The 6-Step Guide to Pricing Your Product
Bob Barker fans know how tricky it is to guess the price of a product. Harder still is guessing what customers are willing to pay for your own product.
Too bad setting prices is one of the most critical challenges faced by any entrepreneur. "Assuming you have a product worth selling, price is the biggest factor that affects the success," says Sunil Garga, president of business and consumer insights for Information Resources Inc., a test-market researcher. While big companies can afford to blow millions of dollars to run sophisticated tests in multiple markets, small shops have to rely on less perfect information (and a healthy dose of gut instinct).
Pricing pros will tell you that setting a product's price involves as much art as science--but it doesn't have to amount to spinning the wheel on The Price Is Right.
Here are six simple, relatively low-cost steps at making that best guess.
Step 1: Can You Brand It?
Say you are selling applesauce. The range of market prices is massive-...
Author: Lisa LaMotta
Build Your Business Through Smart Networking
Many of us still have a negative perception when we hear the word "networking," and, as I always say, it's a misunderstood word. My theory is that good networking skills build links and alliances with people we meet along our career path.
The opposite of networking is not working.
You can learn from everyone you meet and also be a resource to them. If you are lucky, down the road something may come back. Here are a few questions that I am often asked about this "new philosophy" on something that has been around since the beginning of time.
Is networking just about finding customers and growing one's business?
Networking is all about developing and building relationships first. When this happens with hard work and sincerity, customers will come. It's like a garden. When you meet new people for the first time, it's like planting a seed. When you stay in touch by meeting for coffee or sending a holiday card, it's like watering the seeds. Finally when there is a genuine reason for yo...
Author: Andrea Nierenberg
Learn to Ask for What You Need
Requests are powerful.
Truly. While no one request is guaranteed to change the course of your career, business, relationships or life, any single request can. Requests have the potential to make a profound difference to the quality of your life and your ability to achieve the success you want. Sure, just because you ask for something doesn’t guarantee that you will get it. But not asking for it does guarantee you won’t! Would you really prefer the certainty of having your needs unmet over the possibility of having them met? Surely not?!
As someone dedicated to helping people fulfill their full spectrum of needs, I often find myself surprised at how few people actually ask for what they really want and how even fewer ask for it in ways that maximize the chances of getting it. So I’m curious: Right now, as you read this article, what needs do you have that are going unmet and are causing you to feel resentful, frustrated and unappreciated because, whether you are conscious of it or ...
Author: Margie Warrell
