Add more value to your offer, don't get beaten up on price

If you are up against it on price, try to think of ways of making your product or service different.

Differentiation is relatively easy with services, but with products its more expensive. You can of course improve the services that surround a product to differentiate it. Examples could be; a longer warranty, faster service back up, a replacement product and so on.

This week one of my clients added two processes to their service offering that were not anymore expensive to deliver and they closed an order, 30% higher than their competitors, who were not offering the same level of service, provided by my client. 

People will pay more if they can see the value. 


When your offering is difficult to compare to your competition, your product/service will be less of a commodity, making price pressure easier to deal with.


Let me give you a practical example; years ago I owned a concrete company, now that's a commodity business! We were one of the the first companies to offer  2 metre capacity trucks. We did not charge surcharges for small loads like the bigger operators and our trucks could access areas where the big trucks could not go.


It was a nice little business that we sold to Tarmac in the late 1990's.


Within our Results Driven Marketing coaching system we have 31 different strategies to defend price.


The question to consider is; where can you be different?


Take Care


Regards


Mark 

Integrated Marketing  Copyright Mark Wheatley 2010 All Rights Reserved

Your Business Model

I was at a meeting today discussing a new business opportunity and discussed different aspects of the business model that was being proposed for a start up.

A key point was that two elements must exist for me to get involved. 


In fact these two points are important to any would be business owner or existing one for that matter. Regular repeat sales and the ability to scale the business up easily.


A final point was that the business would need to be attractive to purchasers in the future. The objective being build it and sell it.


Do these points exist  in your business model? If not what can you do about it?


A short post today check out tomorrows.


All comments welcome, what do you think are the important aspects of a business model?


Take Care


Regards


Mark 


Integrated Marketing  Copyright Mark Wheatley 2010 All Rights Reserved

Sales and Marketing Questions

Here are a few questions to simulate your strategic thinking for the New Year. 

If you are getting too many no’s or don’t knows, just leave a comment and I’ll do my best to reply.

1. What sets your business apart from the competition, why should they choose you instead of your competitors? 

2. Have you got five or more lead generation strategies to generate sufficient leads to achieve your budget for 2010? (Excluding referrals).

3. Do you close above 50% of your prospects? (A prospect is defined as someone that has shown an interest in your products and services).

4. Have you got three or four referral systems that are being consistently worked by the appropriate people in your organisation? (Word of mouth does not count).

5. Are you spending sufficient time in managing and developing your sales and marketing activities?

6. Are you attempting to increase the size of every sale with every new and existing customer/client?

7. Do you have a cheaper alternative when people cannot afford to buy from you?

8. Are repeat sales built into your sales model?

9. Do you know how long an average customer/client stays with you in years?

10. When you have lost a customer/client do you know why?

11. Do you continually communicate and educate your customer/clients in terms of the benefits and applications of your products/services?

12. Do you have a very strong initial offer to start a relationship?

13. Have everyone that 'sells' been trained in consultative sales?

14. Have you done anything before that’s worked in sales and marketing, but you no longer do it? (If yes start doing it again).

15. Do your sales people have script books that enable you to ensure that your sales expertise doesn't ‘walk out the door’ if your best salespeople leave?

16. Is it really easy to buy from you or could you make it even easier?

17. Do you use joint ventures to obtain more customers or sell more products and services?

18. Is your website generating sufficient leads in relation to your investment in it?

19. Do you take advantage of your existing relationships? (For example has your solicitor, accountant or banker helped you beyond just providing a service?)

20. Is the time that you are investing in social media and the internet producing a return? 

Let me know what you think to the questions or if you have any issues.

These questions are from our strategic business audit document.



Regards




Mark



Integrated Marketing  Copyright Mark Wheatley 2009 All Rights Reserved