How Do You Compare To Your Competitors?

The other day one of our new Sales Managers came to me asking about how our bottle unscramblers compare to a competitor. I showed him a chart we had prepared that compared our machines to the competitor item by item. But then I realized that there was so much more that he needed to know.

Our company has been building packaging machinery since 1974. We were founded by packaging engineers who came up with a ‘better way’ to unscramble rigid plastic containers. Over the years the company has responded to the various needs of our customers and designed different models of bottle unscramblers. To date, we have eight different models that each come in numerous sizes. This, I realized, was a very big difference between us and the competitor he was inquiring about. This particular competitor offers two different models that each come in different sizes. But the important point here, is that no matter what the customer’s needs are, they will try to make one of these two models ‘fit’ that need - similar to Cinderella’s step-sisters trying to fit their big feet in the glass slipper.

Our company did not design all of these different models just to keep our engineers busy. We designed them when our customers challenged us with a project that needed a new solution. So while the competitor may have been in business as long as us, they either chose a more-narrow path to marketing or did not have the Engineering capability to respond to the ever-changing needs of the packaging industry. This, then, is our company’s most important competitive advantage over almost all of our competitors.

New England Machinery utilizes its Engineering strength to design new products to meet new challenges across the board in all of our product lines. From bottle unscramblers to bottle cappers to orienters, retorquers and beyond, we have more than one or two solutions to offer our customers.

In the end I was able to put together another list of competitive advantages to help our sales force. These included such items as: all our machines are designed, built, tuned and tested in the US; NEM is a woman-owned business; all service technicians are factory trained and certified; NEM machines are the most versatile on the market; we have dedicated employees with over 2/3 celebrating 15+ years with the company; and twenty other advantages to buying NEM. When arming your sales force to ‘do battle’ on the selling field, make sure they have a quiver full of information. Arm them with both the full array of competitive advantage strengths of your company as well as the direct hit items that show exactly why your product is the right choice.

The author, Marge Bonura, is the Director of Sales & Marketing for New England Machinery, Inc. (NEM). NEM is a leading manufacturer of bottle unscramblers, cappers, orienters, retorquers, lidders, pluggers, pump sorter/placers, scoop feeders, hopper elevators and much more. The company has been in business since 1974 selling to the food, beverage, pharmaceutical, personal care, chemical, household products, automotive and other industries. For more information on NEM, visit their website at www.neminc.com.