter. It was a great product in its time and had made
a major contribution to the company's earlier growth, but the
market was going in another direction. This major product was
already obsolete, and more parts of the product line were quickly
getting there, too. Sales weren't growing because customers
were looking elsewhere--toward more up-to-date technology. All the
customer follow-up and responsiveness in the world wouldn't
stop that trend. The company's problem was its product line.
Unless it was willing to make a major investment in new products
that could restore the growth everyone wanted, it was doomed.
Content Continues Below
Victor H. Prushan is president of VHP Associates, a marketing
consulting firm in Thousand Oaks, California, and author of
No-Nonsense Marketing: 101 Practical Ways to Win and Keep Customers
(John Wiley & Sons).
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