Designing bespoke products allows you to give your customers the best of the best, the top of the range, highest-quality products out there. However, it also presents lots of challenges that need to be overcome.
Finding answers to these challenges is important for any business that deals with bespoke products and finding answers to these big questions can make all the difference to their bottom lines.
- How do you convince customers your products are worth the extra money?
- How can you keep manufacturing costs down?
- How can you manage lead times?
How your business deals with these issues can go a long way in deciding how successful it’s going to be.
You’ve Got to Convince Customers It’s Worth the Extra Costs
Bespoke products always come at a premium. In today’s world, consumers almost always have access to cheap, mass produced products, no matter what industry you’re in. You know your bespoke, lovingly crafted products are well worth the extra costs, but you’ve got to be able to convince the customers of this as well.
This is where you can use the culture of your business, it’s absolute commitment to quality, and meeting the highest standards to convince people. Live and die by the quality of your work and create products that people simply won’t say no to.
No Two Parts are the Same – How Can You Keep Manufacturing Costs Down?
One of the problems with bespoke products, is that by definition, it means they’re unique, and that often means lots of unique parts. One of the reasons mass produced products can be made so cheaply is because all the parts are the same, and can be produced in huge volume, saving on manufacturing costs.
When you’re crafting bespoke products this isn’t possible, but you can find other ways of keeping your costs down. You really need to build your relationships with your manufacturers and constantly work on maintaining them. When you’ve achieved this relationship, you know you can rely on the quality of the products, while still finding ways to minimize costs.
Managing Lead Times
When you’re building a bespoke product and you urgently need a part, it’s not as simple as just going and picking it off a production line. The parts you need are unique, and it takes time to make them, which can cause difficulties for your business.
Again, building strong relationships with your suppliers can be very beneficial. If it’s a float switch you need, find quality float switch developers, and work on the relationship so that you know you’re getting high-quality at the best price.
It’s also important to work hard on developing your pipeline so you can build a clear picture of what you need and when. There are always going to be times where you can’t predict exactly what you will need and when, but the more you can plan these things, the better placed you are to manage lead times.
