Tag: Customer Retention

Attention Business Wizards! Unraveling the Mystique of Discounts

Attention Business Wizards! Unraveling the Mystique of Discounts

Welcome, Business Wizards of the entrepreneurial realm! Today, we conjure up the truths behind discounts and their impact on our profit spells. Prepare to have the mystique of discounts unraveled as we journey through the often-misunderstood practice that can cast shadows on our business’s profitability.

The Discount Delusion

In the quest for increased sales, many merchants resort to the allure of discounts. It’s tempting to believe that a modest price reduction will lead to a treasure trove of new customers and increased sales volume. However, the reality is that discounts can erode your profit margins, often more drastically than you might expect.

The True Cost of a Discount

Let’s illustrate with a simple enchantment:

  • Original Widget Price: $100
  • Profit Margin: 30% ($30 profit per Widget)

By invoking a 10% discount, the price drops to $90, reducing your profit to $20 per Widget. To achieve a profit of $1,000:

  • Without discounts, sell 33.3 Widgets.
  • With a 10% discount, sell 50 Widgets!

That’s a significant increase in sales volume just to maintain the same level of profit. And if you dare to delve deeper with a 20% – 40% discount, the number of Widgets you need to sell increases exponentially.

Why Discounting Isn’t Always the Best Spell

Discounting can become a vicious cycle where customers expect constant price reductions, leading to a devaluation of your products or services. It’s essential to consider whether the short-term gain in sales justifies the long-term impact on your business’s financial health and brand perception.

Alternatives to Discounting

Instead of discounting, consider adding value to your existing offerings. Enhance your products or services, improve customer service, or offer loyalty programs. These strategies can strengthen your brand’s value proposition and customer loyalty without sacrificing your profit margins.

Conclusion

Before you resort to the dark arts of discounting, ponder the long-term implications on your magical business emporium. Seek out creative ways to add value and enchant your customers without reducing prices. Let your business thrive with strategies designed for sustainable growth and profitability.

Until our next mystical business gathering, keep your wands ready and your profit margins healthy!

Word of Mouth Tactics – Part 1

Today we’ll start a new series talking all about Word of Mouth and how it can make or break your business in an extremely short amount of time. In this first lesson, we’ll get a feel for what exactly word of mouth is.

Word of Mouth is easily the most powerful form of marketing and is absolutely free. People talk about ads they see, experiences they have, and the products they purchase. If you treat people right and spread the word about your new products/services positively, you’ll attract the right customers and clients who will sustain your business for a long time.

Now, as positive as word of mouth can be for your business, the other side of the coin is how negative it can be as well. Bad news seems invariable to travel faster than good news, and if you have a less than high-quality product or weak customer service system, then your customers will tell everyone they know not to buy your products and services.

The age of technology has proved to be a fantastic benefit in the world of word of mouth. With blogs, podcasts, online marketing, forums, social networking, and all the other online mediums available, it is easier for consumers to share their experiences. And, remember this is all free advertising for you.

Let’s take a minute to discuss the importance of shortening the customer decision cycle to help customers/clients choose more quickly and easily. There are three great ways to increase sales by shortening the decision cycle. They are:

  • Increase the overall dollar amount customers spend on each purchase.
  • Increase your number of customers.
  • Increase frequency of purchases.

Let’s take a more in-depth look at decision speed. Offer simplicity, ease, and a fun purchasing atmosphere and you’ll help your customers make their decisions quicker and more confidently. When this happens your customers will buy more frequently, spend more money than usual, refer friends, and decide to purchase more quickly. This can raise your market share by over 100 times.

The time it takes your customer to decide and purchase far outweighs any other component of marketing. When you focus on customer decision speed, it forces you to take a hard look at your company and brand image, positioning, value, customer service, guarantees, and product quality.

The next area I want to talk about quickly is how to minimize the friction, or stress, involved with decision making. No matter how easily people find decision-making, we all experience a certain amount of anxiety when making a purchase, especially from a new source or for a large amount of money. When you help minimize this emotional response, you will soothe your customers’ anxiety, and they will make their decision quicker and more confidently.

There are a few secrets to accelerate the customer’s decision making progress:

Your benefits, features, claims, and promises must be obvious, clear, and concise.

The information you offer must be complete, easy to understand, credible, and balanced.

Use comparisons that show a marked difference.

Your guarantees must be rock solid and more than the customer expects.

Make trial periods easy.

You must have simple evaluations of your products or services.

Testimonials need to be relevant and positive.

Your support, delivery, and other operational systems must be perfect.

Your website can be as good as you make it. You can offer more than information. You can offer an experience that guides your customers gently through the decision-making process to make it easy for them to buy. Take it a step beyond by offering toll-free support numbers, software downloads to help with the process or other classy and informative ways to reassure your customers that you are there with them every step of the way and have nothing to hide.

This wraps up the first post in our series on word of mouth. If you need help identifying your target market and the issues they are experiencing during their purchase that makes their decision time long, try our GUIDED TOUR and work with one of our coaches to come up with the best way to smooth out your purchasing experience.

Next time we’ll move forward with word of mouth and talk about the power of word of mouth and what precisely this powerful tool is, and what it can be used for.