INDEX.

1. The Knowledge Organisation.
2. The Market Value.
3. The Personnel.
4. Corporate Knowhow.
5. Corporate Image.
6. Investing in Intangible Assets.
7. Attract the Customer.
8. Attract the Personnel.
9. Develop the Competence of the Personnel.
10. Utilising Capacity.
11. Matching Capacity and Demand.
    11.1. The Vicious Circle.
12. Managing the Strategic Dilemma.
13. Customer Strategies.
14. Personnel Strategies.
15. Pricing.
16. Some Critical Incidents.
17. Management Information.

7. Attract the Customer.

Customers in general wish to use the capacity of knowledge organisations for either of three purposes:

1. Solving short term difficult problems which they cannot solve themselves.
2. Adding capacity for relief of a short term pressure on simple projects that the customer could in principle solve himself, so called "body shopping".
3. Long term contracts out of non-core business - also a kind of "body-shopping".

The best customers are always in short supply. If we wish to have them as our customers we must attract them in competition with other Knowledge Organisations.

The Knowledge Organisation does not use many of the traditional means of "marketing" itself. The art of marketing the knowledge organisation lies is in making oneself so attractive that the customer comes to us, rather than the other way round.

Whether a potential customer will find our organisation attractive depends on:

• Whether our organisation or key people are well-known by the customer before. Customers are loyal to people who have come up with good solutions before.
• Whether our organisation has a sufficient level of unique Knowhow.
• Whether our project team has a sufficient level of competence.
• What corporate image we have gained from actual work with other customer projects.

The customer is an individual and thus also wishes to work with teams with whom he or she feels a mutual chemistry.

If these conditions are fulfilled the customer is likely to be flexible and willing to accept even delays if unexpected difficulties (called "clogs" in the simulation) occur. The customer is also likely to contribute to an increased experience of our own team and the individual's competence levels.

By mixing the right team, attracting the customers with a chemistry that fits ours and projects that fit the team's competence the customer is likely to "spread the word" which will result in an improved corporate image.

The plan for attracting new customers is to be included in our strategy. See chapter 13. Customer Strategies

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