It's a good idea to map out every conceivable way in which customers may come into contact with your business, even the most mundane. No potential contact point should go unmanaged. People tend to view a visit to a professional - dentist, bank manager, accountant? - as not an enjoyable experience, so do something about it.
You need to consider the four factors that affect customers' experiences - Quality, Price, Service and 'Intellectual Capital', i.e. how the purchase grows their knowledge and skill - and the balance of these four that you will deliver. You cannot compete at zero level in any of them!
“Even if you already provide unsurpassed customer service, you can
still learn from the top firms”
Even if you already provide unsurpassed customer service, you can still learn from the top firms. For example, what could you learn from Disney? Their theme parks charge for entry, not for time spent inside. But they don't charge for entry to their stores because the experience is less than at a theme park. You might even wonder what Disney would have to do to their stores to justify charging for entry, but without destroying demand for the theme parks.
Mapping this onto a professional services firm, you might have a minimum price for all customers. If you do, what should be in the minimum, or standard, package to induce people to pay your 'entrance fee'?
If you want to create wealth and remain relevant, you have to decide how much effort you and your team will put into creating and testing new ideas such as these, versus time and resources spent on executing existing ones.
If you agree with these thoughts and would like to find out more about structuring your business in a better way, selling properly, how to make sales without selling and get paid what you're worth,, visit www.sws3.co.uk to download 30 more free practical ideas you can implement straight away in your business.
Service providers who charge for their time or their materials, or whose prices are influenced by their competitors can find out how to get paid what they're really worth at www.sws3.co.uk
Forget selling. Concentrate on helping customers to buy!
Easy to say, but how easy is it to do? Well, there are certainly many examples in the world of retail. Do staff in a sweet shop have to try to sell sweets or are they just order-takers? And what about a supermarket? Here the effort is first of all in getting people into the store, then once they are there presenting them with appealing and compelling propositions. Not forgetting of course, working hard to make their whole shopping experience pleasurable by adding superb customer service.
What then are the equivalents in a business to business, service scenario? Getting people into the store would be replaced by lead generation and appointment making for new customers, and by keeping in touch with existing ones. It is in the equivalent 'appealing and compelling' where steps can be taken to get the customers asking to buy, and 'appealing and compelling' generally comes down to enabling the customer to derive the value they seek.
“Appealing and compelling generally comes down to enabling the
customer to derive the value they seek”
But your price will affect 'appealing and compelling' too. A price which offers customers a huge return on investment when compared to their perceived value will be hard to resist. If a customer shows signs of buying on price alone, removing value allows consideration of a lower price, a much better strategy than just unilaterally lowering the price.
Another issue that can be dealt with by adopting a strategy that encourages customers to ask to buy is payment collection. You can effectively remove payment resistance by agreeing prices and payment terms before work ever starts, and then make paying as easy as possible!
If you agree with these thoughts and would like to find out more about structuring your business in a better way, selling properly, how to make sales without selling and get paid what you're worth,, visit www.sws3.co.uk to download 30 more free practical ideas you can implement straight away in your business.
Service providers who charge for their time or their materials, or whose prices are influenced by their competitors can find out how to get paid what they're really worth at www.sws3.co.uk
"We sell time" is not just bad pricing strategy; it's a flawed business model. If it was true, you'd be paid for just turning up. What you sell is the value of the results of the effort you put in during that time, and this value won't have any general, 'one size fits all' mathematical equation relationship to time, let alone be in direct proportion to it.
A business exists to make profit for its customers, to create results and value outside of itself. The concept of 'profit centre' is flawed, as admitted by the man who coined the term, the late Peter Drucker.
Despite having other faults, even Adam Smith recognised that both purchaser and seller need to gain - to make a profit - from a transaction.
“The only purpose of a business is to create a customer”
In consequence, the default purpose of Marketing is not to increase revenue - It is to increase profits!
Peter Drucker went on to draw this to its logical conclusion when he said, "The only purpose of a business is to create a customer. A business has only two functions - Marketing and innovation. All else is cost."
The simplest way for your Marketing function to increase profit is to concentrate on customers who will derive greater value from their purchases and who are therefore more willing and more able to pay more. Utilising the innovative juices of the entire organisation to create and deliver more appealing products, services, payment plans and the rest for this section of your market is an excellent use of your resources. The way I have often put it to my clients is, "Look for bigger problems."
If you agree with these thoughts and would like to find out more about structuring your business in a better way, selling properly, how to make sales without selling and get paid what you're worth,, visit www.sws3.co.uk to download 30 more free practical ideas you can implement straight away in your business.
Service providers who charge for their time or their materials, or whose prices are influenced by their competitors can find out how to get paid what they're really worth at www.sws3.co.uk
