Don’t stand out
Why would you even want to stand out? It’s risky. Looking different will get attention, and not all of it will be “the right” attention. Involves breaking from the standard. To be the weird one. Is not a guarantee for success. The opposite: it might feel closer to failure. It gets push back (and the “need” to justify). Why so expensive? It makes you different…
Prices: Will change, Changing and Changed
The difference between Will change, Changing and Changed: Intent, messiness and calibrating, and done. This is how it sounds and what your customers hear when talking about your prices. My prices will change → I haven’t made the final decision and there’s room for you to intervene. My prices are changing → I’m in the process of change and am still trying to figure out which ones will be final. But you can intervene in the process. Is it too expensive…maybe…? My prices changed → The…
PSA on innovation
Jobs To Be Done is a theory with 2 approaches. They both center on how to find the thing that makes customers tick. This, based on markets and needs. One of them (by Tony Ulwick) has this assessment tool: https://strategyn.com/innovation-assessment You might want to give it a try. 🙂
Time and Change
You’re about to get into shifting the way you do work for a better way. That’s what you think. That’s the goal. But, what’s “better”? It’s too abstract. Too fuzzy. Too hard to be on the same scale for everyone —you, your team (if you have one), your customers. A simple way to know and quantify this: Make 3 columns. Past. Present. Future. Choose one aspect that you need to do “better”. Write it down. What it’s been in the past. What it’s now. What you want it to be in the future. This will…
Hard is simple.
Hard conversations can be simple. They are, actually. Though they feel hard because you’re invested into it. You have consequences you’d rather not dealing with. Yet —in the vast majority of cases— they’re simple. And here’s the thing: you already know in your gut which way to go. Trust. Your. Gut.
Finding value
How to find value —so that you can sell for more You don’t. You help your clients find that out, because THEN you’ll be able to capture more of it with what you help. It’s not about you, it’s all about THEM.
Intelligent?
Just seen today at a trade show: “Intelligent Solutions” Does this mean the competitors are either dumb and/or problematic?
More for less
From yesterday’s message, lots of readers replied with “I’d choose to sell less units for more $”. That’s awesome. 🙂 However, you’d be surprised with how many business owners go with “More (units) for less (price)”. They’re not wrong. It makes sense from an intuitive POV —and from what we have always been taught (from uni to bros): “It’s all about growth. It’s all about reach.” The missing detail: to get that kind of reach, you need bigger pockets. And more time. So, if you’re not one of the…
The easier way
If you want to improve your sales, would you go for selling more units*, selling more units for a lower price each, or selling the same units for more? selling less units for more? *Unit: any offering you quantify. ie. A consultancy, a workshop, a product, a service, a productized service…
Measurement and metrics
While we use interchangeably measurement and metric, there is a different between both of them. A measurement is the reading of something—the figure. A metric, is that same measurement, applied by judgement / criteria. USD 100K is a measurement. It just counts the money: 100 000. A metric would be if it’s above, on, or below an arbitrary point. If your costs are 200K, this metric of 100K would be bad. If your costs are 10K, then it would be good. 🙂