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Question by Robert Hyde posted 13 Feb 2003 | | Contracts | Hi,
I am trying to find new ways of finding new business here in the UK. I was wondering if any other contractors might have an idea. It seems most PR companies want to charge the earth with no gaurantee of performance!!
Thanks in anticipation,
Rob |  |
Answer by Dmitri Abaimov posted 13 Feb 2003 | Dear Robert,
That would be a tough question to answer. I'm in the cabling business as well, facing the same challenges. I guess, the situation here in US may be a bit different, but here is what we are trying to do:
We've found that the biggest problem we experience is that cabling does not create enough of requiring business. That's pretty funny, but the better job you do, the less the customer needs you during your warranty period. So, when the time comes to upgrade the cabling system in 5-6-7 years, nobody remembers you anymore, and you have to bid on that upgrade contract on par with everybody else (if you ever know there is an upgrade coming)
Quite contrary, telephone systems, for example, require you to be in constant contact with the customer because of the moves/adds/changes that are not so easily done as with (well-designed and built) cabling. So, if there is any potential extra business with this client, you'd be the first to know, and you'll have a natural preference because you know all 'ins' and 'outs'.
So, just look around and see what else you can learn to offer to the customer to create some extra business while you're at the site.
We've found that, just by experience of installers and engineers in our company, it will be easier to start to grow into PBX business. You may find out that for you and your people it will be better to start doing alarms or CATV. I guess, you should assess your situation and start small, but be persistent, and the extra business will eventually turn profit.
As a side remark: PR companies usually have no clue about technology you're dealing with. I would suggest that you can come up with better idea yourself and use the money you save on PR "advisors" to develop your new line of business.
Hope this helps.
Good luck!
Sincerely,
Dmitri Abaimov, RCDD |
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