RUN WITH THE Big dogS™ newsletter
 Volume 3, issue 25

When you are faced with a challenge do you seek out the opportunity buried inside? Can you find the pony?...John

Marketing idea

President Reagan was fond of telling a story of a father who wanted to teach his overly optimistic son a lesson. One Christmas, when his son came down the stairs expecting Santa's bounty he found instead a note to look for his present in the garage.  Opening the door to the garage he found it full to the ceiling with manure.  Instead of being dismayed, the boy was jumping up and down with great anticipation.  "Why aren't you crying," asked the surprised father.  Said the boy, "With all this manure - there's got to be a pony in here somewhere!"

A manufacturing client of ours was worried about e-bidding.  If an existing customer put a part out for e-bid there was the very real possibility that someone might low ball a bid just to get a chance at the business.  Companies without the track record or knowledge of what it really takes to complete the job could end up bidding a price below their actual costs.

We changed gears by discussing the issue as a potential, albeit as yet unrecognized, opportunity. The team identified e-bidding as an opportunity for them to gain market knowledge, to get initial jobs with prospects they had been unable to penetrate despite years of direct selling, and as a potential vehicle for marketing incremental capacity.