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OS/2 Shareware BBS: 8 Other
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Intro.txt
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1996-01-07
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Subj: Intro: CrossingTheChasm Section: Marketing OS/2 Apps
To: Esther Schindler [EXEC], 72241,1417Monday, January 01, 1996 5:12:19 AM
From: Les Bell, 71210,104 #69848
Current Status:
My product is training, specifically courses on a range of OS/2-related topics. Demand is mostly
derived: that is, I don't do much marketing myself, mainly for manpower/resources reasons. Instead, I
teach IBM's courses for IBM, and the courses I've written myself through other training companies or
in a few cases, to my own direct clients. Plus, it depends on people adopting OS/2. Marketing is
_not_ specifically targetted at early adopters, though.
Who's buying?
Corporate customers. The biggest single industry category is finance, specifically banking and
insurance, then come government departments, telecommunications and the rest can't be
segmented with any degree of statistical significance - it's a very fragmented market.
Target market? Early adopters?
The typical price of training is $A400 per day, so I don't see many individuals on these courses, with
the exception of the occasional developer or consultant.
Segmenting the market on the basis of adopter categories in this case is not going to be terribly
helpful - we already know most of the companies in the market, and their staff get sent on courses
because somebody else made a decision to use OS/2
Assignment Two:
One thing I _did_ do was to create a little newsletter to be mailed to clients, with some OS/2 hints,
opinion and news. The point about customer relationships is _so_ true; if your first sale to a customer
costs you x dollars, then second and subsequent sales cost only x/10. Brand loyalty is a wonderful
thing, and worth big bucks to established brands.
Don't forget that on the first sale to a customer, they might just be evaluating a product or service. If
they come back for more, you're really in business. I put a lot of effort into customising a course for a
client last year; it was a pain at the time, but a few weeks ago they came back with a confirmed order
for over $50,000 worth of business during February and March.
However, I simply haven't had time to produce any more of those newsletters (which I guess is sort of
good - if I really needed to produce more, I'd have the time<g>).
-- Les