Are the competitors just popping up all over the place? Do you find yourself lowering your prices? Now is the time to be raising your prices not lowering if you truly want to beat your competition.
“Raise my prices“, you may be thinking? “What are you nuts?” “I cannot afford to lose any sales. I need to meet my competition head on and price is a great sales strategy.”
If you have had any of these thoughts, welcome to what the authors of the Blue Ocean Strategy call the Red Ocean. This is where all the blood and guts from competing companies happen. Raising your price is one proven sales strategy to leave the Red Ocean and travel to the calm, cool Blue Ocean.
When you lower you prices, you are actually lowering the perceived value of your products or services and establishing a conditioned response behavior from your existing as well as potential customers. By increasing your prices, you are raising the value of your goods and services from the perception of your loyal customers as well as potential customers.
Just take a moment to think about this sales strategy. You have a loyal customer. Then, all of a sudden you lower your prices to meet your competition. What thoughts have you now generated within your loyal customers’ buying/selling behaviors? That loyal customer may start thinking “Why have I been charged this higher rate all of these months or years?”
When businesses engage in price cutting, they are ignoring loyal customers as well as why people buy. From my experiences, people buy for 3 reasons: quality, customer service and price. However, as a buyer, I can usually only get 2 of these 3 reasons.
So what one am I willing to give up? Usually the answer is price because I do not want to give up quality or customer service. Yes, there are exceptions to this such as generic items at the grocery store or off brand items at retail stores from gasoline to clothing. Remember, I did write usually.
If you price was good before your competition reared its ugly head, then why is it not good now? Of course, you may have been overcharging your customers and that is another discussion for another day.
Do you want more sales? Then register for FREE professional sales skills assessment http://www.processspecialist.com/sales-skill-assessment.htm.
Are you where you want to be? To find out where you are, then M.A.P. for Success, a FREE email course may help you begin to chart a course of business, professional or personal success. Visit http://www.processspecialist.com/action-plan.htm.
Please feel free to contact me, Leanne Hoagland-Smith, Your Chief People Officer and Business Coach, who works with individuals and organizations that are tired of not being where they want to be and truly want more for their businesses and their selves. 219.759.5601
My lovely dog.