BUSINESS GROWTH MARKETING
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the bow ties will probably start to look inside. The so-called 'internal competitive advantages examination' will go further than establishing that you must be strong in heavy haulage because you have a fleet of Andover Trailer's semi-trailer low loaders.
The firm's finances, the drivers, the expertise, premises, and vehicles should all be looked at. What does your firm do best? Are you flexible enough to change routes at a moment's notice? All these things may affect the sort of service that you are best at.
Then you have to throw your bones in the air to see which way they land. Money-making schemes are not staringly obvious, but with a fair knowledge of what is happening outside, and of what you can do, you stand a better-than-evens chance of picking a winner.
TNT saw the opportunity for its Overnite door-to-door parcels service in this country, and asked customers whether they wanted this sort of service. When it established that there was a demand it was able to fill, the service was test marketed at its Milton depot, serving the area from West London to Oxford. Success there led to its adoption throughout the country, leaving many more established parcels firms stunned by the speed of TNT's growth_ It is true that it has had some luck with the much-publicised switch of newspaper traffic from rail to road and in having the financial muscle to back its hunches. Nonetheless there was a market opportunity that rival firms singularly failed to fill.
There is a fine balance between entrepreneurial flair and marketing, something which TNT is acutely aware of. With excellent communication between its sales people and management, a good knowledge of the market, and it's own skills, it was able to concentrate its enterprise into designing a service to fill the niche that marketing had found for it, rather than risk all in a blind charge for success.
Sometimes financing the marketing, rather than the opportunity itself, entails the risk for the firm. Lowfield distribution's management had to trust Bob Goldbourne when he asked for a six-figure investment to improve the finn's fortunes through marketing. In 18 months this has not made many obvious changes in the firm — but Lowfield's traffic volume has risen 30% in the last year with consequent rises in the company's turnover and profits: "The client doesn't give a damn how you get his stuff there — we may even be using hovercraft in the future for all they care," says Goldboume. With this in mind he concentrated the advertising message on the benefits that Lowfield claims to provide, rather than showing vast numbers of vehicles on the road.
Instead, the company's advertising literature started to show the consequences of not using its services. Pictures of empty shelves in supermarkets convinced the distribution depots of Sainsbury North West, Tesco in Strood, and Waitrose in Tring to give Lowfield dedicated contracts to deliver some of their ranges.
Vehicles look better clean, particularly on this sort of work, and Goldbourne has had the underside of all his vehicles painted white to encourage his drivers to clean their lorries and trailers. Although he uses outside marketing agencies, he stresses that "internal communications are very important".
TNT and Lowfield examine sales reports weekly, analyse all failures, and talk to customers who no longer use their services. Their workforces have been encouraged to enter in the spirit of the new regimes; incentive bonuses are paid, and advice listened to wherever it comes from.
The BRS group has gone to the extent of offering its shares to employees, and decentralising its operations to increase the responsibilities of its branch manager. Ross Clarkson, BRS's marketing services manager, believes that employee involvement has been much improved with the share ownership scheme.
At the same time by recruiting highquality branch managers and emphasizing their importance, he feels his customers are not faced with an intimidating megalith without an effective mouthpiece. Instead they can immediately phone their local branch manager who has the authority to deal with their problem.
Most of the larger companies we talked to use some sort of outside agency for their work, but John Fowler, research director for London agency BursonMarsteller, feels that marketing advice can often be had free, especially for smaller firms: "If I was running a small haulage firm," he says, "it would never cross my mind to go to a marketing consultant."
A number of people have marketing training, or have access to a marketing expert. Banks, accountants, the chambers of commerce, and trade associations like the Road Haulage Association often have commercial departments able to offer useful advice. Fowler knows that it takes determination to get to speak to these people, but believes that a great deal of money can be saved by doing so.
Some of the smaller firms we spoke to had clearly not got the message at all. Most of the one-man hauliers were out at work, or had faint, buzzy answering machines which gave little or no information on the firm and its services, or how long it would take to answer our call. We didn't bother to leave a message, and neither will potential clients.
John Thomas runs the Wisbech-based family haulier Ken Thomas and its 28 vehicle fleet which won the best kept fleet award at this year's Truckfest.
The company handles general haulage for a number of foodstuff manufacturers, including a major tinned fruit company. He keeps his "ear to the ground" for new contracts, although he thinks the firm is already at its optimum size: "Customers don't get the same personal service if you get any bigger," he says. "They can always phone up and get hold of me to discuss any problems."
His contact with the customers he serves is pretty good, but is inevitably limited by the scale of operation he provides. In the past eight years he has only gained a handful of significant new orders, but says "we are pretty full to capacity."
He could probably use some marketing advice, simply to avoid being overtaken by the competition. If he wanted the firm to grow by any significant extent, that advice would become indispensible.
In any case, Thomas is exceptional in that he has decided how big his firm should be, and provides enough of a personal service to his clients to keep things at his chosen level.
Many other firms espouse growth, but are unable to see why they cannot achieve it. It might pay them to spot the good sense that is hidden in the jargon from the bow ties: it really is desperately simple. El by Andrew English