Maximizing Sales Through Effective Product Pricing

Another and perhaps obvious way of building a competitive edge is through price. But it may not necessarily be the best way. You can be cheaper than the competition and so gain market share, but market share is not everything if sacrificed on the altar of profitability. Remember once your prices are low it is difficult to get them up again. In addition, you need to consider what image you wish to portray to your customers - cheap and cheerful, or value for money? It all depends on what market you are in and how your customers perceive you, the product or service, and its price.

Product/service differentiation

You may have a product or a service that is very different to your competitors and therefore be able to gain a competitive edge. They say that imitation is the highest form of flattery and you can bet your bottom dollar that if you're doing something unique, or have a unique product, it won't remain unique for long. If it's good, imitators will come into your market, therefore, making product or service differentiation very hard to maintain.

Innovation is important. You should be constantly looking for new and better ways to deliver a service, or be searching for a better, more improved product.

Building and maintaining an excellent reputation

All the money you spend on marketing will be wasted if you don't get things right inside your organisation. If you have worked hard to win the customer and then things go wrong as soon as the customer buys from you, you might as well throw your money away.

Having an excellent reputation in your field of expertise, or for your products, is the best way of building a competitive edge. But building a good reputation can take years of painstaking, hard work and only months, maybe even weeks, to destroy if you are not careful. Building and maintaining a good reputation has to be worked at, constantly. No person, and no one organisation, can afford to be complacent. If you or your organisation become complacent then it is almost guaranteed that you will lose business and one of your most precious business assets; your good name.

Your staff are vital when it comes to maintaining a good reputation. In a service organisation at least 90% of the staff will come into direct contact with the customer. They may even deliver the service and as people buy people so your customers will be making buying decisions based on whether or not they like the people in your company. If they don't like them, they won't buy from them. In service organisations, marketing strategies and personnel strategies cannot be separated from each other. Therefore getting the right people and retaining them is absolutely vital.

And don't forget to reward your staff. This does not necessarily mean a pay rise (although I am sure they would always welcome one!) but often a 'thank you' or 'well done' is enough. Too many of us are too ready to criticize and forget to give praise when it is deserved. People are motivated through praise, not punishment. Reward people through giving them extra responsibility or a different project. Training and development can also be motivating and rewarding.