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Casual Articles - Dealing With Powerful Customers
There are two Post Offices that I routinely visit. One is the office that delivers my mail and the other is frequently on the path of some daily errands. Many times, I will actually detour to visit that particular Post Office ... why?The Postmistress there is an exceptional human being. Her name is Karyn, but she spells it ... and has a name badge ... as Care’n!!! I hardly need to relate the remainder of this story. But here are some observations. Care’n is warm, friendly, professional, open, honest and, as is so frequently the case with those give to Right Action, excellent at what she does! When there is a line waiting for service, no one complains ... because the atmosphere there is so warm and giving. And when it is your turn for service, you are greeted with a sincere welcome, prompt and efficient service and a glowing, beautiful smile. She loves to be helpful and will go to extremes to accommodate patrons.Customers arrive there with the correct change in order to make life easier for Care’n. Patrons in some Post Offices wait until they get to the counter to complete forms or, sometimes, even wrap packages ... not at Care’n’s office! Everyone there wants to be as helpful to her as she is to them! So everyone has the Spirit of having their mail ready for her.She cares so deeply f
Copyright 2005 SurefireMarketing.comEvery year I've been in business for myself online has been better than the previous one. Recently, I decided to create an "Apprentice" program (Yes, even before Trump) and I was extremely pleased that we had nearly 100% of my Apprentices get an online venture up and running.I've gone back and thought about their projects and how they developed and I came to a striking conclusion that will be worth a lot of money to you this year if you heed it. There was one key aspect that got them off their butts and making money and it came down to one thing......A Deadline!As simple as that sounds, once a firm deadline was established that's when the rubber met the road and all obstacles melted away like snow flakes in a frying pan. I'll give you a perfect example for one Apprentice we were going back and forth a bit tidying up some finishing touches on the project and trying to get it out the door. Many times people can try to make everything too perfect and it never gets out making money so we said we are launching this project at the LIVE Apprentice Summit. That was it and that was final.The date of the Summit was getting closer and closer and I could see this Apprentice start to sweat a bit. But I made him make the commitment to this deadline publicly duri
First, let’s step back and look at some definitions. A specialty customer is one who prefers products in which he perceives premium value at a premium price. A commodity customer chooses products with price as the most important factor in his decision. It is important to note that, in both cases, we are talking about customers, and not products or vendors. This is because the specialty/commodity concept refers to customer behavior. Much confusion arises because many products are designed to appeal to specialty or commodity customers, leading people to think of them as “specialty products” or “commodity products”. The product - let’s say a tire - may be very nice, and originally designed for specialty customers, but if a given customer (call him “Bill”) prefers a lower price product, it tells us very little about the tire. We can say that Bill is exhibiting commodity behavior with respect to tires, and it is this behavior that we must build our strategy around.
“A specialty customer is one who prefers products in which he perceives premium value at a premium price. A commodity customer chooses products with price as the most important factor in his decision.”
Now, an individual consumer customer like Bill is unlikely to bring on a dilemma of demanding specialty product (with outstanding features and service) at a commodity price (always the lowest price). This is because vendor behavior also shapes the marketplace. The price/volume relationship can generally be described by a normal distribution curve, that is, fat in the middle, at the average price, and tapering off at both ends. (Figure 4) At the high end, fewer and fewer customers are willing to pay a high price for a product, and at the low end, fewer and fewer suppliers are willing to sell the product for a low price. A single customer like Bill may be able to find a vendor who is willing to sell him a tire that costs $50.00 at a price of $40.00, but he won’t find many, and they probably won’t be offering tires at that price for long. This is because most vendors would simply walk away from a customer like Bill.Because of this, Bill - if he really wants a tire - probably has to adjust his behavior, and seek vendors who charge somewhere around $50.00 for the tire
Last winter I took a trip to New York City. It was absolutely freezing (remember, I’m from Phoenix where a 120F day is not uncommon) but I’m ready to go again (warmer months, please).There were some great sites to be seen for sure, but I distinctly remember this one fella. He was standing in the middle of the sidewalk, foot traffic swarming around him, and he was just screaming.Not sure what about, but he was definitely screaming. And no one paid him any mind.Odd, eh? Unfortunately, this screaming fella and most businesses are more similar then you may think.When most business owners are asked about their target market they may be able to tell you about the demographics of age, martial status, income, industry. They may be able to even tell you about the psychographics of values, motivations and goals. Each of these descriptors outline an ideal client but none, however, a target market.So what’s a Target Market? I could tell you it’s a Foundation piece for effective marketing, but here’s a better definition:A group of people large enough to be profitable, yet small enough and interrelated enough so that your reputation can precede you.“Large enough to be profitable” should be pretty clear. Going after a group that’s too small (”Left-handed albino bowlers from Wichita”)
“A specialty customer is one who prefers products in which he perceives premium value at a premium price. A commodity customer chooses products with price as the most important factor in his decision.”
Now, an individual consumer customer like Bill is unlikely to bring on a dilemma of demanding specialty product (with outstanding features and service) at a commodity price (always the lowest price). This is because vendor behavior also shapes the marketplace. The price/volume relationship can generally be described by a normal distribution curve, that is, fat in the middle, at the average price, and tapering off at both ends. (Figure 4) At the high end, fewer and fewer customers are willing to pay a high price for a product, and at the low end, fewer and fewer suppliers are willing to sell the product for a low price. A single customer like Bill may be able to find a vendor who is willing to sell him a tire that costs $50.00 at a price of $40.00, but he won’t find many, and they probably won’t be offering tires at that price for long. This is because most vendors would simply walk away from a customer like Bill.Because of this, Bill - if he really wants a tire - probably has to adjust his behavior, and seek vendors who charge somewhere around $50.00 for the tir
The mind is such a power house and yet we don’t honor and use that power to its true potential. We over look who we really are…we become such busy bodies of how others are succeeding in the MLM world. From the minute that we are invited to join a network marketing venture, we’re asking, “Is this working for you?” “How many people are you bringing into the business?” “How much money are you making?” And on and on we go. Attend to your business and quit comparing yourself to others. One of the biggest set-backs to your success is concentrating on and asking yourself, “Why is this networking business not working for me? Why is it taking me so long to get what I want?” “What am I doing wrong?” Doubt, Doubt, Doubt!• It’s not because you’re not intelligent enough • You don’t know the right people • You’re not worthy enough • Bad karma • You got into this MLM too late • You don’t have a good networking teamIt’s that you have got to quit imagining and creating the negative images and realize that the reason you have not already received what you desire is because you are holding yourself in a vibration holding pattern that does not match the vibration of your desire. You must start stimulating the creative imagination. “What’s that you ask?” Good question, you don’t r
“A specialty customer is one who prefers products in which he perceives premium value at a premium price. A commodity customer chooses products with price as the most important factor in his decision.”
Now, an individual consumer customer like Bill is unlikely to bring on a dilemma of demanding specialty product (with outstanding features and service) at a commodity price (always the lowest price). This is because vendor behavior also shapes the marketplace. The price/volume relationship can generally be described by a normal distribution curve, that is, fat in the middle, at the average price, and tapering off at both ends. (Figure 4) At the high end, fewer and fewer customers are willing to pay a high price for a product, and at the low end, fewer and fewer suppliers are willing to sell the product for a low price. A single customer like Bill may be able to find a vendor who is willing to sell him a tire that costs $50.00 at a price of $40.00, but he won’t find many, and they probably won’t be offering tires at that price for long. This is because most vendors would simply walk away from a customer like Bill.Because of this, Bill - if he really wants a tire - probably has to adjust his behavior, and seek vendors who charge somewhere around $50.00 for the tir
Research studies can be intellectual, academic, difficult to understand, and sometimes even irrelevant to our specific application. But there are other studies that can be very insightful and help us understand how better to do our job. There is one such study that I would like to discuss in this month’s column. The information is so timely and connected to managing others that I think we all need to read and think about what the researchers discovered. The unique part of this study is that the researchers were not studying adults, but rather children. I know this may sound strange to you; however, what we learn from the study can be directly related to managing adults. So don’t get caught up thinking this study doesn’t relate to your job because the subjects were children.In this case the people studied were fourth and fifth grade students and the situation was how they performed in a math class. The variables introduced by the researchers were the type of feedback the students received after they took math exercises and quizzes.Dr. Elizabeth Hurlock wanted to know what reactions there would be when fourth and fifth grade students received different types of feedback on their math performance. She specifically wanted to know if it was more effective to praise, criticize, or ignore students’ performance
Now, an individual consumer customer like Bill is unlikely to bring on a dilemma of demanding specialty product (with outstanding features and service) at a commodity price (always the lowest price). This is because vendor behavior also shapes the marketplace. The price/volume relationship can generally be described by a normal distribution curve, that is, fat in the middle, at the average price, and tapering off at both ends. (Figure 4) At the high end, fewer and fewer customers are willing to pay a high price for a product, and at the low end, fewer and fewer suppliers are willing to sell the product for a low price. A single customer like Bill may be able to find a vendor who is willing to sell him a tire that costs $50.00 at a price of $40.00, but he won’t find many, and they probably won’t be offering tires at that price for long. This is because most vendors would simply walk away from a customer like Bill.Because of this, Bill - if he really wants a tire - probably has to adjust his behavior, and seek vendors who charge somewhere around $50.00 for the tir
Salespeople need a balanced system of using the basic four communications to be successful in sales. This playing card system makes it easy for anyone to adopt a balanced sales plan. Particularly when the business offers a suite of services or products. All you need is a deck of poker cards to get started.Teaching a balanced sales plan is essential as the foundation in any business growth program. This article describes how the playing card system for strategic sales works. The system is very simple and is easy to train. All you need is a deck of cards and marking pen. You will use the marking pens to identify the strategic focus of your contact on the deck of cards. This system gives you the ability to change and vary the focus of communications throughout the year. This becomes extremely valuable when a business sells a suite of products or services.How to Set-up the Business Communication SystemYou start with a deck of cards. Each deck has 52 cards and four different suits (hearts, clubs, diamonds and spades). Fortunately, the deck of cards matches the 52 weeks in a year and each suit represents the four different ways we can communicate with customers. Yes, there are only four basic ways we communicate with a customer.1. Use Clubs to represent our personal contacts when y
This situation tends to be very fluid in consumer markets where there is great freedom of choice given to the consumers (i.e. Where a large number of consumers can pick between a large number of brands). Fluidity is evident when consumers will easily switch between products if they perceive differences in value and price - a large number of consumers can be said to “flow” from a low-value product offering to a higher-value offering in much the same way as water flows downhill. Anything that restricts this flow can - at least temporarily - hold customers to lower-value offerings in much the same way that a dam can stop water from flowing downhill.
In many consumer markets, this fluidity is less because market channels can restrict the choice of brands available. For example, if Bill lives in a town with only one store (we’ll call it “Monster Tire World”), and that store only sells one brand of tire, Bill may have to settle for a tire that costs $75.00 if he doesn’t want to drive to the next town for a tire. This situation also affects the vendor - if you want to sell Bill that tire, you had best sell exactly the tire Monster Tire World wants to buy at exactly the price they are willing to pay. The buyer at Monster Tire World is able to set all aspects of the transaction - features, price, service, etc. - as the price of entry into the tire market in Bill’s town. Many people think that this is exactly where the specialty-commodity model breaks down, since Bill’s commodity preference has no effect on the market and the buyer at Monster Tire World can demand specialty product at commodity prices.
Let’s take a closer look at this situation, to see how this buyer can get specialty features at commodity prices. The Monster Tire World buyer is a gatekeeper, controlling access to an entire market. If we want to sell tires into Bill’s town, we must satisfy this buyer. If there is no competition - that is, no other vendors are seeking to sell tires to this buyer - then Monster Tire World must buy the tire we are selling, regardless of what the market wants. If there is one other competitor, the store has more power
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