Are your pricing practices undisciplined?

When I talk about being undisciplined I am speaking about being disorderly or out of control.

Let me give you an example; a close friend comes into your business and you give him a better price than an ‘ordinary’ customer. This is disorderly for a number of reasons;

1. They probably didn’t ask for any type of a discount as they are buying from you because they trust you.
2. You have decreased your profit margin for no good reason.

In business we have to create pricing based on your costs to do business. If you chose not to price according to your costs of doing business and wanting to make a profit that is your choice.

The question becomes, why are you in business?

Do you have an identity crisis in your business or industry?

If you say no, I hope you will read on to find out that if a large company can suffer from this, so can your business or industry.

In a recent article of The Globe and Mail (Canadian edition) the new boss of Sears Canada stated that his business must tackle an identity crisis. This is what he said about his concerns;

• the stores are cluttered with merchandise
• marketing and promotions are ineffective, and they
• don’t offer the right products in the right market.

What does that have to do with you? In a word, everything! When was the last time you evaluated how your office or store is organized? When was the last time you assessed your marketing or promotions results? Are there other products we could offer that would be more favorably accepted?

The key to those questions is not in your answers, but in your customer’s or prospect’s answers.

The final question is; are you strong enough to ask your customer’s or prospect’s for their honest opinions on those three areas of your business? If not contact me and I will gladly do that for you. To do that e-mail me at timothygibney@sympatico.ca. In the subject line state 'Identity Crisis'.

What are the rewards for your customers for doing business with you?

I am talking about intangible benefits that are additional to their purchase of your product or service.

What do your clients get from you that is intangible?

I raise this question because of an on-going situation my wife is in. It involves her hair stylist and the way my wife is treated. The hair stylist has convinced her that she should book her appointments months in advance. To me this makes a lot of sense as what she has done is created scarcity for her service. What bothers me the most is that if you set an appointment date and time, it would make sense to honor that appointment wouldn’t it?

Well that is the heart of the matter. My wife goes on time to all of these appointments, and then has to wait every time. The only explanation that she gets is that she (the hairstylist) is running late. Well, that is obvious isn’t it?

If it was me, I would have moved on to another business, but is that just me?

What can you do to avoid situations like this, when your clients are not being treated with dignity and honor?

Does anyone use the ‘Yellow Pages’ anymore?

If they aren’t why is it that there are more and more yellow page types of books arriving at my home on a yearly basis?

Last week I threw away 3 of these editions of the 4 we had received in the past number of months. Why do we keep getting all of these editions?

The answer is that many business people continue to buy advertising in them as they are so concerned that someone will not be aware of them. How sad! It is sad because it proves that they have not asked enough questions of the sales person who sold them the idea of advertising in their edition of their ‘yellow pages’.

Some of the questions you should ask are;

• What is the circulation of your edition?
• Which areas do this edition cover?
• What makes your edition better than the others?
• Can you tell me one company that has proven benefits of using this book last year?

There is one question you need to ask yourself; how can I find out which of my marketing is bringing in the most of my prospects? 

When you find out that, there will be no concerns about which type of marketing that you use, will there?

Have you ever got frustrated when registering a product you purchased?

If not, you have been blessed.

The other day I decided to register a product on a web-site instead of mailing in the registration. What a disaster! It appears that they are so interested in finding out what type of buyers purchase their products that they have forgot about me the customer.

It took about 10 minutes to complete all of their questions, thus it wasted my time. Why do I tell you this? It is simple. When you ask a customer to register a product, let them register the product. Then you can follow it up in a polite way to get more information.

Now if you don’t have the need for product registration, you can use what I’ve just mentioned in many other ways. All that you need to remember is to put your customer's needs first.

Are you placing your customer’s needs before your own?

Do you know what the key considerations in advertising are?

The considerations I am addressing are points or factors that will improve your advertising.

The first one is believability. If it is not believable you may also be in trouble with more than your prospects. If it is not believable you’ve just wasted money on your marketing as potential clients will not come to your business because they know that you are not trustworthy.

Number two is that your advertising or marketing must create some positive emotions in your audience. I stress positive as if it is negative you’ve already lost the battle.

Thirdly, it must be soft sell. That being that it must not come on to strong, as you will scare people away from your business.

While there are many more considerations to make part of your advertising, if you use these three you will have improved your marketing massively.

When are you going to improve your advertising? Is today the right day?

What is the best type of advertising/marketing?

This is a question that is asked many times and one that everyone has an opinion on.

The other day my wife and I were at a birthday party of a good friend. A lady at our table spoke about how 'word of mouth' is the best marketing their business has ever had. I smiled but did not say anything. I did this for a number of reasons;

1. When you are comparing it is good to have a standard to compare it to, did she have this?
2. What method was used to evaluate or compare?
3. What was the profit/dollar improvement in the comparison?

Now that I’ve given my opinion, you now have a way to analyze your marketing.

When are you going to take action on this?

Do you understand what I am saying?

It all depends on the type of listener you are, doesn’t it.

If you are the boss/owner of your business you lead the way in teaching listening by example. How do you listen to your employees? I ask that question because how you listen to their needs will be reflected by them to potential clients or other employees.

Let me give you what I believe are the four types of listening;

• Inactive listening – when you grunt a number of times during a conversation but have paid no attention to the speaker.
• Selective listening – when you fade out and fade into a conversation, you only hear parts of it thus you are not well enough informed to respond.
• Active listening – when you are involved with the conversation and ask question to seek further clarification.
• Empathic listening – when you feel the emotions of the speaker thus you feel their pain or joy.

So what type of a listener are you?

Can you see how your listening skills will have a great impact on the speaker?

Why are you choosing to be less than you could be?

This is a question that the ‘pitbull of personal development’ asks in his book ‘People are Idiots and I can Prove It’.

The author of this book is Larry Winget, and he is becoming my favorite motivator as he tells it like he sees it. As he says, no other living thing chooses to be less that it could be. Yet everyday both you and I choose to be less than we could be.

So I have a challenge for you today with a reward. If you send to me by e-mail an older ad or marketing piece that you have used and a newer improved version, I will send you the e-book ‘That Makes Me Sick’. Please do this before October 26^th, which is 7 days from today. My e-mail address is timothygibney@sympatico.ca. In the subject matter please type ‘marketing improvement’.

For the first 3 entries I will also give you a written analysis of what I like and what could be improved in what you've sent.

Are you going to prove that you’ve have not settled for being less than you can be?

What does a health and fitness business know about marketing?

In the case I am going to tell you about – a great deal!

Some months ago my brother was visiting our family. As an avid weight lifter he wanted to continue his workouts in the time he was here. He phoned up a local company and asked them how much it would cost to use their facilities for three or four days. The person on the phone suggested that he use their three day pass to ‘try out’ their facility.

To give you some background this local company is part of a nation wide chain. I am sure that my brother will remember the company as he really appreciated what they did for him. I am also sure that if he is ever needs the services of a health and fitness business he they will be top of mind.

You can see what a little public relations did for him, can’t you?

What can you do today in your business to create some positive public relations?

Will the Occupy Wall Street protest affect your small business?

Sadly I must answer yes!

I answered yes because of some of the comments I’ve heard over the past month. When I hear comments like; ‘I want a job and I want it now.’, ‘I lost money and I’ll never get it back.’, and ‘The government must provide jobs for all.’, these comments scare me about the future.

Why does it scare me about the future? First of all I understand that there are fundamental flaws in the system and there will be more people upset. But secondly and more important the comments seem to be saying, ‘We are entitled to what we want.’ The first concern for me is what happened to being responsible for your life? The second concern is that when a business owner hires someone, they want that someone to serve their customers – not just have a job.

My final question is; why aren’t these people trying to be part of the 1%? They can do that by starting a business, taking responsibility for its growth and using proven marketing principles to do it.

Isn’t that what you are doing?

Why do your clients buy from you?

Don’t tell me it is because of how long your organization has been in business. Don’t tell me it is because of the quality of your product or service.

The reason I tell you not to ‘tell me’ those things as they are business focused answers. Your clients buy from you for their reasons. Over ten years ago I came across a great article on the buying motives of clients. What I would like to identify for you are the six basic buying motives;

• Profit or Gain – your clients want to save money or make money, longer wear.
• Fear of Loss – your clients want to reduce costs, a  guarantee or no risk.
• Comfort and Pleasure – your clients want enjoyment, comfort, beauty or improved morale.
• Avoidance of Pain – your clients want to save time, safety, good health, or reduce loss.
• Love and Affection – your clients want social approval, security of loved ones, better employee relations.
• Pride and Prestige – your clients want social acceptance, style, high quality, self improvement.

The question is; how do you find out these buying motives? The answer is that you need to ask specific and detailed questions.

Do you know what the questions are?  If not contact me at 519-539-2267.

Do you want your marketing to blend or to pop?

This is a question that all people who are interested in creating effective marketing should be able to answer.

This is also the difference between a person who understand the key aspects of marketing and a graphic artist.

Most graphic artists have a fondness for art and gravitated to become graphic artist because they wanted to earn a living. If a picture tells a thousand words, then art it is not meant to tell a specific story. A marketing piece is developed to tell a specific story – the story of what is important in your business at that time. So the person who understands the key aspects of marketing will;

• be aware of making your intention clear and easily grasped,
• use your best idea as the headline, and
• make sure that the layout is minimal and orderly.

These are just a few things a professional marketing person will know and use.

Now that you know these standards, when will you use them in your marketing?

Are you tolerating poor behavior from your staff?

Please don’t do that.

If you do, you are accepting behavior that can ultimately kill your business. Let me give you an example.

One of your staff members has got an attitude. He is driving one of your company vehicles. That meaning that it has your company name on it. Someone cuts him off in traffic, and he gets upset. So he swerves in and out of the traffic to get back at the person who cut him off. Now who is the one that pays for his anger? It is you and your business.

Now a few questions for you to conclude;

• Do you have a staff member like that?
• Why do you keep him as a staff member?
• What can you do today to cut your losses?

Are you concerned about your competition?

I hope you aren’t.

I hope you aren’t for one simple reason. It is because if you are concerned about your competition, you are not focused on your job at hand. That is making sure your business is doing all that it can to be all that it must be in business.

Michael Gerber wrote a book called ‘The E-Myth’ and has written many different views from the original scenario. The aspect of these books is that you must work on your business not in your business. To me that means you must have a long-range plan for your business, then you take action on activities that will lead to the achievement of that plan. You must not get bogged down with the day to day activities.

If you are more concerned about what your competitor is doing – you are not working your plan. In fact I would say that you probably don’t have a plan. Another fact is that you appear to be in a reactive mode, which will lead to stress. How sad!

What can you do today that will move you to working on your business every work day?

Are you taking the safe middle ground in business?

If you are - you need to read my comments.

As I write this the news about the death Steve Jobs of Apple has taken over the media. A question; do you think that all of what Steve Jobs and Apple did over the past decade was playing it safe? Of course not!

So why are you playing it safe. If you continue to act and look like your competition, then you will be considered to be the same as your competition. To my knowledge no one has made an impact on the world of business by playing it safe.

For years I have spoken about ‘marketing to the edge’. This is what you need to do now. It is all about finding your edgy proposition and promoting the heck out of it. How else will you ever be noticed?

To get assistance in ‘marketing to the edge’ contact me at 519-539-2267 or timothygibney@sympatico.ca. In the e-mail subject area please type ‘marketing to the edge’.

Why don’t you take the first step today?

Is a post card better to use than a brochure in your marketing?

This was a question asked by a business man to a graphic artist at a workshop I was attending.

I listened closely, and then the artist said ‘A post card is always better.’ I did not say a thing because the man asking the question only could think about pictures. So in a way the artist was right. In a big way the artist was wrong.

I know that you should always try to help the client get what they want. But what this business man wanted was a way to promote the uniqueness of his business. A nice picture on the front of a postcard with a few words on the reverse side of the card would not be able to explain the uniqueness of what he offered.

A picture may say a thousand words to a client, but are the words it is saying the words you want to be said?

You can’t leave your message up to the thoughts of the client – you’ve got to tell them your message. The only way you can do that is with your words.

Does your marketing really tell the prospects what you are all about?

Are you competing on price?

Maybe it’s time to re-think that strategy.

As you know, if you discount you are lowering your profit level. Are there alternatives to a lower price strategy?

Consider these ideas;

• Develop or sell only ‘one of a kind’ products or services. When I was in the manufacturing and retail business many years ago, this is how we were able to succeed.
• If you have services that are very unique, what about combining them with a product. That way you can sell the product and increase your bottom line.
• Have a limited amount of the products you sell. When there is scarcity there is demand. The great thing about this is - with demand the price is never discounted.
• Build your reputation, if you haven’t done it by now, please start. This is because once your reputation is built as a top of the line business - discounting is not requested.

By implementing one of these ideas you will take you business to the next level. This means that you will have upgraded you business. You will have taken it out of the annoyance of competing on price.

So when can you start to sell value instead of selling on price?

Is this customer service?

Recently I called my auto dealer to book an oil change.

It was noon hour when I called to book an oil change on my car. The person who picked up the phone stated “You called at the wrong time.” I responded by saying “Isn’t this the service department?’ The person responded “Yes.” My response was “Please book me in for an oil change.” The person told me that I would have to call back and gave no further explanation.

I bring this customer service fiasco up because I am sure that it has happened more that one time lately. So how can you avoid this type of situation in your business?

I know that it all comes down to one action – communication. This communication means that everyone is aware of what is going on and what needs to be said if there is a concern. This communication includes training everyone who can and may pick up your office phone on how to do it. This communication includes showing scripts to all the staff and making sure that they practice the scripts so that situations like I’ve described don’t happen.

When will you take action to avoid this type of customer service?

How do you get attention with your advertising?

How do you get your prospects to read what you’ve put into your ad?

Years ago I attended a seminar with the late Charlie Mouser. He was an internationally known lecturer and editor. For years he spoke to associations and business people all over North America. He was known for his ability to detect business trends far ahead of most. He was also considered an authority on newspaper and print advertising.

I will always remember what he said regarding headlines. He said the only 3-word headline that ever worked was ‘Free Beer Tonight’. He went on to say that you need at least 9 words to grab the attention of a reader.

Now this was said 24 years ago. What bothers me the most is that business people are still using 3-word headlines in their marketing even though it will not grab the attention of any of the readers. I know that the reason business owners are still following this bad practice is that they are not evaluating the results of their marketing efforts. I say that because if they did evaluate the results they would find out that what they are doing now doesn’t work.

When are you going to evaluate the results of your marketing? The financial future of your business is at stake.