I do not necessarily want to fight on the Price but that is the only variable I can think of and start attracting smaller customers (who cannot afford my competitors pricing structure). This competitor seems to have brought in all the bells and whistles alongside the core of the product. My plan was to only focus on core pieces and get to side features as I start getting customer interest. Besides that, the customers buying their flag-ship product will find it useful to buy this product alongside. They both will complement well. I do think their vision seems to be different from mine where they are focused on various categories and I am on one niche.
Thanks for all the various options you've highlighted. I do feel compelled to try building out the core services to see if I can compete in certain markets. My biggest concern being unable to dedicate myself full-time unless it starts bringing in revenue I need to pay up for my bills.
If you do not mind, I would like to send you a PM with info of my product site.
I do not necessarily want to fight on the Price but that is the only variable I can think of and start attracting smaller customers (who cannot afford my competitors pricing structure)
Going after people who are systematically excluded by a competitor is not necessarily "competing on price" even if you happen to have lower average account sizes as a result. That can work fairly well. My largest competitor basically tosses you from their sales process if your account is worth less than $1k a month. Most of my customers are worth <= $200. It isn't just a pricing decision, though -- it informs how I do sales (high-touch vs. low-touch), what markets they go after vs ones I go after (healthcare vs. a bit more eclectic for me), feature decisions, etc.
Feel free to send me an email. If I don't get back to you, it wasn't anything you said, it was just my newborn daughter keeping me busy.
Support (try calling google) and analysis (how to implement, how it could fit within their existing processes/systems). Your commitment (much like the pig regarding breakfast, you're committed to this). Speed/flexibility (how quick can a bug be fixed, how quick have new features been rolled out). Fit/complexity (less bells and whistles means less ways to go wrong, aka one thing really well). And I'm sure there's more... but I'm out of coffee :)
Developer's often see price as a big factor when it's not. Will the solution work and will I get promoted/fired for picking a solution are often far higher on the list than price.
This competitor seems to have brought in all the bells and whistles alongside the core of the product
I'm using a SaaS product that offers a lot of bells and whistles. However they seem to be (and I'm sure were) added to the product to meet one customer's needs. So they are not bells and whistles I need, and they complicate functions that should be simple. A form that has 20 fields, 16 of which I learned I can ignore, added a huge congnitive load as I was trying to learn the software.
Do not feel you need to build out bells and whistles or even the complete vision you have for the core product before you try to sell. Identify one pain point your customers have and solve that well. That will get their attention and you can have the conversation about other core features to come.
in my product offering, we focus on the core features and making them rock solid versus a larger competitor who has all the bells and whistles. you will lose some to the whole "they have it all" but a lot of logical people will see it as a better business decision to purchase something that the stakeholders will actually use.
we're actually more expensive then our competitor and bring professionals over to our offering all the time due to simplicity and most of all, availability. we win on customer service/support and enterprises (especially ENTERPRISES) are willing to pay for it.
I can't explain how many times we walk into the next enterprise and ask for more per user and astonishingly, they don't bat an eye. one day, we'll hit the price point of "wait what?" and we'll come back down but it blows our minds how much you can charge because your product clearly adds value.
Comments
I do not necessarily want to fight on the Price but that is the only variable I can think of and start attracting smaller customers (who cannot afford my competitors pricing structure). This competitor seems to have brought in all the bells and whistles alongside the core of the product. My plan was to only focus on core pieces and get to side features as I start getting customer interest. Besides that, the customers buying their flag-ship product will find it useful to buy this product alongside. They both will complement well. I do think their vision seems to be different from mine where they are focused on various categories and I am on one niche.
Thanks for all the various options you've highlighted. I do feel compelled to try building out the core services to see if I can compete in certain markets. My biggest concern being unable to dedicate myself full-time unless it starts bringing in revenue I need to pay up for my bills. If you do not mind, I would like to send you a PM with info of my product site.
I do not necessarily want to fight on the Price but that is the only variable I can think of and start attracting smaller customers (who cannot afford my competitors pricing structure)
Going after people who are systematically excluded by a competitor is not necessarily "competing on price" even if you happen to have lower average account sizes as a result. That can work fairly well. My largest competitor basically tosses you from their sales process if your account is worth less than $1k a month. Most of my customers are worth <= $200. It isn't just a pricing decision, though -- it informs how I do sales (high-touch vs. low-touch), what markets they go after vs ones I go after (healthcare vs. a bit more eclectic for me), feature decisions, etc.
Feel free to send me an email. If I don't get back to you, it wasn't anything you said, it was just my newborn daughter keeping me busy.
Ohhh, hey Patrick, congratulations on a new addition to your family! :)
I've been following your writing for quite a while now, and i love it :)
Heartiest congratulations again :D
Support (try calling google) and analysis (how to implement, how it could fit within their existing processes/systems). Your commitment (much like the pig regarding breakfast, you're committed to this). Speed/flexibility (how quick can a bug be fixed, how quick have new features been rolled out). Fit/complexity (less bells and whistles means less ways to go wrong, aka one thing really well). And I'm sure there's more... but I'm out of coffee :)
Developer's often see price as a big factor when it's not. Will the solution work and will I get promoted/fired for picking a solution are often far higher on the list than price.
This competitor seems to have brought in all the bells and whistles alongside the core of the product
I'm using a SaaS product that offers a lot of bells and whistles. However they seem to be (and I'm sure were) added to the product to meet one customer's needs. So they are not bells and whistles I need, and they complicate functions that should be simple. A form that has 20 fields, 16 of which I learned I can ignore, added a huge congnitive load as I was trying to learn the software.
Do not feel you need to build out bells and whistles or even the complete vision you have for the core product before you try to sell. Identify one pain point your customers have and solve that well. That will get their attention and you can have the conversation about other core features to come.
in my product offering, we focus on the core features and making them rock solid versus a larger competitor who has all the bells and whistles. you will lose some to the whole "they have it all" but a lot of logical people will see it as a better business decision to purchase something that the stakeholders will actually use.
we're actually more expensive then our competitor and bring professionals over to our offering all the time due to simplicity and most of all, availability. we win on customer service/support and enterprises (especially ENTERPRISES) are willing to pay for it.
I can't explain how many times we walk into the next enterprise and ask for more per user and astonishingly, they don't bat an eye. one day, we'll hit the price point of "wait what?" and we'll come back down but it blows our minds how much you can charge because your product clearly adds value.
Besides that, the customers buying their flag-ship product will find it useful to buy this product alongside
Is the reverse of this also true? That is, is your competitor's (new) product _less useful_ if I don't have their flagship product?
Is that a large enough niche for your to be targeting?
Is there a big competitor to their flagship product? Could you target your product at companies that have chosen that suite?