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Author: Phil Wrzesinski

Be Proud of Your Pricing

How much?


Well… before I tell you that, let me tell you all that you get.

We’ve all had that moment.  The customer wants to get to the bottom line before you’ve had a chance to talk up the product.  You hesitate because you are afraid the customer will balk at the price.  You know it is higher than the competitors, but with good reasons.  You think, if only you could get those reasons out first…

But if you think that way, you are thinking wrong.  

Roy H. Williams taught this to me first.  Jeff Sexton wrote a great blog using Roy’s explanation.  Here is my take.

If someone asks you the price, be proud of your price.  Take a deep breath and answer with… the price.  Yes, tell them price right up front.  The first word out of your mouth should be a number.

Then immediately tell them all they will get for that price.

How much?

$259.99 and that includes the the cup holders and the security bar so that you have options for your older child to be able to climb in and out on her own.  It also includes these self-leveling wheels that are rubber so that it will be quieter while you walk, allowing your baby to sleep better and you not to be so annoyed at the clacking racket the plastic wheels make.  It also has this simple one-hand folding technique so that if you have a toddler in one arm you can still fold it and slide it into the trunk with your other arm.  It also includes...

Do you see how the price appears to go down the more benefits you list after saying the price?  When you start with the price and then list the benefits (all the stuff following the words “so that”), the customer thinks wow, what a bargain.  Reverse the order – tell the benefits first – and with every benefit you list the customer expects the price to go up.

Same price, same benefits, different perceptions.  Say the price first, then make it go down perceptually by listing all the benefits immediately after.  Plus, when you say the price first, you are showing that you have pride in the price, which instills confidence in your customer.  And that is always a good thing.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS  For more on how perception affects pricing, check out my eBook Pricing for Profit (free download).

Wonder Branding Reinvented

There is a blog in my blog roll that you regulars may have noticed did not have an update for the last several months – until two days ago.

Michele Miller took a break to reinvent herself – something I think all businesses need to do from time to time to make sure they are fresh and current and relevant.  Her blog – Wonder Branding – just went through a complete overhaul.  Her new look and her new direction are an expansion from just looking at the trends of marketing to women to helping all manner of Main Street businesses market themselves better to everyone.

She has teamed up with Tom Wanek (another blogger I follow who wrote one of my favorite books – Currencies That Buy Credibility) to re-launch the blog and their business.  I think you will like what you read and see.


(I would normally post a link directly in this post, but I want to encourage you to check out the blog roll on the right.  These are the blogs I read regularly.  You should, too.  Wonder Branding is the last one on the list, but certainly not the least.  Check it out.)

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS  I follow these blogs for three reasons.  First, they are well-written.  I always appreciate clearly written thoughts and ideas, and hope I accomplish the same here.  Second, they have timely and useful advice that I know I can use, and you can, too.  Third, I trust them.  These writers are walking the walk and have the experience and expertise behind them to say what they say.  I don’t always agree, only because I have my own headstrong ways.  But I always read.  Who are you following that I should consider adding to this list?

Are People Really That Easily Fooled?

This question comes up every time I give my talk about Pricing for Profit.

It always revolves around the concept of using 99 cents at the end of the price.  Marking things $19.99 instead of $20.00.  Most everyone sitting in the presentation automatically assumes that everyone knows both are virtually the same price.  People are not that easily fooled.

So next time I give this presentation I am going to ask them “What is the price of gas?”

Then I will show them this picture…

Yes, we are that easily fooled.  You thought $3.95 just like I did.

Don’t fight it.  Use it.  The smart retailers already are (and, no, JC Penney is not one of them).

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS  Apparently pricing is a hot topic for retailers.  Bob Phibbs and Rick Segal, two of the top retail consultants around are also talking about price.  They both are telling you why.  I’m telling you how.

Plan for the Crowd

We went out to eat last Friday at one of our regular eateries while on vacation.  Things had changed.  The spot where we usually sat was now occupied by two empty pool tables.  Other seating areas had been replaced with over-stuffed chairs. The capacity sign from the county said 139 people but we only counted chairs for 65 and not very many tables. Even though the place was only half full, they barely had enough tables of the right height and shape to put two together for the six of us.  They almost sent us away at 5:45pm. The pre-wedding party that arrived moments later had no choice but to sit out on the patio with the bugs.

We went out to eat on a Monday night at a small, off-the-beaten-path dive known for oysters and fried seafood.  We were a group of eight. Figured we would be largest group in the restaurant.  We tied for third largest (fourth if you count the baby in the car seat).  The waitress was running ragged.  Two of our party did not get served until well after the rest of us had decided to eat before our food went cold.  The food was great but the poor servers and cooks were struggling to keep up with the crowds, even though the two larger groups were from reservations.

Both of these restaurants left me wondering what might have been.  Although I have frequented these places multiple times in my years visiting this area, I am sure many of the patrons were there for the first, and possibly last, time.  Those same people are telling their friends,
“Don’t go there, they don’t have any dinner seating.  I think it is more of a bar place.”
“Don’t go there. The food is okay, but the service sucks.”

Yet the solutions are simple.  The first place needed more tables that could handle groups of six (not an uncommon number at a beach resort).  There was plenty of room for more tables and chairs.  The second place just needed to call in another server.  The two large groups were reservations.  They knew they had a crowd coming.

Sure, both of those things might cost some money up front.  But remember, your business tomorrow is directly related to how well you serve customers today.  Plan for success by making sure you are ready for the crowds and you will never send customers away unsatisfied.  Think of the message you send your customers when you can handle the really busy moments.  They will walk away thinking, “Gee, they handled the crowd well.  The store must have expected to be that busy.”  

That is a pretty good message to send out into the world.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Crowds are your moments to shine.  You have the most potential people available to give you word of mouth advertising.  What would you like them to say?

Wild Caught Shrimp

I’m writing to you from Amelia Island, Florida near Jacksonville.  Took the wife and kids on vacation.  This morning we went on an Eco Tour and learned about the shrimping industry.  We took a ferry boat through the inter-coastal waterways and with the help of Andrea, our marine biologist, and Captain Sean, did some trawling.  We caught a sting ray, a butterfly ray, a couple blue crabs, some flounder, a tongue fish, two squid, and a whole bunch of shrimp.

At one point Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island was the shrimp capital of North America with over 3 million pounds of shrimp caught annually. There used to be 150 shrimp boats parked off the pier.  Today only five working shrimp boats remain. (Gee, sound like any other industries you know?)

The vast majority of shrimp sold in supermarkets is grown in gigantic shrimp farms – many located in China.  It isn’t that there aren’t shrimp available in these waters.  No one seems willing to pay the extra dollar or two per pound to eat wild caught shrimp.  Captain Sean says these waters could still support 3 million pounds of shrimp annually.

He should know.  He grew up in the area and still fishes these waters.  He promises that if you ever ate the wild caught shrimp and farm-grown shimp side by side, you would throw out the farm-grown shrimp immediately.  He is that sure of it.  And he believes with all his heart that the shrimping industry would come back if people did a taste test.

Would you pay a dollar or two more per pound for wild caught shrimp?  What if it did taste better?

What reason are you giving your customers to pay a dollar or two more in your store?  Does it “taste” better?

If not, you have some work to do.  If so, you just need to convince the public.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Look for wild caught shrimp next time you’re buying shrimp in the market.  Try it, you’ll like it.  I trust Captain Sean.

A Teachable Moment

Two employees.  One a veteran of 24 years.  The other a relative newcomer starting her third year of employment.  Both thinkers.  Passionate to a fault.  Loyal beyond expectation.  Hard workers who more than earn their pay.

A manager’s dream, right?

Except when they butt heads.

The newcomer came to me because she was having run-ins with the veteran.  They didn’t see eye-to-eye on how to merchandise certain product lines.  The vet was strong in her opinions and not necessarily pleasant in the exchange.  One would assume that the newcomer should just do what the veteran says and accept that seniority rules.  Except the newcomer was the person I put in charge of merchandising those lines.

How should I respond?

For me, moments like these are precious.  They are the teachable moments where I have a chance to accomplish two things at once – turn a negative into a positive and help an employee grow.

My ultimate goal for this new employee is that I am grooming her to be a key person.  I need her to be able to make critical decisions and trust her own judgment.  I need her to make rational decisions and not allow emotions to dictate.

First we talked about her passion and her smarts and her training and her desire to do what I have taught her to do.  Then we talked about the similarities between her and the veteran.  This caught her a little off guard.  Then we talked about how to find the kernel of truth in what the veteran was saying.  No matter how confrontational the delivery, the veteran brings some amazing skills and wisdom to the table.  Finally, we came to the conclusion that once she found the nugget inside what the veteran was saying, she was then free to use her own judgment to make the final decision.

All at once she realized the veteran was her ally, not her adversary, and they really were far more alike than different.

Will they butt heads again?  Probably.  But now she is better equipped to handle those situations.  And she is better prepared for those head-butting moments from other parts of retail – a skill my key people need to have.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

Breaking Down an Ad

I’ve ripped apart a couple ads previously here and here.  Time to do it again.

Today I will be recording the following ad…

She is a writer.  Journals.  Poetry.  Stories.
She is a writer.  Loves to put the pencil to paper.
She is a writer.  Birthday coming up.
She is a writer.  She lives in Belgium.
She is a writer.  Her book is now published.
She is a writer.  Happy 10th birthday!
She is a writer.  Got started with a gift from Toy House
Toy House in downtown Jackson.  We’re here to make you smile.

My five points for writing an ad are:

  1. Make only one point
  2. Speak to the heart
  3. Speak more of customer than you do yourself
  4. Back up all your claims
  5. Tell a story

Make Only One Point
She is a young writer who got a gift from Toy House to launch her writing career.  Did you get that point?  Good.

Speak to the Heart/Tell a Story
The whole ad is a complete story.  A writer.  A birthday coming up.  Lives out of country.  Published.  Wait, she’s only 10?

The fact she has a birthday coming up gets your attention and makes you want to listen more.  Birthdays are powerfully nostalgic.  The part about Belgium (true story) adds to the interest and intrigue.  Then the clincher – she is only 10 years old.  Melts your heart, doesn’t it?  It did mine the first time I heard this story from the grandmother.

Speak More of Customer Than Yourself
Spoke of her or you ten times, me only three.  (See if you can spot what I am counting.)

Back up Your Claims
The closest to a claim I make is that she got a gift from Toy House that launched her writing career.  This really is not a claim. I am not promising anything, just sharing what happened.  If I were to say, “If you buy this product, you will become a writer,” then I need to back that up with evidence.  In this case I am just giving you the details of the story.  Notice that I do not mention the product either.  Mentioning the product shifts this ad from a story to a sales pitch.  Leaving it out makes people feel more emotionally connected, which is the real goal of the ad.  They will come in and ask about the product if writing is their dream.

The best thing about this ad?  It doesn’t sound like any other ad on the radio.  People will listen to this ad, even as they tune out everything else they hear on the radio.  Isn’t that the first most important part of advertising?  To get them to pay attention?

Of course it is.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS  Nostalgia is one of the points of my Character Diamond.  Do you have a Character Diamond that drives all of your business decisions?  Would you like one?

Trying Something New

I tried something new and I learned two things.

First, you should try something new more often.  It becomes less scary the more you do it and is rarely as hard as it seems.
Second, you can cut a sixty-minute presentation down to twenty minutes and still get the crowd fired up.

Let me explain…

The phone rang at 11:10am .  “Hi Phil, I got your name from Mindy at the Chamber.  I need a speaker for our luncheon at noon and she thought you might be flexible enough to make it.  Can you help me out?”


Sure.  What would you like me to talk about and how long do you want me to talk?


“Anything you would like.  You get twenty minutes. Lunch starts at noon.”

Give me twenty-four hours and that is a speaker’s dream.  Give me twenty four minutes and my obvious option was to drag out an old tried-but-true performance, dust it off and call it good.

Or I could try something new.

This group has heard me speak about the Toy House and about the importance of shopping local.  They didn’t need to be sold on me.  They needed to be sold on themselves.  Service organizations like this one have much more competition for membership than ever before.

What if I could give them a tool that would not only help them individually and with their own businesses, but could also help them as an organization?  What if I could do that in twenty minutes or less?

Why not?

All I was getting was a free lunch.  All they were expecting was a last-second speaker to fill 20 minutes of time, hopefully well.

I had just read Tim Miles’ post about the 6 Basic Questions to Build a Speech and knew I could only make one point.  I have always dreamed about being a TED presenter – they only get 20 minutes – so I figured this would be good training.

I printed a few handouts from my one to two hour Understanding Your Brand Workshop and headed out.

Surprisingly, when you take out all the extra stuff, you can get a single point across quite well in a short period of time.  Was it as effective as the full length workshop?  No.  In the full length workshop we all get to the finish line together.  Yesterday many of the participants did not finish.  But they all got a map that leads them to the finish.  For some people that is all they need.  And for this group, that was enough.

In some ways it was far more than they expected – short notice or not.

Yeah, trying new things can be fun.  Even in retail.  Do me a favor.  Try something new this coming week.  Even if it is something simple.  You’ll see two things immediately.

First, it won’t be as hard as you originally thought.
Second, your staff will be fired up with a new enthusiasm.

Gee, those two outcomes alone are worth it, don’t ya think?

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS  That something new could be a new service, a new product category, a new way to merchandise, a new social media, a new way of designing your ads, a new blog for your store, a new method of organizing your expense accounts, a new way to track gift cards, a new event for the store, a new sign, a new splash of paint on the wall, a new place for employees to take a break, a new blog to follow, a new form for charitable donations, a new uniform, a new phone message…  What else can you think of?

New eBook – Reading Your Financial Statements

I promised I would let you know when I updated my eBook on how to read and understand your financial statements.

It is updated.

Just click the link to download your FREE copy of Reading your Financial Statements.

You’ve most likely just finished wrapping up your year-end.  This will help you decipher those reports the accountant prepares and help you figure out how to use them to make your business more profitable.

Like always, if you have any questions, please ask.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS  This is a much, much simpler version of the book I wrote for the American Specialty Toy Retailing Association.  That book – Financials Made Understandable – includes more detail, discussion, and advanced dialogue on the Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss including how to determine why your numbers might not look like other toy stores.  The book will be out this June and even if you are not a toy retailer, you will find answers to your questions that your accountant might not fully understand because it is written by a retailer like you.  Contact the ASTRA office to pre-order.

We’re Here to Make You Smile

Every month at our staff meetings we have time carved out for “Smile Stories” – moments when you made the customer smile in a memorable way.  The staff keep notes throughout the month of their favorite stories just so they have something to share.  Some even take notes of the smile stories someone else on the staff created to make sure those do not get missed.

Most say it is one of their favorite parts of working here.

Can you guess how often Creating a Smile is on the top of my staff’s mind?

Always.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS  Want some tips for how you can get your customers to smile more?  Download the free eBook Customer Service: From Weak to Wow.