3 Alternatives To Slashing Your Prices.

With a looming economic crisis and a credit crunch already starting to bite, many small businesses are starting to feel the squeeze. Their customers have less cash to spend and those who do are saving it ‘for a rainy day’.

Faced with this less than optimistic situation, many businesses are tempted to slash their prices to the bone in order to get the sale and stay in business. But cutting your prices will only ensure that you have even less money coming in from the customers that you already have.

So in order for your business to thrive when all around you are going belly up, you need to get creative! Let’s look a three simple alternatives to slashing your prices.

Offer More
To increase the perceived value of your products or services, simply pile on the extras until your customer cannot resist any longer! There are lots of very cheap ways to build up value in the eyes of your customers.

For example, you could include a free CDROM that demonstrates how to use your product or service. Blank, printable CDs cost around 25 cents each, yet training material has a very high perceived value.

How-To guides created as PDF manuals are easy to make using a simple word processor and can be hosted on your website for download at no extra cost to you.

Be Unique
Offer something unique that cannot be bought elsewhere and you immediately set yourself apart from your competition. Of course, we all know that there are very few things on earth that are truly unique. But with a little imagination, you can create and offer product or service packages that stand out from the crowd.

A hotel could create a series of themed breaks based on events or attractions in their area.

Retail stores could make up kits or packages that contain everything a beginner would need to get started at golf, owning a hamster or fishing.

Limit Supply
A common approach by many businesses and one that is used extensively by the oil producing countries is to limit supply and then raise their price.

A similar tactic is used by fast food restaurants when they offer a special burger meal or chicken dinner for a limited time only and then pull it from the menu. This creates a short term buying frenzy as long as the customers are made aware of the promotion and a ‘buzz’ created.

You have seen how by applying a little thought to your business marketing, you can rise above the competition while refusing to cut prices.