Weathering the storm and the competition
This is another entry about Walmart. Well not the whole thing. They are rolling out a strategy called Project Impact. This is a remarkable marketing ploy to see other opportunites for growth and capitalize by crushing the competition out of business.
As a small business owner, and a fan of the business system of Walmart, this fires me up. You have to keep an eye on your competitors, watch their moves and counter. But before you counter you have to understand why they did a certain thing. For example, lets say your competitor lowers their prices. Now if you are in business to make money, and you want to make as much money as you can, Do you lower your prices as well? It is a recession. Well, it depends on your marketing strategy and how well your company is set up as far as cash flow and your expenses.
My choice, stand pat. I have a certain dollar amount that i expect to make off each vehicle in my fleet. There have been and are times when I am between the decision of whether to take some money or no money. Well if you are in the luxury goods business, you have to make some serious decisions on survival of your company. Lowering prices is very difficult for me to do. Mainly because I do not want to. I will make deals in order to get the business and try to make both sides happy. Customers really want to feel like they are getting a deal. So you have to give a good deal. But that determines how good of a salesman you are. You need to put the value of the purchase on a number that you choose.
I had a customer call today and the first thing he says is that he is looking for a good deal. Well thats my job to help him realize what a good deal is. Thats where you have to take control of the buy and the buyer. In my business, the product sells itself. So all I need to do is give you your perceived value in the amount that I will take for the product, or in this case my car.
So lowering prices is not an option for me. Even in a down economy you have make some concessions, but I will try other ways to give concessions to make the customer happy to get the sale. But my bottom line is the last thing for me to want to change
As a small business owner, and a fan of the business system of Walmart, this fires me up. You have to keep an eye on your competitors, watch their moves and counter. But before you counter you have to understand why they did a certain thing. For example, lets say your competitor lowers their prices. Now if you are in business to make money, and you want to make as much money as you can, Do you lower your prices as well? It is a recession. Well, it depends on your marketing strategy and how well your company is set up as far as cash flow and your expenses.
My choice, stand pat. I have a certain dollar amount that i expect to make off each vehicle in my fleet. There have been and are times when I am between the decision of whether to take some money or no money. Well if you are in the luxury goods business, you have to make some serious decisions on survival of your company. Lowering prices is very difficult for me to do. Mainly because I do not want to. I will make deals in order to get the business and try to make both sides happy. Customers really want to feel like they are getting a deal. So you have to give a good deal. But that determines how good of a salesman you are. You need to put the value of the purchase on a number that you choose.
I had a customer call today and the first thing he says is that he is looking for a good deal. Well thats my job to help him realize what a good deal is. Thats where you have to take control of the buy and the buyer. In my business, the product sells itself. So all I need to do is give you your perceived value in the amount that I will take for the product, or in this case my car.
So lowering prices is not an option for me. Even in a down economy you have make some concessions, but I will try other ways to give concessions to make the customer happy to get the sale. But my bottom line is the last thing for me to want to change
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