The Pros And Cons And Sales And Promotions

The benefits of holding sales and posting discounts on your consumer durables inventory are obvious - however, there are also downsides to sales and special promotions that temporarily reduce the list prices of your products.

For years, researchers have realized that sales and discounts trigger certain psychological reactions in new or returning customers - and some of them can actually hurt your business and its reputation. In order to understand the feelings and motivations of customers (when they choose to buy sale-priced items), we've compiled a list of the advantages and disadvantages of holding sales and promotions at your consumer durables business:

Higher traffic is the most obvious benefit of holding a sale - sales bring in customers, and they put more money in your coffers. There are different types of sales - annual clearances may be marked down on a regular client's calendar, and sporadic sales initiatives may attract traffic off of the street, or off of the Internet (if you promote online). Each type of sale may bring in different customers, who buy for different reasons. Obviously, the deeper the discount, the more traffic it will generate; however, the more you take off the list price, the lower your profit margin will be.

Cons

It's been proven in studies that customers view the value of a product differently after it's been marked down. In fact, some clients are actually more critical of the performance and value of a product if they've bought it on sale.

One example of a company that never marks down their merchandise is the French luxury leather-goods company, Hermés. This company sells handmade goods that are exclusive and very high-end, and customers pay tens of thousands of dollars for custom handbags - in fact, they go on waiting lists for the privilege of shopping with this established company.

If Hermés suddenly slashed its prices in a huge sales promotion, people would respond positively at first, and buy up everything in sight. However, over time, the company's image would suffer, and customers who had to pay full retail before the sale would be very angry... and feel ripped off. Having sales would be a very bad idea for this company - it would ruin the elegant illusion and the above-it-all image that the leather-goods company has carefully cultivated over the decades.

You're not selling handmade boots and handbags - however, you are still selling many high-end consumer durables, and these also have an image and a perceived value. If you put your items on sale too often, you will dilute their value in the eyes of your clientele. It's a strange psychological phenomenon, but people really do feel more content with merchandise purchased for a standard list price, and this is something to bear in mind as you plan your marketing approach. There may be certain, more exclusive products that you might choose to exempt from sales promotions.

Of course, every business needs to have periodic sales, just to generate money (and to clear out excess inventory to make room for new items); however, it's important to position your sales properly when marketing, and not to overuse sales and markdowns, as they can be counterproductive in the long run. 

Task Management Tips For Busy Entrepreneurs

Being an entrepreneur means juggling a dizzying array of tasks every single day. Sometimes, the vision and direction needed to push a business forward can get lost when the day is spent putting out fires and dealing with typical problems that crop up with staff, suppliers, etc. If you want to be as efficient as possible, so that you can apply extra time to the important business of thinking long-term and implementing improvements, you'll enjoy these practical tips on task management for busy entrepreneurs.

Identify All Tasks - The best task managers always know exactly how much is on their plates. If you don't currently have a master list of every task you need to do, you must create one and have it at the ready every single day. Many of us have basic to-do lists based on their priorities and responsibilities of each workday, or work week. However, oftentimes, these lists don't reflect the sum total of outstanding tasks. To create your list, go through calendars, PDA's, online scheduling programs, and other places where typical tasks for an entire year might be outlined. Try to write down everything you have to do as part of your job description. Then, slot the tasks into categories, and place them in a new calendar (real or "virtual") that is designed to help you with more efficient time management. It may take an hour or two to collect all of your regular tasks for each year, but it will be well worth doing when you can actually visualise every task for the year in advance. Once you've made your task management schedule, look for busy periods (such as Christmas or Boxing Day) and other "bottlenecks" in your schedule; figure out some ways to use current downtime to prepare for the difficult work phases you'll face in the future.

Use Intuition When Prioritizing - After working at a position for any length of time, you'll develop a handy sixth sense about what is important, what can wait, and what might present problems, delays, and issues. When you're prioritizing tasks, slot in deadline tasks first, and then rely on your instinct to schedule other tasks in the correct order. Trust your own judgment, and make decisions you will stick to. It's vital to create a task management plan that feels right - if you don't listen to your intuition, you may run into problems later on.

Try The Five-Minute Rule - Action will destroy your procrastination, and it wipes so many tiresome tasks off of your schedule. To get rid of little nagging tasks, try the five-minute rule...if you can do it in five minutes or less, do it immediately and get it done. If you can't do it in five minutes, schedule it. Sometimes, a mountain of small, five-minutes-or-less tasks can accumulate, causing stress and provoking procrastination. Yes, it's true that we often procrastinate when we can least afford to do so - this psychological reaction can be the mind's way of protesting overscheduling or unfulfilling work. However, procrastination will get your nowhere - the biggest business moguls in the world have learned to group their tasks efficiently, and to take care of everything on a daily basis. They meet their goals on daily basis, because they know it leads to the achievement of long-term goals. Use the five-minute rule whenever you can - get the little stuff out of the way before you feel buried in small and mundane tasks. 

How To Deal With Difficult Clients Or Staff

In the retail game, you'll run across some strange characters, and you'll need to exercise diplomacy to handle the challenges of dealing with difficult clients; you may also hire staff that demonstrate real potential, but somehow veer off of the rails in terms of meeting your requirements and being pleasant and polite. Dealing with difficult clients and staff can be emotionally draining and quite stressful for any manager - it helps to know some useful tips on handling difficult people in the workplace:

Avoid Generalizations - When you discussing problems with a client of staff member, it's vital to avoid generalization that just come off as too vague or subjective. For example, calling someone out on their negative attitude just isn't good enough - instead, you must outline specific issues that need to be addressed. It's important to be professional, polite, and very civil during these highly-charged interactions; it's also crucial that you back up any accusations or issues with specific examples and scenarios that have occurred in the past. Clients or staff will be able to see your point of view more easily if you cite examples, rather than just telling someone off, or casting aspersions on their character. Never discuss issues without a mental list of infractions or issues.

Document Issues - To protect yourself, and your company, in the event of costly and reputation-damaging litigation (such as a wrongful termination lawsuit), you must learn to write people up and keep these personnel files in a safe, locked cabinet, or password-protected computer file. In general, it's always safer to have a hard copy of these interactions, signed in ink by you. If you've discussed "writing up" an employee with that person, you may want to provide proof that this discussion occurred, by asking the employee to sign the document. Protecting yourself and your company can be a hassle, but it's definitely worth doing, especially when an employee is disgruntled and threatening legal action.

Ask Questions - To get to the root of difficulties with clients or staff, ask questions and find out exactly what the heart of the matter is. If an employee is showing up late or showing different attitudes and behaviours, gently inquire (in private) as to whether or not anything is bothering that person, and whether or not they're enjoying their job. Sometimes, outside pressures can affect a staff member's performance in the workplace; occasionally, a potentially wonderful employee can be waylaid by stress that would affect anyone. If you value your relationship with a staff member or client, open the lines of communication, and see if you can help the person to return to their former effectiveness. With clients, try to see things from their point of view; give them every chance to explain their opinions and feelings before you make a decision, or pass judgment. Always remember that negative word-of-mouth advertising can hurt your business.

The best managers accept that dealing with difficult clients is part of the job description, and they learn to do it efficiently, with an absence of personal emotions. Taking things personally is no help at all when you're running a business; you must train yourself to see things objectively, and to separate your personal feelings and emotions from business tasks that must be taken care of. 

Find More Sales Leads With Point-of-sale Financing

At our company, we pride ourselves on helping our partners build their businesses. By offering our corporate partners access to point-of-sale financing, we give them the toolkits they need to attract new and returning clientele...and we handle all loan administration. In-house financing, or point-of-sale financing, is a proven way to drive new business to a consumer durables retail outlet. In fact, for decades, we've been working with companies just like yours, partnering with Canadian retail outlets to open up affordability right at their places of business.

So, what can in-house financing do for your business? Well, it has many benefits, including the way it makes your inventory more affordable to a wider range of consumers. Today, many customers fear credit card debt - sometimes, they've had the credit card limits reduced, due to issues with the global banking crisis. Sometimes, customers can only afford the items they really want if they can pay for them with smaller payments, spaced out over a longer term. If you don't have in-house financing in place at your business, you may be freezing out a lot of prospective clients, who will go elsewhere to get the term financing solutions they really need. By adopting point-of-sale financing, through a partnership with Crelogix, you will make your business more appealing to cautious consumers, who need to know that they can get consumer loans for expensive electronics, furniture, and appliances.

The best way to get started with in-house financing is to call our team of specialists, or send us an email. We've created a special online system for service delivery, and we'd like to tell you all about it. This system is called MyCrelogix.com, and it's designed to give your clients instant, online pre-approval for the loans they want. By simply plugging in a little data about your client, you can immediately find out whether or not they qualify for a loan. Obviously, if you're doing a sales pitch, this sort of backup can make all of the different. Once a client knows they can get financing for the product they want to buy, buyer hesitation will melt away, and the customer can prepare to make a final decision. It's a proven fact that in-house financing closes more deals.

At Crelogix, we tailor our services to your individual needs, and we work hard to help you reap all of the benefits of in-house financing. Put our decades of skills and experience to work for your business - make things happen for your company by implementing in-house financing. In no time at all, you'll be up to speed on the new system, and you'll be ready to market point-of-sale financing to your new and returning customers. Point-of-sale financing is a powerful selling tool that will add cachet to your business. 

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