Increasing Prices Without Losing Customers

Increasing Prices Without Losing Customers

by | Jan 20, 2025 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, Sound ADvice, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo

There are many challenges in running a business. One of the greatest is knowing when the right time is to raise the price of your products or services. Last month subscribers to my SoundADvice newsletter received this information in their inbox.  I’ll add you to my SoundADvice email newsletter too if you want.  It’s absolutely free, and I don’t pass along your information to anyone.  Just email me, Scott@ScLoHo.net and ask for the SoundADvice newsletter.  It comes most Wednesdays and is written by my friend Rick at ENS media. Now let’s look at the tips that deal with raising prices because most business owners are faced with this decision.

With the increase in competition and all the talk about potential tariffs, there are more and more articles in business trades about the advantages and disadvantages of tariffs, and how they will affect pricing for both products and services.

One known fact is that consumers nearly always remain loyal to name brands and businesses they have an emotional connection to. If your business relationship with your customers is transactional, meaning price is the most important factor, raising prices is especially difficult. However, if your business with customers is relational, it’s much easier to implement price increases.

Simply put, people do business with people they trust, and they purchase products that they trust! If they don’t know you on a relational level, the chance of them staying with you when you raise prices decreases, dramatically!

Have you ever noticed within your company that people who “like” you and “trust” you rarely ask about the price? Whereas the customers or potential customers that you have not yet built a relationship with inquire about pricing significantly more often.

Raising or increasing prices is a struggle for every business owner. The thought of even having to deal with questions from customers about “why” can be exhausting. However, as the cost of goods increases, along with salaries and wages, rent, and all other related costs of business increases, so must your cost of goods or services. The trick is raising prices without raising a ruckus or losing customers.

Tip #7 of our Tips For Raising Your Prices Without Losing Customers is Don’t Promote or Apologize for Price Increase. Even your best and most loyal customers don’t want to hear that you’re increasing the price of your goods or services. But (there is always a “but”), if you must notify your customers, do it quickly, in as few words as possible, and don’t apologize!

Because some of your customers are transactional, rather than relational, even the best-run businesses will lose some customers when they increase prices. However, as your competitors are forced to increase their prices, you too will have an opportunity to gain some new customers as well.

In most business climates, raising prices is a must just to stay even, much less survive. Increasing your prices must be done with careful thought. If you would like some tips on how to approach raising your prices without losing customers, click here.

R U Ready for Christmas Shoppers?

R U Ready for Christmas Shoppers?

by | Nov 18, 2024 | Sound ADvice, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo

Do you feel like the year is speeding to a close?   A lot of others do too.

All the build up for Election Day with the push from both parties to vote early, was making headlines meanwhile most people went about their usual lives with the end of year holidays. Halloween is always the last day of October so retailers know when to stock their shelves with candy, costumes and decorations.  However many Halloween events occurred earlier in the month so we can safely say that the entire month was Halloween Shopping Season.

Right now we’re focused on Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays and while Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are always December 24th and 25th, Thanksgiving is a little trickier.

A lot of folks that I’ve talked to thought it was November 22nd, but November 29th is Turkey Day 2024.  That’s pretty late in the month, which means that Black Friday is the 30th.

Black Friday has been the traditional kick off for Christmas shopping and this year we have less than 4 weeks until Christmas gifts are opened. 

As a retailer, are you ready?  Here’s some great insight that readers of my Sound ADvice newsletter received a couple weeks ago:

People are shopping earlier and earlier.  Are you ready to capture your share of the holiday shopping season?

On average, the top 10 busiest shopping days in the U.S. account for approximately 30 – 40% of all holiday retail traffic. Taking advantage of these 10 days and the days surrounding them is paramount to having a successful holiday shopping season. (Source: Sensormatic, Sept 2024)

Consumer reports and surveys from nearly every industry expert indicate that spending will increase by nearly 32% in 2024. The average shopper will spend approximately $1261, up from $958 in 2023.

According to the NRF (National Retail Federation), 45% of shoppers plan to start shopping before November, up from 40% just 10 years ago.

There are three main reasons why consumers are getting in the buying spirit earlier than normal this holiday season: 

  1. Fear of limited supplies
  2. Inflation – Stretching their budgets
  3. Major retailers setting the pace and launching sales events earlier

According to an October 2024 Forbes article, holiday shopping isn’t just for retailers. Restaurants, décor stores, and others can cash in as well. Of the $1261 each shopper plans to spend on average, not all is targeted for gifts. Spending on food and décor has surged by 61% and entertainment budgets have increased by 56.4%. 

Well-planned businesses that run well-executed events and promotions can help garner more than their fair share of the holiday shopping pie. Knowing when the shoppers are ready to shop and being prepared for them is paramount to getting that fair share. 

Stores that plan in-store special events and then promote them will see more significant store traffic and greater sales than those that simply sit back and “hope” people stop in. Inviting holiday shoppers into the store at key buying times can and will make all the difference.

The busiest shopping days will see some slight changes in 2024. With that said, Black Friday will hold its title as the busiest shopping day.

Are you ready?

According to Sensormatic Solutions, the 10 busiest shopping days of the 2024 holiday season in the United States are:

  1. Black Friday: Friday, November 29
  2. Super Saturday: Saturday, December 21
  3. Monday before Christmas: Monday, December 23 
  4. Sunday before Christmas: Sunday, December 22 
  5. Second Saturday before Christmas: Saturday, December 14  
  6. Saturday after Black Friday: Saturday, November 30
  7. Boxing Day: Thursday, December 26
  8. Third Saturday before Christmas: Saturday,  December 7
  9. Saturday after Christmas: Saturday, December 28
  10. Friday before Christmas: Friday, December 20

While this article focuses on retail, there is major money being spent in and around the holiday season in many other business categories. For example, Life Insurance and Investments, HVAC, and many end-of-year health care procedures are being completed.  The age-old saying, “making hay while the sun shines” is appropriate in these and other categories as well.

If you would like help planning any of your marketing and/or advertising events for this holiday season, it’s not too late.  Contact me and I will gladly sit down with you and help come up with creative ideas to help you have a successful 2024 holiday shopping season.  And even more important, we can develop a plan for 2025 so you’re not missing out on any of the major shopping days and seasons.

Phone Etiquette!

Phone Etiquette!

by | Oct 14, 2024 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, Sound ADvice

They say first impressions say a lot about your business. For many potential new customers, they first interact with or meet your business when they call on the phone.

In today’s tech-savvy society, it seems a machine rather than a human answers more phone calls to businesses. The entire process of answering company phones, from how quickly you respond to how you conclude the call and what is said in between, either with a live person or a voice recording, can determine whether potential customers choose to do business with you… or not!

There’s a saying that goes, “Little things mean a lot”.  Far too many businesses take answering the phone for granted. After all, what is so hard about answering the phone? However, having a set policy and procedure for answering the phone not only ensures the phone is answered the way you want it to be, but it also implies to ALL employees that you are a professional organization in ALL areas of your company.

With today’s business climate of limited and multi-tasking staff, there is often little time to answer the phones appropriately. In this case, a professional voicemail should be used in place of a live voice.  Just because a customer isn’t able to reach you does not mean they cannot be greeted with a message and feeling that creates a positive impression.

Remember that when someone calls your business they want something and it’s typically an answer to a question. In the 15 Rules to Phone Call Etiquette, Rule #5 is, “Take Notes”. Even if you use a voicemail system, ask the caller if they would prefer to leave a message or be sent to the person’s voicemail.  “Little things” do mean a lot!

Having a policy and set procedure on how you expect your phones to be answered is a small but important part of operating a professional business.

If you’d like to see the 15 Rules to Phone Call Etiquette, click here.

What I just shared was from my Sound ADvice email newsletter that subscribers receive nearly every Wednesday.  If you’d like a free subscription, drop me a note to Scott@ScLoHo.net

By the way, back in 2003 when I was starting my advertising career in Fort Wayne, I was invited to speak to a group of building contractors at their weekly breakfast meeting.  They thought I was going to pitch them on radio advertising but instead, I helped them with the way they converted leads to build trust over the phone and the advice I gave them was very similar to what I just shared with you.

These were small contractors, maybe two or three, perhaps just a solo entrepreneur and caller ID wasn’t standard on cell phones two decades ago.  I asked them, “What do you say when you answer your phone?” Most of them said, “Hello”.

My simple advice was to answer it professionally.

Hi, this is Gene from Gene’s plumbing, how can I help you?

This tells the caller that they’ve reached the right number and they are talking to the right person too.  6 months later I visited that group again and asked how many of them changed the way they answered the phone and what the results were.

Those that followed my advice saw an increase in business because they were converting more incoming calls or leads.

Even if you are not a business owner, try that with your own phone too.  If you call me, I’ll usually say my name and ask how I can help you.

This advice also applies to your voicemail message too.

Should You Do A Holiday Sale?

Should You Do A Holiday Sale?

by | Jul 1, 2024 | Marketing and Advertising Insights

A funny thing about retailers having sales… it might be counterproductive.

The week I am publishing this article and podcast is the 1st week of July 2024 although I’m actually writing this on June 20th.

Today when I checked the mail I saw a piece of junk mail from a local mattress place advertising their July 4th Sales Event.

Most people rarely give their mail more than a cursory glance, like my wife. However since I’m in the advertising and marketing business, I actually read many of these junk mail pieces to see what people are doing to try and get customers.

Why do many businesses like this one run a Holiday Sale?

Simple answer is because they think the extra incentive will create more sales than they would normally get around the Holiday. And because these sales are a discount offer, they are assuming that the reason we haven’t already bought is because the price is too high and this sale will fix that.

Or perhaps they haven’t given it that much thought and they are spending money to advertise a Holiday sale because that’s what they’ve always done.  Or that’s what their competition does so it must be the right thing to do.

In retail, there are a couple of options for nearly all of us.  We can buy online or we can buy from a brick and mortar store. Even that line has blurred because I can buy online to pick up or have delivered from a local store many things these days.

I decided to investigate the offers from this mattress place and found something pretty common.  It’s impossible to do a direct comparison online. Even searching for the brand name and the product description on Amazon where this company also sells mattresses, I could not find a match.  In this case the junk mail piece gave prices and descriptions but left out a very important key element… they left out the size of the mattress they were selling at these discounted prices.  I spent way more time than most people would trying to figure out if this July 4th Sales Event was a good deal or not based on the prices on the junk mail piece.

There is one line that is honest and that should have been the main emphasis, not all these price examples that leave out important details.

That one line is: 20% off every mattress purchase.

The rest is advertising gibberish to put it politely and BS to be more blunt.

I still haven’t answered the question about Holiday sales, I know.

Hang with me for a few more seconds.

Just the concept of having a sale means you are going to reduce your profit margin.  Why would you do that if you didn’t have to?  Do you as a business owner like giving away money just to bribe a customer to spend money with you?

Bottom line as to why customers buy from one store versus another is trust first, value second and the actual price is way down the list for most people.

I wish I could tell all the businesses I work with to stop with the advertised sales.

In most cases.

If you need to clear out inventory, go ahead and mark the price.  That’s a legitimate reason for having a sale.  Grocery stores do it all the time with perishable meats, fruits, veggies and baked goods that they can either sell for a discount or it will end up in the dumpster as spoiled waste.

And now the answer to: Should You Do A Holiday Sale?

Only if it makes sense from the consumer’s viewpoint.  Not because you want to bribe us and lose profits.

Gift seasons like Christmas, Valentines Day, Mother and Fathers Day, Graduations, all of those are legitimate times to run a sale, but only on appropriate items. The day after a holiday is also a good time to run a sale on Christmas or Valentines themed stuff that otherwise has to be stored for 12 months.

Here’s a good rule to follow: Most holidays should not be sales events.  July 4th, Memorial Day, Veterans Day are all non-shopping holidays unless you are selling items directly related to that holiday like fireworks.

There is no season for mattresses, but you could get creative and do a February Valentines Mattress event.  Wink Wink Nod Nod.

 

Your Attention Please

Your Attention Please

by | Jun 17, 2024 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, Sound ADvice

“Hear-Yee, Hear-Yee!”  “Can I have your attention please?”  “Ahem – Attention please!”

There are a lot of ways to capture someone, or a group’s attention, including words, sounds, and gestures.

In advertising, capturing one’s attention is the first step in effective advertising. If you fail at capturing their attention upfront, all is wasted. The first step is the most critical.

Since the beginning of time, it’s been known that you only have one opportunity to make a good first impression. The debate is …. how long do you have to make that impression?

Studies vary, but if you are applying for a job, a story in Psychological Science suggests it’s as little as 1/10 of a second.  Other studies indicate that you have up to 7 seconds.  Regardless of whose opinion you trust, the answer is still …not very long!

Your advertising message faces the same challenge. What your ads say and how they are delivered in the first few seconds dictates whether you grab the attention of your potential prospects and whether they will tune in or tune out to your message.

Reporters and authors have long known that the headline and the first sentence are what dictate whether the reader tunes in and continues with the rest of the story or tunes out. In an effort to develop the all-important “creative hook” at the top of your ads on websites, many headlines end up with more “creative” than “hook”. 

Regardless of what advertising medium you use, paying special attention to the headline or first words of an ad, and getting them right, will pay huge dividends when it comes to response to that ad.

Here’s a bonus tip. Often, you will find that the best line of an ad or letter, or the best words/sentence, is in the middle.  When you find it, move it to the first line, or use it as the headline.

To create more powerful headlines, click here to see the Eight Power Openings you can use to help capture more attention to your advertising.