Have you ever really considered how price affects your customer with regard to their perceived benefit? Too often, we use a simplistic approach to determining a price – figure the cost to produce a product or service, tack on some arbitrary percentage, and call it good, right?
Sales
When Cutting Prices: Are You Giving Away Your Profit?
Are you thinking of cutting your prices to win a customer? Remember this: Cutting your price to secure the initial deal only does one thing – it takes profit out of your pocket.
Turning Fool’s Gold into Gold
The key to getting more sales is to understand more about how customers buy. Even salespeople with a lot of training make the mistake of focusing more on what they want to accomplish than on what the customer needs to know to make a buying decision.
Significant Business Problem: Lousy Implementation of Strategy
When 20 percent of the most powerful business leaders in The United States lose their jobs, there is a problem! Top business consultants have argued for business to better strategize, align, and implement.
Marketing Works Better When it Supports the Sales Process Directly
There is a strange but all too common phenomenon in corporate America –– the marketing department and the sales department are at odds with one another. They don’t like each other. They don’t talk to each other. And they certainly don’t listen to each other.
The Unpaid Consultant: Out-Sell Your Competitors
Over the last twenty-five years I have heard more than my share of bad ideas when it comes to effective selling. Here is the worst one that I have ever come across: “Don’t be an unpaid consultant”.
What I Learned from a Successful Small Business Owner About Sales
Today, I stopped in a small business and made another small purchase with a very different customer service experience. I was greeted with a friendly “Hello” and smile from the owner right when I walked in and was told to ask if I needed any help. In the world of sales, make sure you are doing the simple little things, to have a huge impact.
Price Discount Considerations
As small business owners, managers, and marketers one of the issues we must confront each holiday season is whether or not to give price discounts as part of your planned marketing programs. The uncertainty can seem enormous. How much should the discount be? When should you run it? In what situations should it apply? Will […]
Selling to the SOHO Market
As a business owner, you might have experienced being contacted by other firms trying to sell their products and services to you. In my case, I get a lot of emails and phone calls from other businesses offering anywhere from their phone systems to computers to accounting services. One thing that strikes me though is […]
Pricing Strategies During a Recession
In this recession, customers typically cut back on their spending. To entice these customers to spend and buy, one of the first adjustments you can make to survive these tough economic times is to adjust your pricing. Adjusting your pricing, however, is not just a function of lowering your prices. You need to consider several […]