For executives frustrated by low response rates and struggling with expansion in the midst of a sluggish economy, one problem might not be what you know about your target audience, but what you think you know. There is only one way to find out what potential customers want and will pay for; and that is to get the information from the prospect.
When Robert Cefail started marketing telecom systems to correctional facilities (pay phones for inmate use), the conventional wisdom in the industry was that wardens bought the phone system that offered the largest commission. Though the industry segment wasn’t well known at the time, it was big business: over a billion dollars a year, with a portion of the revenue from calls usually going into an inmate welfare fund. Determined to understand the needs of his customer, Cefail departed from conventional wisdom. He commissioned Glendale, CA-based On Target Research to survey U.S. wardens and sheriffs to confirm their views on inmate telecom systems.
“Prior to the survey, our focus was the same as our competitors: how much could we pay each facility in commissions to get the contract,” Cefail says. However, the surveys revealed something unexpected: Commission size wasn’t the number-one reason wardens chose a certain telephone system. Or the second, third, or fourth most important factor in the buying decision. In fact, commissions ranked eighth.
The surveys found that the sheriffs and wardens had their attention fixed on one thing: tension. They didn’t want tension in their prisons because it led to fights, riots, bad publicity, and the potential loss of job, position or pension. “This meant making sure the phones were indestructible and stayed in service, so inmates could talk with their families and didn’t take out their anger on guards or other inmates,” Cefail says.
Cefail honed his company’s position as one of preventive rather than reactive maintenance. His company continually monitored the phones and initiated repairs before problems could escalate. He also incorporated built-in security features such as number blocking and duration control. The result: business grew from zero to $30 million a year in just three years to become the number one independent provider of inmate telecom systems in the country.
Del Williams is a freelance writer based in Torrance, CA.
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