今日の社長スラック：0928の続き

ケーススタディー:
A社とB社に見積もりをお願いした。
A社は返事がなく翌朝見積もりが送られて来た。
B社はすぐに「翌昼までは見積もり送ります」と返事が来た。
両社の値段が同じだった場合仕事が早いA社の方が優秀に見えるが、心象はどうだろう？
最初にB社にかけていたら、明日昼には届くことがわかったからA社にはかけないかもしれない。
最初にA社にかけていたら返事がなくて不安だからB社にもかけるだろう。
つまりA社は仕事が早く結果は出せるのに勝率を半分にしている可能性があるのだ。 そういう細かい差を凌駕出来るようなパフォーマンス(この場合でいえば数時間で見積もりを送るなど)を出せない限り、最初に返事をすることがいかに戦略的に有利に立てるか分かると思う。
実際に社会では実力や能力の違いは評価しにくい(数字に出ないので)。だからこそこういうちょっとした有利を積み立てることが重要です。



Case study:
A client asks two companies for an estimate.
Company A does not respond on the same day, but sends over an estimate the next morning.
Company B immediately responds, telling the client they will send over the estimate by the noon the next day.
Which is the better company?
All other things being equal, Company A would seem better because the client receives their estimate first. But how about the psychological side of things?
If the client had contacted Company B for the estimate first, they would have felt good that an estimate is being developed, and may not have even considered to contact Company A.
On the contrary, if they had contacted Company A first, not receiving a reply would have given them anxiety, motivating them to contact Company B as a back-up plan.
In other words, Company A may have been quicker - they may have shown better results - but by not responding immediately, they may have decreased their chance of getting the job by half, by letting the client introduce a competitor.
In that sense, if you cannot show exceptional performance (e.g. in this case, sending over an estimate within a few hours) it is clear that replying quickly is the best strategy to keep the advantage.