Bottom Line Videos

ABC's George Stephanopoulos says latest poll numbers reflect concern over cost.

A recent MSNBC article says there aren t many shopaholics left due to the recession. Then it explores how retailers are responding to frugal consumers for the upcoming holiday season, which accounts for up to twenty percent of annual sales for many of them. Last year, holiday sales were down 3.4%. This year, even more Americans are dealing with job loss, fear of job loss, wage cuts, a drop in home prices and a rise in credit card interest rates. ___ ___ So what will consumers do? What s a retailer to do? Working twice as hard but not making anymore Let s start with retailers. Dropping prices to push out inventory has become the norm since last year. Offering extreme discounts is a tactic many will use to try to get customers in their doors. Here s what that means: Let s say you have a product that costs you $10. You normally sell it for $20, leaving you with a $10 profit. You decide to cut your price by 25% to $15. So now you make $5 every time you sell a product. You have to sell twice as much of this item just to make the same amount of money! In this example, we used a product sale to keep it simple. However, many small businesses sell a service. So think about it this way: Carrying forward the numbers above if you cut your hourly rate by 25% you would have to work twice as much but you wouldn t make anymore. Is it worth it? Would you be better served pursuing another strategy? Consumers are more price-sensitive, but value is still king Now, let s look at those customers. Experts cited in the article say consumers will shop for good value on items they want and need. Note the term value , not price. Consumers are more price sensitive than ever. However, because they have been bombarded with super-low prices, they are beginning to think that those products are worthless. Furthermore, they will pass up an offer even if the price seems too good to be true if they think they just don t need the item. If you cut prices too much, you may kill your business by killing your customer with kindness! 3 strategies for a tight-belt economy: Divide your product or service offerings into three categories must have, need and want. In this economy, focus on the must haves. Which customers must have your must have product? Focus most of your efforts here. Is there a way to bundle a need with a must have or a want with a need ? Offer a special deal on the bundle rather than the individual product or service. You may find that you can sell more without having to work a lot harder. Think about your customer s bottom line. How can you add value to your product or service and boost your customer s bottom line at the same time? For example, is there some essential knowledge that you could impart to help your customer use your product or service to save money? If so, they ll be much more likely to buy even now. How are you compelling your customers to buy your products or services? Share that with us by leaving a comment, e-mailing us at bigginfo@biggsuccess.com or leaving a voice message at 888.455.BIGG (2444). We think you re too kind for checking in with us today. Thanks so much! ___ Get the tips and tools you need to be a BIGG success. Subscribe to the Bigg Success Weekly it s FREE! ___ There s a popular celebrity who says it took him 26 years to get one mile down the road. Please join us next time and we ll fill you in on his story of bigg success. Until then, here s to your bigg success! Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed. Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file: http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00517-110609.mp3 Related posts The Trick to Keeping Customers 3 Reasons Entrepreneurs Fail (Image in today s post by xenxen)

George Stephanopoulos discusses local U.S. and Afghan presidential elections.

George Stephanopoulos discusses Obama's meeting with top congressional leaders.

George Stephanopoulos analyzes the Republican backlash.

George Stephanopoulos talks about his interview with President Obama.

George Stephanopoulos says the health care speech was not a game-changer.

George Stephanopoulos weighs in on the president's fight for reform.

George Stephanopoulos discusses a possible Kennedy successor and health care.

George Stephanopoulos discusses the president's latest approval ratings.

George Stephanopoulos talks about the chaos and outrage over health care plan.

George Stephanopoulos breaks down the political implications of the mission.

Continuing to drop trou, and Moon you some more, lol! Opening up this episode with a song about a comedian, but it also touches on those wackos who think we never really put a Man on the Moon. Oh ye of little faith! Then a contribution from a lady regarding a HALF look at the Moon. I’ll have some more info about the Moon Landing- the surface was very slippery, so LOPING was the preferred method of getting around up there. Putting this series together, I came to realize how many dozens of versions there were, and very many by rock & rollers, of a song written in 1934. I picked three to play- one from a contemporary acapella group called Da Vinci’s Notebook, who used to play frequently at New York’s Bottom Line, until the club closed. Haven’t seen them around any more. The others will be the rocking hit version from 1961 (wonder why there were so many songs about the moon that year?), and lastly one from the early Sun Records label, by a strange looking cat with slick-backed hair and a turned-up collar. He went on to HUGE success, and I am SURE you have heard of him. Unless you were born yesterday, or live in a vegetative state! We will go out with some songs about colored Moons. One from the last album by a guy who had no success while alive, and died in 1974 when he was only 26- but now has developed a huge cult following. The other from an ex-Monkee. Yeah, that’s right, lol! Stick with me, fellow Space Travelers. Our journey is not yet halfway through. Mike

George Stephanopoulos weighs in on the White House happy hour.

Science the impactor? How could it be? Applications run wild, In the land of the free?