Don't Discount Ur product/Service

Hi,
 Greetings..
Today i have gone through an interesting article in a magazine,which reflects my experience in mirror.While reading this article you may not be understand the relevance of this article, But being employed with US$6 Billion,Group subsidary, i personally felt how importance it is.....

Emphasize the virtues of your product or service, rather than the price. It will keep your competitors at bay, and your customers close.

As Sales force/Business owners, we are often tempted to discount our product or service, thinking it will somehow win us customers and drive growth.  Customers are relentless about asking for discounts too, believing that getting something cheaper is better.  Whichever perspective you look at it from, discounting is not only dumb, it's dangerous. 

Here's why:

You'll cut corners. 

Even if we try to look past it and keep our eyes on the far-off prize of increasing sales, the reality of discounts is that they require you to take a loss.  If you discount your product, something has to get cut.  Perhaps you will change the way your product is crafted, and use lower quality materials to make the discount work.  Perhaps you will have to reduce the level of service you provide, or the speed with which you deliver orders, all in the name of the discount.  While this strategy may result in a quick burst of sales, it will also burn your customers.  A customer who receives a sub-par product may be happy with the discount—until she opens the box and has buyer's remorse.  And when she does, you can rest assured, she will let other potential buyers know that you sold a product that did not meet her needs.  Rarely will she mention that the product was discounted, but instead only that it was not what she thought she was getting.  That discount has now cost you not only money, but reputation as well.

You'll invite competitors to attack.

Discounting is generally a sign of distress—and one that is easily readable by your competitors. When businesses are having trouble converting prospects to customers, they look to discounts to win business. When cash flow is in jeopardy and a company needs to balance books quickly, discounts are often used to create an emergency influx of funds.  As word gets out that you are discounting—and it will—any good competitor will come on strong by lowering prices in kind, further undercutting your chances of growing your business or stabilizing revenues.

You'll reveal a lack of confidence in your product.

Price is the weakest of all attributes to use when trying to sell your products, because any company can meet or beat your pricing either temporarily or long-term.  If you lead your sales with a discount or promotional offer, it sends a signal to your customer that your product has no better attribute to distinguish it from competing products. You may actually have the best product on the market, but by offering it at a discount, you are not only discounting it, but also devaluing it.  Discounts proclaim, in a silent but deadly manner, that what you are selling is worse than, or at best equivalent to, the product of your competitor—and customers are smart enough to know it. Relationships are built on the confidence your customers feel in your products, and the assurance they get from buying what they know to be quality. Discounts wipe out these two brand essentials and leave your business in a very risky position in both customers' minds and the marketplace.

So the next time you are ready to head in the direction of discounting, consider your choice carefully.  You surely have a better reason to convince customers to choose your product.  Focus on articulating the why of your product instead of the how much.  It will keep your competitors at bay, and inspire your customers to stay close

I always Belive in One Saying "Build Value for Your offering, The Value will play remainign part"

                             Happy Selling,Build Value

Manager(boss)

This post talks about core beliefs of Extraordinary Bosses, I read this interesting article in an online magazine, Really must read post.Continue reading....
The best managers have a fundamentally different understanding of workplace, company, and team dynamics. See what they get right.

I learned that the "best of the best" tend to share the following eight core beliefs.

 1)Business is an ecosystem, not a battlefield.

Average bosses see business as a conflict between companies, departments and groups. They build huge armies of "troops" to order about, demonize competitors as "enemies," and treat customers as "territory" to be conquered.

Extraordinary bosses see business as a symbiosis where the most diverse firm is most likely to survive and thrive. They naturally create teams that adapt easily to new markets and can quickly form partnerships with other companies, customers ... and even competitors.

2. A company is a community, not a machine.

Average bosses consider their company to be a machine with employees as cogs. They create rigid structures with rigid rules and then try to maintain control by "pulling levers" and "steering the ship."

Extraordinary bosses see their company as a collection of individual hopes and dreams, all connected to a higher purpose. They inspire employees to dedicate themselves to the success of their peers and therefore to the community–and company–at large.

3. Management is service, not control.

Average bosses want employees to do exactly what they're told. They're hyper-aware of anything that smacks of insubordination and create environments where individual initiative is squelched by the "wait and see what the boss says" mentality.

Extraordinary bosses set a general direction and then commit themselves to obtaining the resources that their employees need to get the job done. They push decision making downward, allowing teams form their own rules and intervening only in emergencies.

4. My employees are my peers, not my children.

Average bosses see employees as inferior, immature beings who simply can't be trusted if not overseen by a patriarchal management. Employees take their cues from this attitude, expend energy on looking busy and covering their behinds.

Extraordinary bosses treat every employee as if he or she were the most important person in the firm. Excellence is expected everywhere, from the loading dock to the boardroom. As a result, employees at all levels take charge of their own destinies.

5. Motivation comes from vision, not from fear.

Average bosses see fear--of getting fired, of ridicule, of loss of privilege--as a crucial way to motivate people.  As a result, employees and managers alike become paralyzed and unable to make risky decisions.

Extraordinary bosses inspire people to see a better future and how they'll be a part of it.  As a result, employees work harder because they believe in the organization's goals, truly enjoy what they're doing and (of course) know they'll share in the rewards.

6. Change equals growth, not pain.

Average bosses see change as both complicated and threatening, something to be endured only when a firm is in desperate shape. They subconsciously torpedo change ... until it's too late.

Extraordinary bosses see change as an inevitable part of life. While they don't value change for its own sake, they know that success is only possible if employees and organization embrace new ideas and new ways of doing business.

7. Technology offers empowerment, not automation.

Average bosses adhere to the old IT-centric view that technology is primarily a way to strengthen management control and increase predictability. They install centralized computer systems that dehumanize and antagonize employees.

Extraordinary bosses see technology as a way to free human beings to be creative and to build better relationships. They adapt their back-office systems to the tools, like smartphones and tablets, that people actually want to use.

8. Work should be fun, not mere toil.

Average bosses buy into the notion that work is, at best, a necessary evil. They fully expect employees to resent having to work, and therefore tend to subconsciously define themselves as oppressors and their employees as victims. Everyone then behaves accordingly.

Extraordinary bosses see work as something that should be inherently enjoyable–and believe therefore that the most important job of manager is, as far as possible, to put people in jobs that can and will make them truly happy.

As we all know Boss is a key person in Management matrix which leads an employee towards job satisfaction or viceversa, Being working as a US$6 billion Group subsidary, i always say one thing "Love Your Company, Like you Boss"