The Consultant Question
About a year ago I moved to Florida from the Northeast, where I had owned a few one-hour-photo-processing shops. In Florida I bought a commercial-printing business. I've been putting in 80-hour weeks, learning the basics. Now I'm ready to start advertising, set up a Web site, and raise my prices, but I'm worried about making a major mistake, especially when it comes to pricing. The market is very competitive. I'm married with three kids, and I've invested all my money in this business. Should I hire a consultant to advise me? --Sam
Not if Norm Brodsky has anything to say about it. "Hiring a consultant would be the biggest mistake Sam could make," says the veteran entrepreneur and Street Smarts columnist. "Sam already has a lot of business experience. His instincts are undoubtedly better than those of any consultant he could find. Besides, he probably wouldn't follow a consultant's advice unless he agreed with it -- and he shouldn't follow it if he disagrees. So why pay somebody to give you advice that you won't listen to if it's different from what you've come up with on your own?
"Instead, Sam should research the industry. As a general rule you can charge more in a competitive market only if your quality and service are better than your competitors'. Sam should find out who his competitors are, what they're charging, what kind of quality and service they offer, and so on. Then he can make his own call."
Looking Big
I own a small trucking company with my wife. We have a contract with a big international airfreight forwarder, and we're trying to expand and diversify. We can provide the same services as our larger competitors, but we can't prove it on paper. How, on a limited budget, can we give the impression of being a major player? --David
Welcome to the world of marketing, David. What you have is essentially a branding problem, and so we passed your query along to one of the smartest branding guys we know, who also happens to be a successful entrepreneur -- Max Carey, CEO of Atlanta-based Corporate Resource Development, an Inc 500 company. "David needs to understand, first, that perceptions live only in the minds of your customers and prospects," Carey says. "You control those perceptions through the way you position your company. Who says his business has to be trucking, for example? Maybe he's in logistics or supply-chain management. There are all kinds of ways he can describe what he does.
"Beyond that, he should brand himself in terms of what his company is becoming, rather than what it is. Yes, it's small right now, but it's on its way to being the best of breed. Remember, any issue can be either positive or negative, depending on who's introducing it and when it's introduced. You can't help being defensive when a prospect interrupts your presentation to say, 'You're really small, aren't you?' But you set up a totally different dynamic if you say, 'Here's who we are, and we're still fairly small. That benefits you in the following ways.'
"I also have another neat way of disarming a prospect. You say, 'As you know, we're a small company, and this would be an incredible opportunity for us -- world-changing, in fact. Let me ask you something. Could you tell me why you'd consider us for an opportunity like this one?' In other words, you put the prospect in the position of making your case. You need courage to use that tactic, but it can really go your way."
Having Trouble Sleeping Lately?
Could you use some advice from an experienced entrepreneur who has been where you are and figured out what works and what doesn't? Send your questions to incquery@inc.com. Editor-at-large Bo Burlingham, aided and abetted by Street Smarts columnist Norm Brodsky, will find the best people around to answer them. If you don't like their answers -- well, you can tell us that, too.
Hands On
Looking to take the sting out of employee road trips? Tekno Inc., a $22.5-million maker of factory components, offers its 140 employees the services of a handyman-cum-pet-sitter when they're away from home. The Cave City, Ky., company's Employee Assistance program was launched last summer, when longtime employee Bill Ferguson was due to retire but wanted to stay on with the company part-time. Stacey Hughes, Tekno's human-resources manager, set up Bill and his wife, Linda, with a pager and a cell phone. Employees who will be traveling for three days or more can reserve the handy couple to mow lawns, service and wash cars, feed pets, or water plants. The Fergusons even haul hay and feed livestock. Employees don't pay a thing. Says Trevor Clopton, Tekno's chief operating officer, "It's a way for us to give our employees more than just money."
--Peter Krass
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