Knowing your customers and your competition
So what is it exactly that one St. Louis digital T-shirt printing company can do to set itself apart from the rest of its competition? Most individuals are educated shoppers that will seek out to acquire more than just one quote. They often obtain up to four different offers before making up their mind regarding who they want to trust with their screen printing and custom embroidery requirements. Let’s just give the benefit of the doubt to the companies that have been around for five years or longer that they are all going to be able to give you a good product and be able to hopefully get it done on time.
Therefore, it’s been my experience of having been in this industry for over 20 years that it all comes down to trying to find an edge and gain an advantage over our competitors. There are many different ways to do this but it some of these options are going to be more costly than others. I feel that trying to find an edge all starts with good clear audible communication with the potential buyer. The more we know about the customer, the better chance we have to overcome any potential obstacles that they might be facing as well as bringing something extra to the table that they might not of even thought of when they initially contacted us. For example, we have been known to come up with some pretty creative scenarios when it comes to cross promoting our digital T-shirt printing company with other businesses and organizations that are in totally different industries. Experience has taught us that even though we are in a totally different vocations, we potentially can share a mutual customer base. There has been more than one occasion where we have created a scenario where we might have attended the same event and have acted as a partial sponsor and discounted the logo’d apparel in exchange for them introducing us to their current clientele as well as giving us a great referral.
We have always been able to look at the big picture and not be shortsighted. Sure we would like to be their St. Louis screen printing company, but more importantly we would like to provide the same service for their friends and business acquaintances. There are a lot of different ways that this can be done. Some ways are going to be more cost-effective than others. Experience has taught me that there is a lot to be gained by sitting down face to face with our potential clientele and they can convey not only what they are wanting to do with their current project, but also convey any challenges that they might be facing in order to bring this to fruition. We believe that e-mails certainly have their place when it comes to keeping the record of what was discussed and agreed upon, but there is no substitute for sitting down at a table and just talking to one another. We consider ourselves to be the leader in our city when it comes to custom embroidery and also coming up with a reasonable arrangement that will complement each other for years to come.