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| UPSonNet NewsLetter January 2011 |
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Editorial Topic by Meir Portnoy: UPS Suppliers: USA versus China - Consumer to Business
(C2B) experience.
This editorial relates to C2B experience, rather than the more common B2C term. In the present
context, C2B doesn't refer to a commerce business model generally associated with this term, but to
a modified aspect of CRM (Customer Relations Management), as it is treated by most items in
Google when the term "C2B experience" is entered.
Wikipedia defines CRM as a "strategy for managing a company’s interactions with customers and
sales prospects.., with the overall goals to find, attract, and win new clients, nurture and retain
those the company already has, entice former clients back into the fold, and reduce the costs of
marketing and client service."
C2B experience, should measure the success of the CRM strategy, or the quality of service a
consumer experiences when he interacts with the business.
"In the olden days, the tailor, the carpenter, the shoemaker, the milkman, the blacksmith knew his
customer by name, he knew whether they were satisfied and what he should do to improve
appreciation for his product.", says W. Edwards Deming, in his book Out of the Crisis, trying at the
time unsuccessfully, to teach Americans how to introduce quality in their products.
Deming did change the world with the help of the Japanese, which at that time were considered by
the western world to be technically inferior and uncreative, but succeeded eventually to dominate
major western markets, by implementing Deming's philosophy and being attentive to customer's
wishes. It seems however, that not much was learned, and history repeats itself. This time, other
markets and particularly China will probably become a main player in the western markets in many
areas, including the Power Conversion and the UPS field.
I would like to share with you our recent experience regarding three cases, advocating the said
trend.
UPSonNet was involved as consultants in a project related to supplying sensitive equipment to
Chicago IL, which required a100kVA, redundant UPS system. We have sent RFQ's to ten UPS
suppliers in USA serving IL area, via an e-mail, to the addresses presented on the supplier
companies' websites. Only three companies answered after about a week or two. One supplied a
quotation, two asked for additional information, but didn't get back to us after the information was
given.
We sent similar e-mails to ten UPS suppliers from Taiwan and China. Within a day or two we had
eight quotations, including documentation. Our customer preferred eventually to buy from a Chinese
company, after verifying positive reference about the company from customers in USA, and
negotiating a price 36 % lower than the USA quotation. Needless to say, that until the decision was
made; most suppliers sent to us follow up e-mails, asking to be updated.
Prior to launching the professional North American UPS Suppliers guide, described below, we have
checked existing directories by entering in Google USA search engine the query: "UPS Suppliers in
USA". The first page which opens in Google includes six directories. Reviewing the first ten items
in each directory reveals that only 28% of presented companies meet the entered term, some sell
associated items like batteries, but most have very slight connection with UPS systems whatsoever.
We have repeated the review, by entering in Google USA search engine, the query: "UPS Suppliers
in China". Here on first Google page four directories are presented. 100% of items in the first ten
entries of each directory, meet the entered term in Google Search.
The third case which I would like to present refers to our experience concerning contacts via the
internet, with UPS suppliers in the USA. In order to enlist suppliers to the mentioned above guide,
we have sent e-mails to contact addresses presented on suppliers' websites. The response was
amazingly poor, particularly taking in account that the e-mail offered at no cost, a subscription to a
professional guide which aims to inform customers in supplier's territory about supplier's products
and services.
In certain cases no e-mail and no contact phone is presented on the USA suppliers' website, and the
only way to make contact with the supplier is by means of a form presented on its website, which
as it seems frequently no one in the suppliers company reads or takes care of.
Nobody argues that a tenacious customer is able to locate a phone and make contact with every
company; but why should one chase a company that can't be relied upon, even on answering
customers' e-mails.
Here too, if you check a supplier from China, you will find that most websites display all contact
possibilities, including e-mail address, form and telephone. And, you can be sure, that that someone
is appointed to answer your request.
The described cases indicate that most UPS companies in USA are still living in the pre Internet era,
where business contacts are made by phone, and marketing by salespeople calling on existing
customers or doing the footwork of visiting customers to present the latest product news. Whereas
the Internet is used as a technical platform for transferring messages, but not as a vital means to
perform the CRM strategy aimed to "find, attract, and win new clients, entice former clients back
into the fold, and reduce the costs of marketing and client service".
The current attitude takes care of only a single item of the CRM strategy, which is: "nurture and
retain the customers that the company already has ". Veteran customers are still loyal to the supplier
and do not search in directories, they have the e-mails and phones of the relevant people in the
company and do not use the forms, e-mail addresses and unnamed contact phones presented on the
company website which only a new prospective customer needs.
Resting on ones laurels can't however be eternal. The Internet changes the world, and the young
people living in the Internet era are already on their way to dominate the earth, as the recent
worldwide revolutions prove. They use the internet in order to locate new suppliers, new products,
with better performance and lower cost. They are more routed in the present, preferring new
opportunities over long term relations based on loyalty with a supplier, so is also the relation with
the company they now work for.
New young customers will implement a practical attitude which decreases both long term relations
and immediate dependence on the supplier, searching for and preferring products that can be
procured from several suppliers, featuring redundant UPS topologies, which do not require
immediate service, and swappable modules, which can be supplied and installed by the user or semi
technical service provider.
"It takes thirty years for a new technology to mature", said Peter Drucker, the legendary
management philosopher. The Internet is only half as old, and its main impact is still not unveiled.
Every company will probably evidence during the current decade that its market share, its customer
base, customer behavior and competition have all changed dramatically, whereas the internet is the
main business platform where products are announced, offered, promoted, and compared.
The new markets entrants, currently located in the Far East, which make already best use of the
Internet to attract new customers, are already penetrating the western market. The Western
countries and particularly USA are still the main players in the UPS world market, but unless definite
steps are implemented by the industry participants, they will have to shut the stable door after the
horse has bolted.
The examples shown above indicate that new thinking and dynamic approach is required to meet the
opposing forces within each company, in order to adapt to the new era. To implement the CRM
approach, a marketing strategy aimed to attract and win new clients as a way of life should be
adopted, and means that reach the following measurable performance goals should be implemented:
1. Substantial share of online visitors, looking for a UPS product service or solution provider, are
directed to the company.
2. Fast, professional and friendly response to every prospective customer reaching the company is
ascertained, whatever the way and type of contact.
3. Continuous and repeated presence, making a memorable impression, in most places where
prospective customers visit is assured, in order to build company image, trust and value preference
over other brands.
To achieve the first goal, listing and preferred placement in online directories and information
sources, where a prospective customer may look for suppliers is required.
The second goal requires assigning personnel to monitor follow and make sure that each contact
addressed to the company (not a specific employee) whatever the means , is paged, answered
within one or two days, and followed up.
The third goal requires presenting and publishing the company and its product and services, on
relevant websites, which are visited by prospective customers.
Setting measurable quantified goals and establishing the means to achieve the goals, are the first
needed steps for making a change. But to ascertain continuous progress, consistent monitoring
system, tracking results on a monthly or quarterly basis should be installed, and new steps which
can or might restore the said performance goals and visitors influx back on track when needed,
should be devised and implemented.
Certain links in our Newsletters require UPSonNet member subscription; Sign UP for full site access
I welcome remarks. Please send to: meirp@upsonnet.com
UPSonNet Website News
We have finally presented the North American Professional UPS Suppliers Guide, preparation of
which took much longer than expected, due to the difficulties described in Meir's editorial.
The Guide provides a unique and valuable presentation of Professional UPS suppliers. It enables to
see at a glance, professional suppliers according to type and make of UPS systems, serviced
territory and contact details. An enhanced presentation is offered by Suppliers with preferred status.
We have discussed in our newsletters, presented on our site and published numerous papers on
relevant websites, the importance that professional service providers to accompany and guide a user
in order to select the right UPS; and advise on such issues as Apparent and Active power,
Output waveform, UPS Efficiency, and UPS Strategy, as well as UPS and Battery maintenance
and after sales service.
What differentiates this guide from other UPS directories, in addition to the said features, is the fact
that it presents only suppliers actively involved in offering UPS equipment and services, and doesn't
present the bulk of online UPS sellers, which are not build to provide professional services.
To see the guide, add your company if it is not listed yet, or to upgrade to a preferred status, visit :
North American Professional UPS Suppliers Guide.
We are now starting a process of introducing guides for other territories. Interested companies
from other countries are welcome to Subscribe.
We would also like to bring our readers attention to an article by Shri Karve, director of business
development, APC by Schneider Electric, titled: Guide to UPS Selection for Critical Applications .
We seldom present on our website, articles published on other sources. We believe however, that
this paper, does present unique insights and value to our audience, justifying its presentation.
UPS Industry News
Two news items, worth noting are presented on UPS- News, both indicate integration of UPS
industry participant and systems as part of a broader power supply and IT protection attitude.
Delta Electronics offers SolutionE, an infrastructure modular concept of integrating UPS systems,
solar power, wind turbines, mains power, diesel generators and fuel cells in order get a cost
effective solution reducing payback time as and electricity bills.
General Electric enters cloud computing and Smartphone supporting arena by signing an agreement
to acquire Lineage Power, an energy equipment supplier for datacentres and towers used in cloud
computing and Internet mobile services.
We welcome remarks on any Newsletter issue. Please e-mail to: denis@upsonnet.com
__________________________________________________________________
To receive this newsletter in your e-mail, please subscribe.
Sign-UP for Full Unrestricted Access to all Pages
Please forward this e-mail to a friend that might be of interest
(C2B) experience.
This editorial relates to C2B experience, rather than the more common B2C term. In the present
context, C2B doesn't refer to a commerce business model generally associated with this term, but to
a modified aspect of CRM (Customer Relations Management), as it is treated by most items in
Google when the term "C2B experience" is entered.
Wikipedia defines CRM as a "strategy for managing a company’s interactions with customers and
sales prospects.., with the overall goals to find, attract, and win new clients, nurture and retain
those the company already has, entice former clients back into the fold, and reduce the costs of
marketing and client service."
C2B experience, should measure the success of the CRM strategy, or the quality of service a
consumer experiences when he interacts with the business.
"In the olden days, the tailor, the carpenter, the shoemaker, the milkman, the blacksmith knew his
customer by name, he knew whether they were satisfied and what he should do to improve
appreciation for his product.", says W. Edwards Deming, in his book Out of the Crisis, trying at the
time unsuccessfully, to teach Americans how to introduce quality in their products.
Deming did change the world with the help of the Japanese, which at that time were considered by
the western world to be technically inferior and uncreative, but succeeded eventually to dominate
major western markets, by implementing Deming's philosophy and being attentive to customer's
wishes. It seems however, that not much was learned, and history repeats itself. This time, other
markets and particularly China will probably become a main player in the western markets in many
areas, including the Power Conversion and the UPS field.
I would like to share with you our recent experience regarding three cases, advocating the said
trend.
UPSonNet was involved as consultants in a project related to supplying sensitive equipment to
Chicago IL, which required a100kVA, redundant UPS system. We have sent RFQ's to ten UPS
suppliers in USA serving IL area, via an e-mail, to the addresses presented on the supplier
companies' websites. Only three companies answered after about a week or two. One supplied a
quotation, two asked for additional information, but didn't get back to us after the information was
given.
We sent similar e-mails to ten UPS suppliers from Taiwan and China. Within a day or two we had
eight quotations, including documentation. Our customer preferred eventually to buy from a Chinese
company, after verifying positive reference about the company from customers in USA, and
negotiating a price 36 % lower than the USA quotation. Needless to say, that until the decision was
made; most suppliers sent to us follow up e-mails, asking to be updated.
Prior to launching the professional North American UPS Suppliers guide, described below, we have
checked existing directories by entering in Google USA search engine the query: "UPS Suppliers in
USA". The first page which opens in Google includes six directories. Reviewing the first ten items
in each directory reveals that only 28% of presented companies meet the entered term, some sell
associated items like batteries, but most have very slight connection with UPS systems whatsoever.
We have repeated the review, by entering in Google USA search engine, the query: "UPS Suppliers
in China". Here on first Google page four directories are presented. 100% of items in the first ten
entries of each directory, meet the entered term in Google Search.
The third case which I would like to present refers to our experience concerning contacts via the
internet, with UPS suppliers in the USA. In order to enlist suppliers to the mentioned above guide,
we have sent e-mails to contact addresses presented on suppliers' websites. The response was
amazingly poor, particularly taking in account that the e-mail offered at no cost, a subscription to a
professional guide which aims to inform customers in supplier's territory about supplier's products
and services.
In certain cases no e-mail and no contact phone is presented on the USA suppliers' website, and the
only way to make contact with the supplier is by means of a form presented on its website, which
as it seems frequently no one in the suppliers company reads or takes care of.
Nobody argues that a tenacious customer is able to locate a phone and make contact with every
company; but why should one chase a company that can't be relied upon, even on answering
customers' e-mails.
Here too, if you check a supplier from China, you will find that most websites display all contact
possibilities, including e-mail address, form and telephone. And, you can be sure, that that someone
is appointed to answer your request.
The described cases indicate that most UPS companies in USA are still living in the pre Internet era,
where business contacts are made by phone, and marketing by salespeople calling on existing
customers or doing the footwork of visiting customers to present the latest product news. Whereas
the Internet is used as a technical platform for transferring messages, but not as a vital means to
perform the CRM strategy aimed to "find, attract, and win new clients, entice former clients back
into the fold, and reduce the costs of marketing and client service".
The current attitude takes care of only a single item of the CRM strategy, which is: "nurture and
retain the customers that the company already has ". Veteran customers are still loyal to the supplier
and do not search in directories, they have the e-mails and phones of the relevant people in the
company and do not use the forms, e-mail addresses and unnamed contact phones presented on the
company website which only a new prospective customer needs.
Resting on ones laurels can't however be eternal. The Internet changes the world, and the young
people living in the Internet era are already on their way to dominate the earth, as the recent
worldwide revolutions prove. They use the internet in order to locate new suppliers, new products,
with better performance and lower cost. They are more routed in the present, preferring new
opportunities over long term relations based on loyalty with a supplier, so is also the relation with
the company they now work for.
New young customers will implement a practical attitude which decreases both long term relations
and immediate dependence on the supplier, searching for and preferring products that can be
procured from several suppliers, featuring redundant UPS topologies, which do not require
immediate service, and swappable modules, which can be supplied and installed by the user or semi
technical service provider.
"It takes thirty years for a new technology to mature", said Peter Drucker, the legendary
management philosopher. The Internet is only half as old, and its main impact is still not unveiled.
Every company will probably evidence during the current decade that its market share, its customer
base, customer behavior and competition have all changed dramatically, whereas the internet is the
main business platform where products are announced, offered, promoted, and compared.
The new markets entrants, currently located in the Far East, which make already best use of the
Internet to attract new customers, are already penetrating the western market. The Western
countries and particularly USA are still the main players in the UPS world market, but unless definite
steps are implemented by the industry participants, they will have to shut the stable door after the
horse has bolted.
The examples shown above indicate that new thinking and dynamic approach is required to meet the
opposing forces within each company, in order to adapt to the new era. To implement the CRM
approach, a marketing strategy aimed to attract and win new clients as a way of life should be
adopted, and means that reach the following measurable performance goals should be implemented:
1. Substantial share of online visitors, looking for a UPS product service or solution provider, are
directed to the company.
2. Fast, professional and friendly response to every prospective customer reaching the company is
ascertained, whatever the way and type of contact.
3. Continuous and repeated presence, making a memorable impression, in most places where
prospective customers visit is assured, in order to build company image, trust and value preference
over other brands.
To achieve the first goal, listing and preferred placement in online directories and information
sources, where a prospective customer may look for suppliers is required.
The second goal requires assigning personnel to monitor follow and make sure that each contact
addressed to the company (not a specific employee) whatever the means , is paged, answered
within one or two days, and followed up.
The third goal requires presenting and publishing the company and its product and services, on
relevant websites, which are visited by prospective customers.
Setting measurable quantified goals and establishing the means to achieve the goals, are the first
needed steps for making a change. But to ascertain continuous progress, consistent monitoring
system, tracking results on a monthly or quarterly basis should be installed, and new steps which
can or might restore the said performance goals and visitors influx back on track when needed,
should be devised and implemented.
Certain links in our Newsletters require UPSonNet member subscription; Sign UP for full site access
I welcome remarks. Please send to: meirp@upsonnet.com
UPSonNet Website News
We have finally presented the North American Professional UPS Suppliers Guide, preparation of
which took much longer than expected, due to the difficulties described in Meir's editorial.
The Guide provides a unique and valuable presentation of Professional UPS suppliers. It enables to
see at a glance, professional suppliers according to type and make of UPS systems, serviced
territory and contact details. An enhanced presentation is offered by Suppliers with preferred status.
We have discussed in our newsletters, presented on our site and published numerous papers on
relevant websites, the importance that professional service providers to accompany and guide a user
in order to select the right UPS; and advise on such issues as Apparent and Active power,
Output waveform, UPS Efficiency, and UPS Strategy, as well as UPS and Battery maintenance
and after sales service.
What differentiates this guide from other UPS directories, in addition to the said features, is the fact
that it presents only suppliers actively involved in offering UPS equipment and services, and doesn't
present the bulk of online UPS sellers, which are not build to provide professional services.
To see the guide, add your company if it is not listed yet, or to upgrade to a preferred status, visit :
North American Professional UPS Suppliers Guide.
We are now starting a process of introducing guides for other territories. Interested companies
from other countries are welcome to Subscribe.
We would also like to bring our readers attention to an article by Shri Karve, director of business
development, APC by Schneider Electric, titled: Guide to UPS Selection for Critical Applications .
We seldom present on our website, articles published on other sources. We believe however, that
this paper, does present unique insights and value to our audience, justifying its presentation.
UPS Industry News
Two news items, worth noting are presented on UPS- News, both indicate integration of UPS
industry participant and systems as part of a broader power supply and IT protection attitude.
Delta Electronics offers SolutionE, an infrastructure modular concept of integrating UPS systems,
solar power, wind turbines, mains power, diesel generators and fuel cells in order get a cost
effective solution reducing payback time as and electricity bills.
General Electric enters cloud computing and Smartphone supporting arena by signing an agreement
to acquire Lineage Power, an energy equipment supplier for datacentres and towers used in cloud
computing and Internet mobile services.
We welcome remarks on any Newsletter issue. Please e-mail to: denis@upsonnet.com
__________________________________________________________________
To receive this newsletter in your e-mail, please subscribe.
Sign-UP for Full Unrestricted Access to all Pages
Please forward this e-mail to a friend that might be of interest
UPSonNet
| | | | | | | | |
| Spread Your Word On the Globe |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
UPSonNet
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| USA Versus China - UPS Consumer Experience |
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