Planning for austerity in FE

Times are tough and getting tougher.

At such times some businesses stop trading. Some retrench. Some cut back. Some take stock and reinvent themselves.

Guess which ones are best placed to make the most of the current situation and to respond to new situations as they arise?

Of course, it’s the businesses that reinvent themselves.

Reinvention is just another way of talking about aligning yourself with your market.

In business, when the market changes, the rest of us have to change, too.

As colleges and other providers look to reinvent themselves, there's a very important question to ask.

What exactly does the market want?

Most organisations out there want, first, to survive and second to be ready to take advantage of opportunities as they appear.

This means your organisation needs a value proposition that is built around two themes.

• How will working with your organisation help an employer to be more likely to be around in two years’ time?
• How will working with your organisation help an employer to be well placed to seize opportunities in the coming months?

The answer is no longer built around training, qualifications or even skills. Neither is it a response built around helping employers to meet legislative requirements. Today, the answer to the question has to be about helping the employer directly.

Most people in business know that there are three things their customers will buy.

These are:

• Guidance and support on how to make more money.
• Guidance and support on how to keep more of the money they make.
• Guidance and support on developing their capacity to do the two activities above.

Now’s the time to re-examine your key message to employers.

Does our key message address all three of these issues?

If it does, you can expect your business to grow even in difficult times. If it doesn’t, then promoting your products and services is going to be an uphill struggle at any time, even when you’re “selling” free programmes. It will just be more difficult now.

Two action points come out of this.

The first is to make sure you are offering to deliver real value to employers. The second is to make sure that employers recognise the value you are offering.

So check out how you promote your organisation to employers and if they see things in the same way that you do.

Do this quickly, because it's part of your process of planning for austerity, and today no one in FE has any time to waste.

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Your customer pipeline (3) - Is it helping you to build your business?

Customer pipelines are great marketing tools. People love the concept of the customer pipeline. It’s a very popular search term on the internet. There are lots of new readers finding this blog as a result of searching for “customer pipeline”.

All of this is excellent . . . but is using the concept of the customer pipeline helping you to build your business?

• You already know that you can differentiate your customers, using your customer pipeline.
• You know that your customer pipeline can help you to be clear about the quality and depth of relationship you’re likely to have with individual employers.

Now let’s think about the customer pipeline and your business.

Your customer pipeline saves you money because . . .

Using your customer pipeline well helps you to save money because you can get away from “fingers crossed” marketing. That is marketing to every one on your list and hoping – or keeping your fingers crossed – that some of your efforts work.

Once you’ve used your customer pipeline to help you to differentiate between your different customer groups you can decide which groups merit having large or small amounts of marketing money spent on them.

This allows you to spend less on reaching all your contacts and to focus spending on the two groups where you have most to gain from your marketing efforts.

These groups are:

• prospects with whom you have a well-established relationship who have not yet bought from you
• customers who have done one piece of business with you and who you want to encourage to make that second purchase.

You’ll spend less by being focused because you will be working with smaller groups and you’ll be working in a more targeted way.

Alternatively you could spend the same amount of money but undertake more targeted and more relevant marketing. You’re almost certain to get a better return on your investment in this case because your approach is tailored to the specific circumstances and needs of defined groups of employers.

Your customer pipeline saves you time because . . .

Used well your customer pipeline can also save you time and, as you know, time is money.

If you build your relationships with the employers in your customer pipeline who you have identified as your advocates you can save lots of time and money. All you have to do is to ask your advocates to refer you on to others.

It sounds simple but most providers don’t ask for referrals.

Those providers who do ask don’t ask often enough or in the right way.

Yet, your advocates are longing to tell the world just how good you are.

Spend some time helping your advocates to help you and you’ve just recruited a skilled and motivated free sales force.

This means you can spend less time on bringing in new business and more time on the important task of building relationships with employers.

Making your customer pipeline work for you

Now you’ve got your customer pipeline set up you need to take steps to make it work for you.

Your customer pipeline could just remain a mechanism for establishing your relationship with each employer on your list. On the other hand it could become a valuable key account management tool and a generator of income.

It’s got the potential to be more than a great metaphor, so use your customer pipeline well.

See also:

Your customer pipeline - why it matters

Your customer pipeline (2): Building friendships

Have you created your customer pipeline?