| Is Your Business an "And/ Or" or a "Yes/ No"? |
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When you play darts, do you get disappointed when you don't hit the bulls-eye every time? Unfortunately, that's what many businesses do with their marketing. They develop their products for a single target. How often do you think they hit the bulls-eye? About the same number of times as you or I will playing darts with friends. So, what's the remedy? Simple: product diversification. What is Your Flagship Product? We go to market with an idea. It's usually our flagship offering. If you have performed adequate feasibility studies and surveys you should know where and who your target is. But, what about those who can't afford it, want it in a different color, need in-home service? Have you considered them or simply chosen not to serve them? This is where product diversification begins. Where Does It Fit? In a perfect world, you would have at least three levels of products: high, medium and low. High are those that are the most financially lucrative, but require more of your time. These are custom offers that you can only reserve for a very few. Low are those you can "set and forget" - automated, self-service types of products, easy to deliver or consignment/affiliate offers that you could feasibly sell thousands of daily without much effort. Medium are hybrids between both of these. They are a little more custom than the low level product, but not as custom as the high end. Determine where in your mix your flagship product fits. Fill In The Blanks - Holes in your product mix often present themselves during sales conversations when the prospect asks for something you don't offer. Pay attention to those requests. Restaurants convert those requests into "specials, side dishes or a la carte" items. Chefs pay attention to customer requests and if honoring them presents an opportunity, why not try them on the rest of the patrons? Researching your competitor's offers is another way to identify holes. Test, Test, Test - Try out your offers and see how they are received. Stores have "introductory offers" and "red tag sales". My favorite product testing ground is Nordstrom's Anniversary sale in late summer. They bring in a limited supply of fall items from their top vendors negotiating very low prices from them. Whatever sells well during this sale gets brought into stores for fall. Brilliant! Try the test approach yourself. While you may not be able to negotiate prices and advertising spend like Nordis, you can certainly test products and integrate those that pass into your permanent product mix. Then you have created an "and/or" close versus a "yes/no" close.
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When you play darts, do you get disappointed when you don't hit the bulls-eye every time? Unfortunately, that's what many businesses do with their marketing. They develop their products for a single...Stay Connected!
