You sell decorated products. EmbTrak sells software which, we hope, makes you more successful at selling decorated products. Different businesses? Yes. But more similar than you may realize.
You will be successful to the degree that you can provide products and services which turn prospects into customers. Same here. The question is, how is that done? Our experience may help you, so I'll share it.
Since 2000 we have been the unrivaled provider of decorated order fulfillment systems to the leading apparel brands using decoration. Long story, for another time. In 2011 we decided to address the general decorator market--all those embroidery and screen print shops from 3 employees to 900, most of whom buy product from vendors like Sanmar and add decoration. Distributors, decorators, contractors.
We saw there was not one decorator business management system which included art file management and coloring tools inside the product. We were convinced decorators would benefit enormously in quality and productivity by having those tools. But decorators need more than that. The key questions we faced were three: First, how does the market segment in terms of user profiles? Second, what starting combination of product features and support services was required to meet the needs of each of these user segments? Third, how should the product offering for each segment be priced?
Segments? That's the easy part. We did the market research and we talked with hundreds of companies. We arrived at three: 1) Smaller companies using QuickBooks who need a complete business system from sales to shipping. Our Express product fits here. 2) Middle market companies which need a comprehensive decoration system to integrate with an ERP system and others such as webstores and sales force automation. This segment is addressed with our new Elite edition. 3) Decoration departments for branded apparel companies. This segment is already well served by our flagship Enterprise edition.
The hard part to figure out is what features to include for each segment. We could have looked at the current offerings of established software brands and done a "me-too". But markets don't reward "me-too" products. Instead, we decided to limit our initial offering to what some call an MVP or Minimum Viable Product. This included the art file and color management we felt the industry needed. It also included sales order entry with simple single entry selling price and decoration charge and our powerful work flow engine. Anything else would be developed only if our prospects and customers demanded it. The drawback to this approach is that prospects may feel our product has less to offer than long-time products with every bell and whistle anyone can imagine. The beauty of this market driven approach to software is that everything we add is initiated and designed based on real world user needs and not some programmer's imagination.
How does this apply to you as the owner/manager of a decoration business? Just this: base your product and service offerings on what your prospects and customers tell you. Sounds easy, but the tendency is always for us to think we know what the prospect wants, when we really don't.
We're adding some really cool features to EmbTrak, in the opinion of prospects and customers--and their opinion is the only one that counts!
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