What's Your Irresistible Offer?

ISSN 1649-8127

Publication Date 28 July 2008

I couldn’t believe the throng of customers around the refrigerated meals section in our up-market supermarket this last weekend.

What was going on?

Then I saw the sign and heard to overhead announcement. A main course, side dish and dessert for 2 people with a bottle of wine all for (Euro) 12.50 (about USD 20)!

As the announcer said, ‘Restaurant quality food, but dining at home’.

With a squeeze on the pockets of most households in Western Europe and North America, you could understand why there was such a buzz around the special offer section.

The sales assistants could hardly keep the shelves stacked.

You see, the store had tapped into the knowledge that in one of the most expensive cities to dine out, people are looking for an alternative – luxury but at less cost.

And these savvy retailers will still be making a profit, even if the gross margin is a little less.

No they didn’t shout out there was a discount.

What they communicated in print in large posters and with live announcements was an irresistible offer.

Last week, that’s exactly what one of my clients and I covered when talking through his half year strategy review.

He has strong double digit growth in his business throughout the year to date and our goal is to ensure this continues for the latter half of the year.

However, he had noticed signs of ‘belt tightening’ by some of his customers. His market is large national and multinational firms – and at times like this their procurement and executive teams look at squeezing all they can out of the margins of their suppliers (I know, as I used to be the one doing the squeezing!) and they delay expenditure.

Perhaps you have seen this happening with some of your clients?

One of the strategies we worked on was that of developing an irresistible offer in the core categories of products his business is focused on.

My client has a product centred business and what we have been working on is sourcing excellent value products that are great entry points for those of his clients that need a more cost effective solution than his core products.

Yes he will reduce his net profit, but with the products we have identified and the price he will retail them for, the offer he will be making to his clients in the next 60 days is truly irresistible. Now he is looking forward to a healthy last five months of 2008.

THIS WEEK’S ‘BIZ GROWTH’ ACTION STEPS

This week I only have one recommendation for you.

What do you know about the biggest concerns facing your clients at this point in time? What is troubling them?

Once you have identified this, how can you adjust or refocus your proposition to create an irresistible offer – yes perhaps at a lesser net profit margin than last year – but an offer that means you retain if not increase market share.

No don’t discount or say you have a ‘sale’. That’s not what premium brands do. Offer additional value that is undisputedly head and shoulders ahead of your competition.

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©Krishna De, 2008.  All rights reserved. Reprinted from ‘BIZ GROWTH EXPRESS’, a Oneocean Ltd publication. If you would like to receive more articles just like this and enjoy access to free Masterclasses where you will discover how to bring your brand to life through traditional and social media platforms, then subscribe today at http://www.bizgrowthnews.com