Do you know why do people buy from you?

Back when I started in sales, the saying was “Price, Service, Quality… pick two”. Since then, technology has pretty much leveled the Quality playing field leaving service and price. Now the question is do you still get two or do you have to pick between price and service? (Click here to read more)

In today’s commodity driven economy, the popular thinking is that if you have a good product at a good price, you’ll be successful. The service or “People” end of the equation has been all but abandoned. When was the last time you went to a bank teller to cash a check? Or had a meaningful conversation with some outsourced customer service person in Bombay or Manila? Or called 411 and the operator knew the city you were calling about? I’ll give you a dollar if you can even find a phone number to call Amazon. Do we really even care?

The primary goal of all business is, of course, to make money. Without getting into a whole business lesson, the way you make money is to sell your product for more than it costs. It’s that simple. Few businesses, mine included, have the luxury of providing a service or product where there is no competition. The fact you are reading this newsletter tells me that you are either in publishing or publishing services business or think about getting into one or the other. As the owner of a publishing services company, I may be a potential supplier of yours or a potential customer. What motivates you to buy and what motivates others to buy from you is a question that may have an interesting answer. A friendly competitor of mine recently made a statement to me that “if we have to actually talk to the customer, even one time, we have failed”. It’s the technology that sells, not people. I also know a “not so friendly” competitor of mine has salespeople constantly pounding on the prospect telling them anything they want to hear until the sale is made? The more gullible the prospect, the higher the sale. The focus of both of these is the sale, not service. Both of these places, I assume are making money.

I run my business differently than either of the above models. I have extremely aggressive pricing but also provide personal service (not sales pitches) on an as needed, on demand, basis and yes, I still manage to make a profit. Up until recently I had a “gut feeling” of why people bought from my company but it wasn’t until I started sending out a customer satisfaction survey that I found out for sure. As it turns out, over 50% of the people bought because of service related issues. Even of the 25% that bought on “price”, only a small percentage of them bought price only or product only.

Why do people buy from you? Why do you buy from others? The real results may surprise you. If you are selling price only or selling “deception and confusion” you will probably be changing jobs more often than you’d like. Technology is great but it’s still the people aspects that make the difference. If you don’t believe me, look below.

If you are still with me at this point, and are interested in working with a company for the reasons listed below, I’ll waive the $100 administrative fee. Just write “admin fee waived per RP” on your purchase order.

The other side of “why people buy” is how satisfied are they after the sale is complete and the product is delivered. More about that, next month.

Question: Why did you buy from RJ Communications (www.booksjustbooks.com or www.selfpublishing.com)?

People Reasons

Honesty and Integrity

Because I spoke with Ron personally several times, and believed him to be a man of integrity, dedicated to helping people self publish in an affordable and professional manner.
I felt RJ was honest in their dealings.
The reasons that Ron gives on the website for having started the business appealed to me – he seemed genuine, not in it just to make a fast buck. Very streamlined service.
After I started losing money with POD Publisher I realized that your site was telling the truth.
The clarity of information regarding author rights – no shady information
Appeared to answer my questions and I felt like you were honest with your personal messages.
Your offer’s seemed fair and your work turned out to be excellent.
Jonathan and Dana were very kind to me in the very beginning and they were honest, spoke honestly and didn’t try to fake anything.
I own the ISBN, something they (POD Publishers) don’t tell you, but you do!

Customer Service

You answered all my questions with ease and were very easy to work with even before I published with you.
You guys are great. You make it very easy for a first timer to go through the steps to get a pro book published.
Price plus customer service.
Being able to talk with your rep. right away.
Great support and free information.
Price was excellent and customer service (phone conversations especially with Bob Powers, helped a lot in my selection. Bob was very friendly, genuinely interested in helping me, and professional, other staff members were very helpful.
You had the capability to do high res scanning as my illustrator created original art, you were in NY so I could have input on the project and once I met Dana I felt comfortable having my project with you.
After talking with Bob Powers, I found the customer support to be very helpful.
You seemed user-friendly, Jacki and co. were very gratifying to work with.
Friendly and helpful staff, competitive prices, prints in US.
The people and helpfulness.
Price and the wonderful people who helped me every step of the way. I can’t say enough about the great people that work at RJ Communications!
The fact that everything was linked with everything else. Particularly the distribution link. Also an amazingly human person at the end of my first phone call: A personal phone call to a laid back guy at home with a dog barking.
All the help and hand holding you offered at NO extra charge; very responsive and great marketing of your services.
From day 1, the company was helpful.
Time, price, people, Good people who knew what they were doing.
An initial phone call to Jonathan Gullery confirmed my opinion of your services.
Because of your helpfulness and e-mails.
Because of the ease to publish with RJ Communications and the support that the staff were offering.
Talked to Ron, liked him a lot and felt you were better fit.
Love the quality of my books, the rapid delivery service and the cordiality and professionalism of the staff.
I found the people friendly and reliable.
After seeing your website and talking with Bob, it just looked so easy and much more economical.

Referred by other or repeat customers

Because of the quality of the work I saw, and Barry C’s satisfaction with his experience.
I’ve done several books with RJ Communications prior to this one.
Recommended by another company.
Recommended by business associate.
Good recommendation from other authors.
Good referral from another author.
Did so in the past.
Beth B said you were good.

Services Offered (Product)

I would not be a published author with my own publishing company if not for RJ Communications. They made it all “a piece of cake!”
It had everything from printing to cover design all-in-one.
I had a previous bad experience with a POD publisher
Although I had published successfully three times before, turned down this time by 4 firms. I was turning 87 years of age and could not longer wait.
The fact that everything was linked with everything else. Particularly the distribution link. Also an amazingly human person at the end of my first phone call: A personal phone call to a laid back guy at home with a dog barking.
I liked the fact that I could get a nice book cover, get my book published, have the option to display my book in your bookstore and sign up with Thor.
RJC fitted my needs perfectly.
One-stop shop.
Because it wasn’t a vanity, subsidy or POD. And because your prices and range of services were the best.
Ease of process.
RJ seemed to have numerous resources and good fees.
The Thor program.
Full service, including layout and cover.
Because you have made everything for a new author/publisher extremely easy.
I liked the fact that I maintained ownership of my book and did not need to use you for marketing purposes. Your price was the best I had found and when I received a sample product, I was pleased with the way it looked
We had also considered another publisher but they would not do as many photographs as we requested.
You could give me a definite cost estimates, not the ‘packages’.
Overall impression.
Your advice to keep my own ISBN.
The publishing basics handbook and web site.

Economy (price)

Cheaper than the company that published my book in hardcover.
It was more economical and easiest to get information.
Low price, quick turn around, no distribution obligations.
Competitive pricing.
Price and quality and additional information offered based on a conversation with Jonathan Gullery.
I’d been “lurking” for a year or so, and you matched the best quote I got. I wanted to work with you rather than directly with a printer for the “security” of it.
Price and professionalism.
Great price, great people
We did not self publish. We are publishers and used you because of price.
Price and distribution options
Cost, your book “Publishing Basics”, Great help!
Less expensive, cuts out the middle man
Needed lower per unit cost for direct, bulk sales
Best price, best service.
Prices were excellent, excellent help via the phone.
Excellent pricing.
The price could not be beat and the advice that Ron and Dana gave to us was so useful and practical.
Cost, control of cover and formatting.
Lower total costs.
Cost and control.

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Ron Pramschufer

Ron Pramschufer has been in or around the printing and publishing industry for over 35 years. His experience, including working in the pressroom, bindery, production office and estimating department helped give him a firm foundation to build on when he entered sales and management. He was partners in a small press publishing company in Annapolis, MD in the late seventies and co-invented and marketed two controversial political board games which sold over 100,000 copies in the early eighties. Moving from his home state of Maryland to New York City after his game experience, Ron sold printing services to, primarily, small to mid-sized book publishers for over a decade before founding RJ Communications with an old friend. Ron recognized the potential of the Internet very early as a powerful communications tool. In 1997 he started one of the first printer related websites, www.rjcom.com, which caters to the professional print buyer. This evolved into www.BooksJustBooks.com and more recently www.selfpublishing.com which target the print buying novice, primarily self-publishers. All three sites are still operating successfully and SelfPublishing.com was named as one of Writers Digest’s, 101 Best websites for writers for 2006. Educating the novice print buyer has been a top priority from day one. To help address this issue, Ron co-authored the popular title Publishing Basics- a Guide for the Small Press and Independent Self-Publisher, now in its Third Edition, as well as Publishing Basics for Children’s Books, in its Second Edition. He is the organizer of the monthly Publishing Basics Newsletter where he writes a sometimes controversial Ask Ron column which addresses various aspects of the publishing process. On the same note, he started the Publishing Basics Radio PodCast in 2005 and serves as the show’s host. A wide variety of topics are covered including a very popular series titled, The Truth Behind POD Publishing, where he conducts interviews with a select group of industry insiders. Since its inception, RJ Communications has helped thousands of customers print over 105 million books. Ron is married and has three children. His daughter, Stephanie, teaches second grade and recently self-published her first children’s book in the Oliver the Clownfish series. Matthew, his oldest son, owns a website design business and Erik, the youngest, is enjoying high school.