"The Myth of Excellence"
To return to your phrase that pays click here www.yourprhasethatpays.com
I'm currently reading The Myth of Excellence by Fred Crawford and Ryan Mathews. The authors report the results of a consumer research study that included 5,000+ consumers.
The book is primarily aimed at retail and service businesses and breaks the marketing process into five areas: access, price, service, product and experience. Crawford and Mathews suggest that trying to be "the best" in every area is a wast of time and money. Instead, they recommend that a business attempt to dominate by differentiating in one of the five categories, differentiate in one of the remaining four categories and be as good as the average business in the other three categories.
In other words, be acceptable in three categories, preferred in one and so dominate in one that consumers seek you out specifically to do business with you.
There are plenty of case studies, charts and diagrams,and the concepts are explained clearly; this makes the book easy to read, understand and apply.
I found the chapter on price ('Would I lie to you?') to be especially interesting. The authors say: "Price is perhaps the attribute most commonly abused by companies chasing the myth of excellence. Believing that price is the ultimate consumer siren song, too many businesses offer gratuitous discounts on items or services consumers would be happy to pay full margin for....Customers trust prices they believe are fair and honest, often distrusting promises of 'lowest possible cost.'...But the message from consumers is clear: Dominating on price doesn't necessarily mean having the absolutely lowest cost-it means consistently offering customers fair and honest prices."
Consumers will pay more for a product if they understand they are getting a value for the premium they will not get from a lower priced competitors. The authors discuss how successful businesses create and deliver that value.
I recommend the book.
Thanks, and sell a bunch!
To return to the web site click here www.yourphrasethatpays.com
I'm currently reading The Myth of Excellence by Fred Crawford and Ryan Mathews. The authors report the results of a consumer research study that included 5,000+ consumers.
The book is primarily aimed at retail and service businesses and breaks the marketing process into five areas: access, price, service, product and experience. Crawford and Mathews suggest that trying to be "the best" in every area is a wast of time and money. Instead, they recommend that a business attempt to dominate by differentiating in one of the five categories, differentiate in one of the remaining four categories and be as good as the average business in the other three categories.
In other words, be acceptable in three categories, preferred in one and so dominate in one that consumers seek you out specifically to do business with you.
There are plenty of case studies, charts and diagrams,and the concepts are explained clearly; this makes the book easy to read, understand and apply.
I found the chapter on price ('Would I lie to you?') to be especially interesting. The authors say: "Price is perhaps the attribute most commonly abused by companies chasing the myth of excellence. Believing that price is the ultimate consumer siren song, too many businesses offer gratuitous discounts on items or services consumers would be happy to pay full margin for....Customers trust prices they believe are fair and honest, often distrusting promises of 'lowest possible cost.'...But the message from consumers is clear: Dominating on price doesn't necessarily mean having the absolutely lowest cost-it means consistently offering customers fair and honest prices."
Consumers will pay more for a product if they understand they are getting a value for the premium they will not get from a lower priced competitors. The authors discuss how successful businesses create and deliver that value.
I recommend the book.
Thanks, and sell a bunch!
To return to the web site click here www.yourphrasethatpays.com
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