Lisbeth Calandrino::

Why chase your customers away?

After my last blog  I received several inquiries about the value of interviewing customers.  Because of this I have added another post on the same subject.

There was a time, not long ago, when companies could generate new business by simply listening to and following the advice of their investors and business advisers. (If we all like it you should like it.)  To remain successful today,  companies must collaborate directly with their most important stakeholders—paying customers. 

Unfortunately many businesses still operate under the assumption that what’s good for them is good for their customers. In the early stages of a business, this may be  true because this is when a business is trying to build marketshare. But in order to continue to build market share and  maintain a  competitive advantage, they   must constantly evaluate their market position.  They forget that everything continues to change: consumer preferences, the market place  and their competitors.

 For 3 years I advised a high end kitchen retailer who refused to believe that Home Depot was taking their customers. Their show rooms were beautiful, their kitchens were beautiful and everything was beautiful (so they thought) .  My interviews told me  the  customers thought our  software was antiquated, the  kitchen salespeople had no use for the flooring salespeople nd we were often rude!  The customers couldn’t have been more right  on all three points. No longer could the owner ignore what he knew was going on and what he needed to do to improve the company.

Several people have said, customers don’t know what they want. When a customer spends her dollar with your competitor  she has told you what she wants. If she gives you the name of the competitor and how much she spent,  she is not only telling you what she wants she is shouting it!

How many times have you said they didn’t buy from me because of price? My experience leads me to believe that much of the time this is crap. Not only is it crap but it gets everyone off the hook. The only true customer who doesn’t buy because of price is the customer who doesn’t have the money-period! The rest fall into these categories:

I don’t like or trust you so I’m not interested in what you say or have to offer. This is a basic communication problem and most business don’t teach their salespeople how to communicate. Instead they teach them how to sell. (It’s like the horse before the cart as they say.)

Your product isn’t worth it. You overpaid and now you’re trying to get the customer to make up the difference. Better you get rid of it and sell your customers what they want to buy.

Your services are no different than your competitors but you fail to believe it. Instead you listen and take the advice of customers who don’t like your competitors.  Better data would come from the customers who bought from your competition! 

Your business has a basic perception problem. The outside of your store looks like a discount store and brings in the  discount customer. Why are you wondering why the better customer isn’t shopping with you?  Or the outside looks great and the right customers comes through the door but  your salespeople and your products are low end. 

The customer who says, “I’m so surprised, I didn’t think you had such nice stuff” is telling you I’m probably the wrong customer. I came in looking for junk and you don’t have it. The customer with money saw your building and went elsewhere.

If your customer says your price is too high you must find out what they mean by that statement. Unfortunately salespeople don’t usually ask the question. If I do a survey I can ask the question and 9 times out of 10 I will get an answer.

Although this may sound like a  big task , the  answers to your business success lie with your customers and most customers want to help you succeed; even the ones who went elsewhere. If you listen your customers will tell you what they like and what they don’t like. Actually you may need some help interpreting the data.

If you think your customers are valuable, you will listen. If you don’t think they’re valuable then you may be trying to sell the wrong customer. In either case you need to do a survey to determine the problem.  Once you get the answers evaluate the data and make the appropriate changes.

Look at all the businesses who have made dramatic differences in their product offerings to maintain their customers base. McDonald’s cut down the French fries and now adds an apple thus reducing calories and fat by 20%. Heinz Ketchup adds a line of organic ketchup and eliminates the high fructose corn syrup, Wal-Mart finds out that 50% of their customers don’t think their prices are that low (now Wal-Mart will change their slogan) and Dunkin’ Donuts just added a tuna fish sandwich to the menu.  It took Starbucks years to add skim milk lattes and only after Howard Shultz heard a customer says she was going elsewhere if they didn’t have skim milk. 

All of these changes were precipitated by customers.

Continuous evaluation leads to continuous improvement. Continuous improvement will maintain a profitable business.

Procedure:

Make it a priority; realize that your customer is your business partner and as in any partnership, needs to be consulted.

Consult with a firm that understands the sensitivity of this information and have them develop a a questionnaire to discuss with your target customers. The customers, the survey and the data should be confidential.  If a customer likes your company they will be open and happy to give you information that will be useful. If they don’t want to talk about your company that’s another problem.

Determine what you think makes you different and check this assumption  with your customer . Conduct a small study of 5 target customers, test out the questions and evaluate the information received. Even with 5 customers you will get plenty of useful data. The value of the data has a lot to do with the wording of the questions and the skillfulness of the interviewer.

Instead of blaming your lack of sales on the economy it would be wise to have a heart-to-heart talk with those who matter most –your customers. If you want to improve your business you must talk with your customers. Remember we don’t learn anything from experience; we learn through the evaluation of our experiences.

Lisbeth Calandrino has conducted numerous customer service studies and used this information to conduct targeted sales and customer service training. She is  author of the book, Red Hot Customer Service, 35 ways to heat up your business and ignite your sales. Lisbeth can provide speaking or customer service/ sales training using the principles of her book at your place of business or through video conferences.

What's a customer to do?

What could be more fun than asking your customers what you’re doing wrong? Probably a million things.

It isn’t that much fun and that’s probably why most businesses don’t ask their customers what they think. If you have the guts and can listen you will learn amazing things about how your company is “perceived.” In fact you’ll  probably be able to create you company’s focus for the next 5 years.

Building and keeping a business is hard work; it’s not so hard if you pay attention to your customers.  You must  be able to  to stay close to your customers, seek their opinions, and be  courageous enough to change based on what they think.  

 This is the epitome of customer service.

Although companies should last for centuries few do, GE is one of those that has managed to survive. How have they done it? According to Jack Welch, by listening to their customers and changing. 

What should a business listen for? What would make them different   and how to use this differentiation to  build a  competitive advantage.

The bottom line, live  and breathe with your customers. Find out  and what turns them on and what turns them off.

I heard last week that Wal-Mart recently finished a survey with their customers. According to a recent survey by Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) analysts, 60% of consumers no longer think that prices at Walmart (NYSE:WMT) stores are lower than the competition. An amazing piece of information for a company who has built their brand on “everyday low prices.” As they say, “I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall” when that data was presented.

What do you do you do when your customer  ”rocks”  the very core of your brand? You could ignore the data and chalk it up to a bunch of grouchy customers or you can begin rebuilding your company and choose a new course of action.

I have been doing studies like this for years. I find it very exciting and energizing; I feel like I’m helping  good customers become even better. My experience leads me to believe that only good businesses  conduct these studies; the rest don’t care so why bother to spend the money if you’re not going to change? 

Who should do your study? An outsider who understands your industry and can turn close lipped customers into “Chatty Cathys.”  The person should  design the questions to  make the interviewee comfortable  and then lead them to more uncomfortable questions.  The ideas is to search for a point of differentiation and use it to  build a competitive advantage. Bottom line,  to get a leg up on the competition. A study of about 50-100 customers will get you plenty of data.

Not sure if you want to invest? Start with a study of 5 customers and see what they have to say.I have never seen a disappointed business owner even with a study of only 5.

As an interviewer I’m always amazed at how much information the customer will share with a perfect stranger.

I think it goes back to customers  wanting to be heard and understood.  Isn’t this  the basis of customer service? Jack Welch talks about differentiation and how companies will live or die based on their differention and ability to compete on a world-wide level.

Today I had an interesting experience with AT&T about my cell phone coverage at my camp. Or should I say my lack of cell coverage? Prior to my visit I was investigating “things on line” to increase mycell coverage; investing in a land line or getting a Magic Jack. Bottom line, I didn’t like any of them or couldn’t find anyone to substantiate the alternatives other than a land line. I also thought about throwing my phone into the lake and getting another cell carrier.

I told my story to the woman at AT&T and she told me at AT&T I could purchase a micro cell!

“What are you talking about?” I asked.  For about $200.00 I can make a one time purchase, have my own micro cell and take it with me. How many of you have complained about coverage and been told you can purchase a micro cell? I’m a cronic complainer but have never been given this alternative. I asked the salesperson why they don’t advertise this solution and she said, “I don’t know why–we tell them that customers are always complaining about  “dead” areas. A lost opportunity for differentiation/competitive advantage and a really happy customer. Not listening to the customer? Maybe listening but not hearing.

With globalization and more competition,  listening to your customer is even more important. Listen through surveys at the end of the sale and listen through  a third party.

Ikea, the world’s largest furniture store has been listening to its customers. Thirty years ago, Kamprad set out the philosophy: ‘We have decided once and for all to side with the many. What is good for our customers is also, in the long run, good for us. He wanted to “create a better everyday life for the majority of people.”

Maybe more companies should adopt this philosophy. Why don’t they? It can be scary and it takes guts to change. 

Lisbeth Calandrino is an award winning author, trainer and blogger. She is  author of the book, Red Hot Customer Service, 35 ways to heat up your business and ignite your sales. Lisbeth can provide speaking or customer service/ sales training using the principles of her book at your place of business or through video conferences.

When change happens, change.

This is a continuation of my  interview with John Gifford, publisher of “Indy Smallbiz.Indy.” John purchased a newspaper in 2008 and almost immediately realized that the present newspaper format was not where he wanted to be. With that in mind, John moved on to creating his “tribe” of people and what he calls  his “Boutique Marketing.” 

John you really had to take a leap,  how did you know what to do?

I didn’t know what to do but if you want to know what to do just ask your customers.  Unfortunately if the customer wants something different, no one wants to listen. We talk about customer service but it really begins when you start to listen to what customer’s want and then develop a model to make it happen. I was also looking for something that was exhilarating and I really liked. So my strategy was to rule out what I hated and focused on what I liked and what I felt I could do.

I started  Simon Sinek’s  model from his book, “Start with Why.” All organizations and careers function on 3 levels. What you do, how you do it and why you do it.  The problem is, most don’t even know that “Why” exists. In other words, ask yourself, what drives you? This is the impetus that will get you going in the right direction. 

Wilbur Wright was looking for a way for man to fly. He broke it into parts solving one problem and then on to the next. I identify with Wilbur Wright’s motivation: I like to solve problems. The problem I am solving now is how to use a publishing site as an “attractor,” both for readers, as well as authors. By helping  the authors to share their expertise online, readers will be drawn to their expert skills for meeting their business needs. Add a cross-promotional approach in which the authors promote each others’ articles via social media and email lists and you add a targeted increase in readers – readers that count, those who are already customers of other authors’ businesses. Deepen the connection with Radio indysmallbiz.com programs hosted by the online authors and you are talking about a tightened bond through another means of communication, one that can provide immediate interaction between listener and host (otherwise known as author on the online publishing site).

See what is driving you; what really motivates you. I invented a new shoestring at age  5 , later on in my varied and checkered career I went on to work out a complex delivery model that needed to be solved for social services, and have been solving problems ever since, but until a little under a year ago I didn’t clearly identify to myself what was really driving me and motivating me.

Life is all about finding solutions. It sounds like the next phase will be very exciting and I’m glad to be a recipient of John’s problem solving mind and ideas for the future.

Lisbeth Calandrino is an award winning author, trainer and blogger. She is  author of the book, Red Hot Customer Service, 35 ways to heat up your business and ignite your sales. Lisbeth can provide customer service/ sales training using the principles of her book at your place of business or through video conferences.

While talking with some retailers about their business  they showed me  a thank-you note with the above as the greeting. Inside the note was a small packet of espresso coffee. Really clever huh?

How about World Nutella Day? This isn’t until February 5, 2011 but what could be better? You have plenty of time to buy up all the Nutella for your customers.

How about create your own special day? I just read that  Buca di Beppo is announcing spaghetti day. Is Meatball Day far behind?

I keep thinking I’ve seen everything but it’s not true. There are so many creative and fun ways to thank your customers and most of the great ideas have come from people like yourself.

The holidays are  upon us, it’s time to get in the swing of things. What will you do to thank your customers? Check out foursquare a mobile application for your business.

What is your passion; is it coffee, fishing, hunting, playing golf, making doll houses? Build an event around what you love and it won’t be difficult.

What about your customers; can you build around their passions? Do you know what they love?

Holding on to your  customers is a lot of work. It  takes more than Constant Contact and an email to keep in touch. Connect a video or an offer to your email and create something special. It may take  some creativity on your part but there are plenty of ideas in cyberspace.

Your marketing budget should also include funds for a survey of lost customers or an advisory panel of your customer advocates.  Unless a business is paying very close attention defecting customers will be lost forever. Unfortunately they don’t let you know when they’re leaving. If you believe your business is about outstanding customer service you must practice it 24/7. Don’t forget your on line customer service; the internet is open 24/7 also.

What can you do to give back over the holidays?  Have you thought about caroling? Get a group of customers and take to the streets. The key is to turn customers into evangelists.

How about raising money for your local food pantry? You have plenty of time to plan,  it’s never too early for Christmas in July. Think what you can do for others. Get a group of customers together and deliver meals-on-wheels for the holidays.

What about Memorial Day or July 4th? Everyone is dying to know what you’re doing for the holidays. Drop me your ideas and I’ll post them!

I know lots of customers that would disagree with this statement. If you’ve ever had a customer complaint on line than you know what I’m talking about. I have seen some mighty disagreeable comments that wouldn’t seem to go away.

How do you counteract these things? The first thing is to have your “great” customers  post loving comments about your service, your staff and your products. This way if you have any negative comments there’s a possibility they will get lost in the good ones or the complaining person looks like a nut job to the rest of the  readers. My experience is that most businesses don’t “stack the deck” with great comments to counteract the possible nasty ones before they occur. When a nasty comment is written, it is glaring.

I found myself the target of one of these feuds. A client of mine got some bad press for posting a photo without giving credit to the photographer. The title of the blog charged the customer with something other than the above which was not only incorrect, but slandering.  I pointed out the error of the title and immediately someone else became annoyed at me. (By the way, I checked with a lawyer first about my concerns which turned out to be correct.)  The title charged the customer with a very serious crime, obviously the writer didn’t understand what he was writing.

Online remarks can get very sticky. One of our local supermarkets received an unflattering comment on Twitter which was responded to by an employee of the market. The employee was so upset he went to the commentator’s boss and suggested the person be fired! The target took his case to the local newspaper and the rest is history.

Last year I was curious about a local luggage store so I went online for testimonials. Much to my dismay, there  was more than one nasty comment. When I went to the store to have my Tumi luggage fixed, I told the manager about the comments. His reply, “I never noticed”. Needless to say they closed the following month; they had been in business for over 20 years.

Some thoughts about what to do before it happens and after:

Manage your own publicity; get your happy customers to post great comments.

Post articles of value for your customers; articles that make them smile, feel special and get valuable information.

Be aware, watch for comments, Google your business to see what’s being written about you and your business. Sign up for Google alerts.

Blog about your great customers. Interview your customers about their families and their businesses. Make your customers your business partners. Great customer service means giving your customers what they want and possible helping them to stay in business.Consider the bank or insurance company  that provides valuable workshops on marketing and sales  for their small business customers.

By the way, I couldn’t find any. But it stands to reason if your customers can’t stay in business neither will you!

It was reported that two kittens, Snowyday and Winter somehow dented the bell on a $5000.00 bass trombone.

Trouble in river city.

How did they do it? They probably used a  a chair. The owner, Anthony Giles, a professional trombone player, felt dented, just like the bell but unexpected events often lead us to new discoveries and new ideas.

Did  Edison really sit on the light bulb to create its unique shape? The best brass repair guy was called in New York City. Everyone knows  The Brasslab, Chuck Alexander, the master of Red Hot Customer Service. The “bone” was packed up for its trip to New York City.

An immediate diagnosis indicated that the bell needed to stay for  repair. This is not good. So, the trombone player, Anthony Giles went searching through through his “spare bells” and came up with a 10 year old  bell which turned out to be a better fit for his playing. I’m told that, as a musician, you’re always looking for ways to improve; By accident he had found one.

I think the kittens are not only off the hook but may be psychic and  were trombone players in one of their other lives.

So what  does this mean to the rest of us mortals? Can we possible train our mind to move from “victim” to being “proactive?” Stephen Covey in his book, Seven Habits of Highly Successful People  talks about “mindfulness.”

Make lemonade out of lemons, the obvious.

Realize that even a seemingly a  disaster can be a new path for your life.

Be always thinking and wondering.

Life and success is all about attitude; never let circumstances dictate your feelings.

Think out of the box, why do you even need a “box to think out of ?”

Did I  say, don’t leave your trombone on the floor?

Can you give it away and make more money?

The other day I took my video camera to Best Buy. I was looking for a microphone to add to it as well as a stand. By the way, I didn’t buy it at Best Buy but you can always find an associate that will help. I usually ask, “Who’s the  best electronic person in the store?” and someone comes running. Being confident is at least 1/2 the sales game. A confident and friendly sales person is what most customers are looking for when they shop. He booted up his computer to tell me that a microphone wasn’t available for my camera , but he offered to print me out the instruction book, which was, of course, long gone. I asked about my flip camera, which I carry with me all the time just in case. We talked about it’s resolution as well as the  new wireless flips. As a side note, if you’re doing a closeup interview the flip is great; it also takes still photos which are better than your phone photos. If you’re taking serious videoing, it should be  done with a high definition Camcorder. I asked if there were classes available, so people like me can learn how to use what they buy.  He said they tried. They even offered to let the customers shop before the store opened and gave them the employee discount. The problem? No one came for the classes.   I see different types of training in various Best Buy stores  but nothing live in  Crossgate Mall, in Guilderland, New York. Maybe they didn’t try it long enough or put out enough publicity?

The other night I awakened at 4am and turned on the television. I started watching the Home Channel Shopping and there was the best pitch man selling my flip camera. I got up, grabbed my camera and watched while they walked me through every phase of the camera; it was so close up I thought I was on the show. They also shot a video, played the sound and showed the final  so I could see how it sounded and looked. I actually bought my nine inch Dell mini computer during one 3AM show!  I love it and by the time I received it I knew about it’s idiosyncrasies.

When you call the Home Shopping Network they make you feel like family; they encourage calls and ask if you’re a “regular”. Now you know you’re family.

What does this mean for your business? Is there a market for the “do-it-your-selfer?” Can you show the customer how to do simple installations of your products?

If you’re selling kitchen appliances, can you hold a cooking demonstration show to sell your wares?

How about a design clinic for your floors, walls and window treatments?

Are you a mechanic? How about a clinic on “car noises”, what to look out for like the Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers?

If you’re in the floral business, how about teaching the customer to design a simple holiday wreath?

There’s an interesting concept called “Freemium”. The Freemium model works off the premise that you give a way big stuff.  To some extent, The Freemium business model goes against what many of us have been taught. We’ve been taught to give away “little stuff” in hopes that the customer will come back for the “big stuff.” (Skype) is the best example of this business model, connecting millions of us with online video telephone connections  around the world. The site also offers a “premium service” at a fairly low rate. This is truly a great service. How many people use Skype? According to WikiAnswers , there are approximately 480 million people using Skype and 42 million making daily phone calls! Skye sells video cameras, phones, computer-to-land minutes and tons of other stuff. They make a ton of profit just from offering part of their basic service for free!

If you get a minute check out the Freemium model and see if it can help your business.  Remember giving customers what they want is true red hot customer service and great customer service is how you  build your competitive advantage. Why not make money too?

This makes me laugh!

I have been intrigued with “Have you ever cleaned an alpaca?” a commercial from Stanley Steamer. The two cleaning guys are in the truck and one is explaining how exciting it is to clean up after an Alpaca. It is cute, funny and definitely different. I went to Youtube to  view the video and look at the comments. The comments are interesting, what they say is ,  “I want and Alpaca, they’re so cute.” So much for Stanley Steamer, the cleaning company  being cute.

It would be interesting for the franchise people to ask their customers how they came into the store. Was it a friend’s recommendation or a past experience with the company.  They may have seen the commercial but  seeing the commercial might not be connected to their coming into the store. How many commercials have you seen, and liked, but didn’t drive you to the store or buy the product?

Maybe it would have been more relevant if they went to the local Humane Society and put their products in the animal cages or used their product to clean the cages. It would mean something to me and thousands of pet owners. As my friend Godzilla said, if you have an Alpaca in your house you have more problems than most of us that won’t be solved by either cleaning or special carpet.  It would have hit home and many of us would have gone to the shelter to adopt some pets. This is another important connection to the customer.

Another commercial similar to this was when Mohawk Carpet went to the Birmingham Zoo and featured Ricko the Black Rhinoceros as the featured mess maker to see if SmartStrand carpet with built-in stain resistance would do its job. Included in this was a Save the Rhino pairing with the Birmingham Zoo. This can be watched at

I love the Geico commercials and the latest being the “little Piggy cried all the way home.” The parody at Saturday Night Live,  are even funnier.

Remember “where’s the beef?” Did it change your mind about Burger King.

Both are darling commercials, bringing in the customer  through their love of animals as well as their carpet and carpet cleaning concerns.  Differentiation is what businesses need to build a competitive advantage but not all differentiation is considered a competitive advantage. When you have a competitive advantage it’s easy to build Red Hot Customer Service.

How do you know? You may not but you should try by asking your customers.

Ask customers about your commercial, in their mind how does it connect with their problems?  Most customers probably don’t have Rhinoceros or Alpaca stains. Does the customer get the part that both of these products will solve their most difficult problems? Does the customer think they have stains as awesome as the Alpaca? Do they think this is over kill? Do they think they need a product that will prevent staining like Ricko or do they find all of these stains disgusting?

There is a commercial for Schweppes that was a take off on the old James Bond movies. this commercial starred John Cleese. It was slapstick funny, didn’t seem to fit with Schweppes and wound up on the cutting floor. Maybe too funny or just too stupid. Frankly I didn’t really get it but love John Cleese.

Fun will sell if you use it to lighten up your customer and still use it to  reinforce your important message and  the promise to your customer.

It should be funny but not too funny so the customer forgets what you’re selling–and so do you.

Funny is a way to produce emotion in your customer and emotion is one way to build rapport. Humor is a grand way to build a connection with your customer but if it’s  so funny that you can’t connect it with your product or don’t  connect it’s a problem.

Suggestion: use humor it to add a light moment for your customer rather than an out-of-this-world funny. Save the funny for the comedians.

The key to funny, the commercial should make the product unforgettable and make the customer want to buy it.

Here's my latest blog post over at Talk 1300 called "Become Different and Irresistable".

I’ve been reading how high-growth companies, even in bad times, spend little time thinking about staying with their competitors. Instead, they make their competitors irrelevant. How? By continuously trying different things that will delight their customers, code name: customer service.

High growth companies—irrespective of their industry—all described what has been called the “logic of value innovation.” Firstly, don’t try to get better than your competitors. Instead, become different and irresistible. Look for new markets and find out what they want. Look to customers for the future rather than the present. Always thinking, what would my customers want?

Read the rest here.

I teach a lot of entrepreneurial classes and one question that is always asked during the session is "Should I reduce my price?"

Of course you can do anything you want, but is it really worth it to lower your prices? There was an article in USA Today in August of 2009 talking about the consequences of lowering prices to bring in business. In the short term it will certainly bring in customers if they want to buy. Long term, you will have to ask yourself, are these the "right" customers?

If your customers are better customers what message are you giving them by lowering your prices? You’re saying our brand has changed; we’re not the store you thought we were, in fact, we’re not sure who we are!

Ray Noorda had a wonderful business in the company he founded: network software supplier Novell Inc., until he became obsessed with beating Microsoft Corporation. His battle was futile. He left Novell as it began a long downward slide.

According to Benson P. Shapiro, in his article Commodity Busting: Be a Price Maker, Not a Price Taker, in Strategy+Business Magazine, he states that smart competitors don’t try to beat their adversaries; they avoid direct competitors and instead maximize profits. The astute manager wants to establish a set of quasi "local monopolies," protected from competitive as well as customer pressure. This demands confidence, not bravado, astute analysis instead of raw aggression, and careful, empathetic focus on the other players in the marketplace.

Before you lower your prices you need to ask yourself, what for? I had an interesting conversation with a very large higher-end retailer who was experiencing a serious economic slowdown. I asked what he thought he might do and his remark was "If retail continues to be this way for the next year, I might have to close one of my underperforming stores." I asked how long had this been a problem, to which he remarked, for years, but when business was great we could carry the store. You probably know my suggestion: close it now! He thought that this was very negative thinking on my part: Why didn’t I think it would turn around? I stated if it couldn’t turn around in good times why would it turn around in bad times? Save the spending and put the money in your pocket. What did he do? He continued to drop prices, which gave salespeople an excuse for lower prices even more: "It’s not our problem they said." It also ate away at their self-confidence. What happened in one year? He closed the store.

Customers have distinct thoughts on stores that continue to change their prices, here are the results:

• 70% said that slashing prices means the brand was overpriced to begin with. If you can’t sell it at the original price then maybe that price was wrong or did the quality change? The more you shop TJ Maxx or Marshalls the more you begin to wonder if certain brands should ever be sold at full retail prices.
• 62% said that if a company does not slash, reduce or put a product on sale, that means that the brand is either extremely popular or already a good value. Brighton is one of those companies that has rarely if ever put merchandise on sale. Brighton just knows the stuff is unique and of good value.
• 60% said that if a company put one item in the store on sale, then they felt other items in the store would soon go on sale. Macy’s has a habit of doing this with their women’s clothing line; by the end of the season, it’s all on sale. If you’re not too fashion conscious, it’s smart to wait until the sales and buy for the next season.

If you engage in price wars to increase your market share by cutting prices, you run the risk of lowering profits and not being able to cover your overhead. The result: you’re out of business.

Other companies, which still have the goal of maximizing their profits, follow suit by also lowering their prices, then a chain reaction occurs. The result? Everyone suffers a loss in profit. As previous research has shown, price wars seem to occur because of the mistaken belief that lowering prices below competitors’ prices is a competitive strategy. How can it be a competitive strategy if you’re not making enough money to break even — forget making a profit. What other strategies can you use to react to a competitor’s lower prices?

• Rather than base your strategy on maximizing profit, a company can react by not changing its price at all. Instead, you can drastically increase your service level, or look for unique and more expensive merchandise and refuse to engage in the price competition. Each of these strategies can end the price wars and reduction of overall profit loss. Remember one of the signs of a business in trouble is their lowering prices.
• Don’t lower the prices in your better lines, instead look for a cheaper price point in the same line. This will not take away from your premier brand and allow your customers to stay true to the brand.
• You may have also noticed that Heinz ketchup and Hellman’s Mayonnaise have combated price increases by giving the customer less product.
• According to Unilever, "Recently, inflationary pressures have brought about by the increased costs of raw materials. Rather than raise our prices, we chose to slightly reduce the size of the 32 oz quart and 16 oz pint. This is the first time in over three years that we have had to increase costs to our consumers."
• If customer likes the product and the price remains the same, it’s easy to stay loyal. I don’t think I have ever finished a jar of ketchup or mayonnaise. Is it sneaky? Maybe. I’m still buying Hellman’s because I like the taste. Cutting the ounces wasn’t a secret.
  Remember if you’re not a price cutter, you are treading in unknown waters with unknown competitors who are better players. Players who are always cutting prices and known for “offering deals.” Those that make money at this game are masters at buying the right price points.” Tough competition.

Someone once said, I might go out of business if I don’t cut prices. The response: if you’re going out of business wouldn’t it be better to do it with money?