Up Market |
- Discounts Aren’t Your Only Option
- New to Outsourcing? Hang Onto Your Inbox!
- Stop Crafting Your Brand and Live It
| Discounts Aren’t Your Only Option Posted: 08 Jun 2012 08:00 AM PDT
Many business owners are ready to offer a discount even before they're asked. They'll give a price, and in nearly the same breath: "If the price is too high, I can offer a discount." The moment a discount in pricing is introduced the buyer will immediately seize the opportunity — just as a shark senses prey in the water. Now it's just a matter of how much of a discount can be obtained, with the buyers ultimate goal of getting most, if not all, for free. People believe that they get what they pay for. But the other side of that coin is this: People love to get a discount, and they hate to give up value in order to get it. Your only true defense against discounting your wares into oblivion is to offer different levels of value at different price points and let the buyer decide. Let's say you're in the carpet cleaning business. Your competition charges $100 dollars to clean a living room carpet of 800 square feet, and your potential customer knows this. How will you make your pitch without having to offer a discount? Easy: Offer options with different levels of value. Here's an example…
When the customer looks for a discount on your services to match or beat your competitor’s price, you can show them the added value in your list of options — and instead of being able to compare your offerings directly to your competitor’s offerings, they’ll be able to focus their attention on what level of value they’d really like to take advantage of. Don’t offer to discount your services to match someone else’s; you’ll just be in a race to the bottom. Trying to be the cheapest option doesn’t last, because someone will always try to provide the same service more cheaply. But if you give the client the option of saving money by giving up value, it’s worth your time to sell your service. Anything less, and you’re not selling — you’re just in the game to lose money. This formulation applies to nearly every kind of business, whether it be accounting, consulting, coaching, home building, lawyer, doctors and more. If you're trying to find one that doesn't or thinking yours is the exception, then you're more comfortable selling by discount — not actually selling. If you've ever been at a jewelry counter with your significant other to buy a special piece, do you remember the sale? “Well if you can’t afford this piece, you can always go with this piece…” Not a discount, but an alternate option. Do you see how powerful a technique this can be? Anyone can sell by discount — and usually they do — but they don't last long. Image credit: sylvar via Compfight |
| New to Outsourcing? Hang Onto Your Inbox! Posted: 08 Jun 2012 05:00 AM PDT
I spend at least two hours a day dealing with the messages in my inbox. It’s a huge hassle and it keeps me from doing the important work in my business. I know you’ve said that new outsourcers should start with other tasks, but isn’t something that I dislike and that takes up a huge amount of time a good candidate for outsourcing? Signed, Dear Sick, I’d like you to open your inbox right now. Who is the first message from? Is it a newsletter or an individual e-mail? If it’s a newsletter, is it a newsletter that might have something valuable in it? How will you decide what that something valuable is? If it’s an individual email, what does the message pertain to? Is it important enough that you need to reply immediately, or can you leave it for a few hours or a few days? When you reply, what will you reply with? Then what will you do with the message? Is it important enough to save, or will you delete it? These are all questions that you can answer with a split second of thought, but that split second is entirely unique to you, and difficult to explain to someone else. For new outsourcers, who haven’t experienced the level of detail they need to use when delegating, the overwhelming nature of deciphering that split second can drive them to give up on outsourcing entirely. Most of these individuals would have been successful if they’d chosen a different outsourcing task, which is why I suggest starting with something like managing media opportunities or researching potential guest post locations. If you’re new to outsourcing, start with a task that gives you a good chance of success. And if you’re spending two hours a day on e-mail and hitting delete on most of it, you need to do some mass unsubscribes and get that influx down to a more manageable level. Good luck! Kirsten Have a productivity conundrum? Send Kirsten an e-mail and get un-conundrized! |
| Stop Crafting Your Brand and Live It Posted: 08 Jun 2012 02:00 AM PDT
My father started his own business over 40 years ago. He was the brand. People loved his German accent and attention to detail. People remembered him and it was easy to recommend him. He simply was a great electrician. He never advertised. He just went after the work, did great work and word of mouth has kept the business going for over 35 years. Even as he scaled his business and hired employees he still was the brand. People hired my dad, even though someone else might be doing the work. They knew that he would make sure everything worked the way it should. My father would talk to customers, listen to what was going right and wrong, and adjust accordingly. His one-on-one service was a thing of beauty. It's why people loved referring him to their friends. I wonder how my father would have handled social media. Your BrandToo many companies leave their company's branding up to others. If you aren't careful, other people create your brand without you having a say. You can't take a back seat as your company grows. It's even more critical to help guide the actions of your employees. You need to raise your brand forever — just like a kid. Even when you let other people take over certain parts of the company, your core concepts need to be in place so people understand what decisions need to be made. This is why I'm always surprised when a company holds back from using social media, as if they really didn't need it. The truth is they are too afraid to make a mistake. We all know you are going to make a mistake. Plenty of mistakes. The key is to own up to them and actually talk about them with your customers. MistakesEven big companies make mistakes. Netflix, Microsoft, IBM — the list goes on and on. You remember Netflix wanting to split the company in two, and the fiasco that ensued? They made a huge mistake: not listening to what the customer wanted. As a business owner you have to be listening, which is so much more important that simply using your social media megaphone to talk. By listening to others, you'll be feeling the pulse of how people view you. It's this perspective that you can help tweak and turn into a positive, if needed. You are going to make mistakes — but you have a chance to atone for those mistakes and build your brand at the same time. That's the beauty of social media. Go out there to listen to what people are saying about you and try to win them over. The more you hustle and show you care, the stronger your brand will become. ListeningSet up Google Alerts for keywords like the name of your company, product and your own name. Google will send you updates whenever your keywords are written about. Then, remember to pay attention to the conversation on your blog, social media profiles and everywhere else you are trying to build relationships with people. People want your company to succeed — but only if you are asking questions and listening to the feedback. Your TurnWhat else do you do to gather feedback so you can improve your brand? Image credit: Jonathan Powell via Compfight |
Dear Kirsten,
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