We all know the recipe for success with your business.
You have to have a product or a service that people want, you have to have it priced appropriately, and you have to attract customers.
It goes without saying that you can have the absolute best product or service in the world, but without clients it simply doesn’t matter. Remember that eternal question? You know; the one that says “if a tree falls in the forest and is no one there to hear it, does it make a noise?”
Well, the same applies to your business.
In many cases, business owners focus on price. They or their team will research their competition and react to the cost of the service and product from their competitor to their end-user. There are many, many problems with competing for clients solely on price.
First of all, you probably don’t know your competitors cost of sales. If they are a privately held company, you have no way of knowing what their financial picture truly is. Are they operating a loss? Are they heavily in debt? Perhaps are offering a lower price but at the detriment to the long-term future of the company.
Another problem with competing solely on price is that you don’t know what your competitor is offering behind the scenes. Do they have any guarantees? What kind of support do they provide to the customer? And what, if anything, is included in the purchase price?
One of the biggest dangers of competing solely on price is that you erode the value of your product or service. If you price your product or service to low, it is perceived as having little to no value. And if you price your product extremely high and then offer discount after discount, it raises the question of your company’s integrity if you can afford to sell the product for so much less than your original price.
In order to be competitive in your niche, you have to provide value to your clients. And, of course, you have to ensure that your prospects know about the value that you provide.
Which of course, all comes back to marketing.
It is well known and well documented that people are willing to pay more for a service or product as long as they believe that they are receiving value for their investment. You don’t even have to have the best product or service, with all the bells and whistles. Customers are looking to do business with companies and with people that they can trust.
By making sure that your clients feel comfortable doing business with you, and that they believe that you will stand behind your product or service, you will stand head and shoulders above your competitors. Simply putting yourself in your clients’ shoes will go a long way to being authentic with your clients and prospects.
But the flip side of this is that people have to know how you treat your clients and prospects. They have to feel engaged and connected with you, your corporate vision, and your business morals and ethics. And this is where marketing comes in.
How do you communicate these critical components to your clients and prospects? Do you have a proper marketing strategy and structure in place? Do you follow through with your marketing plan? Do you obtain testimonials from satisfied customers, demonstrating that you can be trusted to do what you say you will do?
It doesn’t matter if economic times are tough or if you are flying high; the concepts and the principles remain the same continue to market your products and services and be sure to demonstrate your integrity and you will weather any storm.
Until next time…
Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.
If you like the information you are receiving, please consider forwarding this post.
