NEWS RELEASE                                                                                                    APRIL 2016

Flow Control and Treatment Companies will benefit from a Digital Crystal Ball

The digital age has created the ability to make fortune telling a reality. The real life version of a crystal ball is the wealth of information available to predict markets, projects and identify decision makers. This information can be used to change the way flow control and treatment products are marketed.

Long range purchasing plans can be determined by an organized analysis of information which can be obtained directly from available documents or through individuals who have specific insights.

Minutes of municipality meetings documenting engineering study authorization	Consultant reports advising course of action for companies under public scrutiny	Permit applications for construction or upgrading
Submittals to the World Bank and other lending institutions		Five Year Plans for China and other countries
Recent and pending regulations which will impact the market	LinkedIn, blogs and various online groups with willing volunteers of information	Google and other search engines

The local salesman can make a call on a municipal wastewater treatment plant but would be unlikely to provide the same value gained from the directors meeting minutes which outline the failure of the competitor’s equipment and his proposal to fix it.

The power plant modification permit request which details the cost and performance of various options provides the needed insights on product and timing for a potential supplier.

One way suppliers take advantage of the availability of information is to purchase sales leads.  Typically the company spends lots of money on these leads and not on market research.  In one sense, the leads are the market research.  In fact, published studies purport to link the number of sales leads to the size of future markets.

This approach has a number of undesirable aspects:

1. The large expenditure for sales leads draws funds away from critical market research.
2. Sales leads are not qualified.  High margins and order conversion result from picking and choosing projects.
3. Since the sales lead is also being viewed by the competitors, there will be pricing pressure and lower success rates.
4. The timing of sales leads is often right if you are selling a commodity, but if you are selling based on your product differentiation, you are too late.
5. Many companies have distributors and representatives who are being paid to uncover leads.  Sales lead expense is justified based on evaluating distributor performance rather than on boosting sales.

If you are selling a commodity, product and price is the basis of success then the sales lead route is probably still the best option. But, if you sell a product based on lowest cost of ownership and not initial price, then you should consider a whole new route using the digital crystal ball.

Detailed Forecasting of Markets, Prospects and Projects 

is your digital crystal ball because:

1. Forecasts can be provided for the precise product at the State and province level.
2. Project alerts provide the time to convince the customer to consider total cost of ownership and to issue bid specifications accordingly.
3. The large end users, OEMs, and AEs are identified.  Since they purchase more than 50 percent of the flow control and treatment equipment, the focus on them is critical.
4. The opportunity to connect with the end user through white papers and webinars improves the margin and success potential.
5. The ability to demonstrate lowest cost of ownership is the secret to success in the global market.

For more information on this program contact Bob McIlvaine 847 784 0012 ext. 112 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.