5 Instant Fixes For Your Business

Elastic or Inelastic

What type of products or services are you selling? What are they worth? Is a competitor selling it? For how much? How many locations are they selling products out of? These are some of the questions you should be asking yourself before you think about selling a product or service, and when you are selling a product or service. Once you figure this out, you must determine if your product or service is Elastic or Inelastic.

Elastic means your product or service is currently everywhere and has different prices, options, etc., so people might not be too quick to buy your product or service, because it is available everywhere, and for different prices, the price might be cheaper than your price as well. There is no demand for your product or service because there is a very good supply of it everywhere. They might even get better quality at a cheaper price, so this will make it harder to sell products, causing you to drop the price to keep up with the competitors.

This may also determine how many pieces of your product someone will buy, or how many services they will have you perform. If the price is too cheap, people buy more of it, if the price is high, people buy less of it.

Inelastic means your product or service is not available everywhere, there are no different prices or variations of it. This means you can sell your product or service for a much higher price because you know people will pay for it and more than likely it is a demand for it. If your product or service is Inelastic, the price does not matter, if people want it or need it, they are going to buy it, and they might buy a lot of it as well.

People will pay for rare products or services because everyone does not have them, this makes that person feel like they have more “status” than the next person. People like to flaunt the newest and latest products and have the newest services around.

For instance, when market conditions changed this year, gas prices went high, and at the time of typing this, prices are still somewhat high around. Gas is an Inelastic product that everyone must have to drive, there are no different versions that cost different prices everywhere, yes, you may see different prices when you travel, but in your area, the prices are going to be the same. No matter how much gas costs, people are still going to buy it, and buy a lot of it.

The point is, you must determine if your product or service is Elastic or Inelastic before you start selling it or providing that service. If you notice, when you go to certain areas, there are many health foods stores around, many barbershops or hair salons around, many gas stations around, many of the same department stores around, etc. These places offer the same products and services, for different prices, and have different variations, sizes, quantities, etc.

These products and services are elastic, these companies are competing for your money, and that is why things are so cheap. This will be the audience that wants a discount, they want more by spending less money, they bargain shop, and comparison shop. If you target these types of people for your advertisements, you must understand these types of things will come to life very quickly.

You will notice everyone wants a discount or wants a deal or try to find a way to get something for free. If your products or services are Inelastic, you will get people with money trying to find you and spend top dollar for your products and services. These people don’t care how much your product is, if they want it or need it, they are going to buy it no matter the cost.

Once you determine if your product or service is Elastic or Inelastic, you can advertise and target certain kinds of people to buy your products or services based, but you must determine if your product or service is Elastic or Inelastic first.

Optimum Price

Is your product or service set at Optimum Pricing? Did you just throw some numbers together to create a price? How did you come up with your price? Before you price a product or service, you must have a good understanding of pricing and why you should determine an optimum price before you launch a product or service. You might be charging too much and don’t get many sales, or you might be selling a lot but still are leaving money on the table.

Is there a demand for your product or service? What areas are your products or services being sold in? You can search the area(s) where you sell your products or services and see if someone else is selling them and for how much. If 5 places are selling the same products or services, there is no demand for them, so prices need to be low to keep up with cash flow. It might make sense to sell for cheap and receive more customers, than sell for high and receive fewer customers.

If people see people inside your business, they will come into your business, curiosity does not always kill the cat. So, it is better to keep the store full for low prices, than empty for high prices. Therefore, your products and services must have optimum pricing, optimum pricing is setting your products and services at a price that would generate the most income in a year.

You will determine optimum pricing by first establishing if there is a demand for your product or service. If there is a demand for your product or service, you can charge premium pricing because you know people will buy it regardless of the price. If there is little to no demand for your product or service, you will have to lower your prices to keep cash flowing through your business.

You will then ask yourself if your product or service is of any value to the customer, can they go home and do this themselves and get the same results, or if they buy your product or service will you do it better? For instance, if a customer buys your shampoo and washes their hair, will they get the same results as you would? If the answer is no, you have added value to your product, and you can charge more. Optimum Pricing starts with learning what your competitors are selling the same product or service for.

If one business is selling a product or service for $100, and you are selling the exact product or service for $200, you will more than likely lose customers that comparison shop or bargain shop. A lot of companies will send someone to buy their competitor’s product or service, so they can analyze it. It is always about strategy in business, what you do and how you do it will affect the company’s growth. People will pay for things they perceive as value, so add value to your products and services, even if it is adding a comb with the bottle of shampoo I was talking about earlier.

Another key factor about Optimum Pricing is to determine where you will be advertising and placing your products and services to be sold. It will be a good idea to search communities to see which residents are making money and which ones are not. It will not be smart to advertise a product or service for $2000 in a community that makes $20k, per year. Yes, some people might be able to afford it, but why take the chance of dumping thousands of dollars into advertising a product or service for $2000 in a community where the average income per year is $20k?

If you make sales, you will more than likely break even or receive little return on investment (ROI). Advertising a product for $100 in this community will make more sense. You must know the audience you are advertising to and where your products and services will be sold. Many businesses hire or develop a marketing team that works strictly on marketing and pricing products and services.

Traditional Advertising

Many people do not know how or don’t try to advertise their products or services, or they think it costs a lot of money to do so, that is not the case here. Before we had computers, the internet, google, cell phones, etc. people were using traditional ways of advertising. Many people forget that many “Old School” things that were done years ago are still relevant now, today.

Postcards – Creating a design and printing it on postcards and mailing them is an “Old School” way of advertising your products or services, and this way is still effective now today. A postcard serves many purposes, it is free advertising to everyone that sees it, and it is free advertising for everyone at the post office that sees it as well, they have money too. If it is a big postcard like 6” x 9” it will catch someone’s attention wherever the postcard is at.

Make sure your images are big, make sure your text is big enough to see when glancing at it and make sure your colors are bright. Sit one of your postcards on the table with other mail mixed in and if your postcard sticks out the most, you have a good postcard. Even if your postcard looks ugly, it will still catch people’s attention if it sticks out.

Flyers – With the same design as your postcards make a flyer to pass out to people, always have a stack of them in your car or with you.

When I started my first business in computer repair, I made thousands of flyers and went to shopping centers, flea markets, and everywhere that had tons of cars in the parking lot. I had my kids with me, and we put a flyer on every car in the parking lot. This is a free way to advertise your product or service.

Of course, certain areas do not allow you to pass out flyers and solicit people, so check with your city to make sure you are not breaking any laws. I was surprised by the number of people that called me for computer repair services. Everybody has computer issues, so putting flyers on people’s cars was a great idea. I also hang up flyers at coffee shops, donuts shops, laundromats, bus stops, barbershops, and any place that had an area for businesses to advertise their services.

Door Hangers – With the same design as your postcards and flyers, create door hangers and hang them on the doors of every business or residence you want to target. I also had my kids with me on this journey as well, we hit many blocks in the morning and hung door hangers on every residence and business in the area. I did this every month for about 3 months, and people were calling in inquiring about my services.

I did have 3 or 4 people call and ask why we hung door hangers on their door, I told them I was trying to advertise my business and my street team may have put one there, I asked their address, and I told them we would not hang anything on their door anymore. This is part of what comes with advertising, some people might not like it, but it is legal, insurance companies, politicians, electric companies, schools, etc. also hang door tags, send postcards, and more to everyone.

Website

Believe it or not many people are trying to conduct business with no website, I have seen many times online where people are trying to sell something, they make a post, people comment on their post asking about pricing or buying their product or service, and they say “inbox me” this is a great way to lose money on online sales and lose credibility in your industry. Every time someone asks you about your product or service, you should give them your website address and tell them if they have questions to contact you on your website by calling the number on there or leaving a message on your contact page.

Scammers hang out in the inbox because they have something to hide, if you are in business, you should not be hiding anything, every time someone asks you about your business, you should have a business card available, or you should be posting your website address under their comment. A website should be one of the first things you create when starting a business, it will make money while you are asleep, and it will let people know you are actually in business for real. This may seem like a no-brainer, but so many people do not have a website, and they are trying to sell something.

If you are selling 1 product or service you should still have a website, you can have a landing page created for that one product or service you are selling. Your landing page should consist of the content you are selling, a little about you or your company, and your contact information, including your social media pages. Your website should look just like the postcard and flyer you created, everywhere people see your company, they should see the same thing, this will remind them of who you are and remind them that they saw you before, which will draw them to your website to check out your company.

Social Media

Many people are mixing their business and personal life on social media, which is distracting people from the main objective, which is to go to your website and buy something. If you are in business, your social media accounts should be used for business only, with only a little bit of personal information to let people know you are not fake. If you want to make a personal post, make sure you mention your business as well.

For instance, if you want to post a picture of yourself, post a picture of you in your business uniform, shirt, jacket, or hat, say whatever you want to say, and at the end mention your business with a call to action, the call to action is to visit my website, put your website there, so people can go check it out. If you want to post a regular picture without your uniform, make sure it is classy, and make sure you put something like a quote or motivation as the caption, so people can see you as inspiration or motivation. Remember, if you are in business, your whole image should be about business.

Clean up your social media pages and have only business-related things on there. You should not be on social media smoking weed, drinking, twerking, etc., and then tomorrow asking people to buy your product or service, no one will take you seriously. Once you build your brand then you can make off-subject posts because people will know who you are, and they will know that you are a business owner at the end of the day, and you just posted something crazy today.

What I am saying is limit the BS and keep it strictly business 90% of the time, the other 10% shows your sense of humor and who you are as a person, so don’t go too far with it.

Conclusion

There are many ways to see instant results in your business, and I have provided only a few. I will reach out to you soon with more information on different topics and strategies. Always remember, running a business is about strategy and psychology, if you can implement both in your business you will see major success.