David's October 2011 Bulletin of Sales and Marketing
Hello There
Welcome once more and as you can see, I've been able to resume the video introduction.
The Discovery Day on September 29th was brilliant, with comments like:
"I can see I need to take much more control of my business and our promotional activities"
"It showed me it's time to change"
"The questioning really made me think about how I sell"
"I'm taking away so many ideas I can implement immediately"
Many people also said the day has greatly changed their own attitude and outlook, and left them determined to alter their procedures.
My next Discovery Day will take place in High Wycombe on Wednesday, November 23rd. If you haven't been to a Discovery Day before, please go to the booking page to make sure of your place. It really will change the way you do business, forever!
In this bulletin I continue to explore the same four themes I looked at in August. I hope you enjoy it.
What Do You Do?
If you consider yourself to be a Professional Service Provider, or a Professional Knowledge Worker, what exactly do you do for your customers? Sure you 'add value', but how does the customer perceive the results of your effort?
Although Professional Service Providers don't supply commodity 'stuff' or tangible goods, they still need to be wary of how they, and therefore their customers, view their services.
“Sure you 'add value', but how does the customer perceive the results of your effort?”
An Art, Not A Science
Charging different prices for different value is not only highly sensible, it's a highly effective way of increasing profits.
But because value cannot be defined absolutely with surgical precision, different customers with a similar perceived value of what you are offering will have different degrees of price sensitivity. In other words, just like value, an 'acceptable' price cannot be precisely defined either.
“Charging different prices for different value is a highly effective way of increasing profits”
No Risk, No Gain
I've spoken elsewhere about the folly of risk aversion and the desire to be risk free. As I pointed out, profit comes from entrepreneurs taking calculated risks. But of course the customer also needs to take calculated risks in order to generate their profit too.
There are seven types of risk for the customer:
Will it work?
What will I lose financially if it fails?
How much time will I lose if it fails?
I absolutely have to make a choice now, so will it be the right choice?
What if it doesn't do what I thought it would do?
What will the 'neighbours' think?
Will it harm me?
“The customer also needs to take calculated risks in order to generate their profit too”
You are most welcome to send the contents of this bulletin to colleagues and friends; please may I ask you to forward it in its entirety, rather than
"cut-and-paste". You may copy or distribute this bulletin as long as the copyright notice and full
information about contacting the author are attached.
The author is David Winch. Contact david@davidwinch.co.uk
call +44 (0)800 988 5576 UK toll free, or +44 (0)7940 703895 UK mobile.
