The fifth profit driver: Increasing the gross profit per sale
by Dr Greg Chapman
In an earlier article I described the Five Profit Drivers marketing system. The fifth of the Five Profit Drivers is Increasing the gross profit per sale.
The easiest way to increase your gross profit per sale is to increase your prices. The beauty about this strategy is that the increase in price goes straight to the bottom line. A mere ten percent increase in prices will double the net profit of most businesses.
Of course the reason most businesses don’t increase their prices is because they are concerned about losing sales, and if you just increase your prices without any other marketing, you will.
So how do you increase your prices?
To achieve sustainable and significant price increases, you must be able to defend the increase with your marketing. In most cases this means you will have to change at least some elements of your marketing strategy. The bigger the price rise you are seeking, the more radical the changes you must make to your marketing plan.
The first thing a business should do before increasing their prices is to understand their points of difference and for which buyers those deliver greatest value. By targeting buyers that appreciate the value you provide, it is far easier to increase your prices.
For example, people in a hurry will be prepared to pay more for a same day dry cleaning service. The dry cleaner may also have a premium cleaning service for your most expensive clothes.
Branding is also a well known way to increase your prices. People will pay more for a branded product because of the recognition and trust factor than they will for a no-name product. In fact, branded products can become reassuringly expensive.
Having different product levels is a way of avoiding the price debate with customers. So when you have a Silver, Gold and Platinum service people will compare the prices and value at each level. The price conscious will may choose Silver (with less in the box) instead of Gold, or they may convince themselves that they really prefer the extra value of Gold. So don’t discount your Price, discount your Scope, with each level of service equally profitable.
For a more tactical example, if you wanted to increase your prices by 15 percent it is better to do it through a number of small (less than 5 percent) increases than one single increase which is far more noticeable.
To hear more about pricing strategies, listen to an interview with me at www.IncreaseYourPrices.com where Hotfrog visitors can receive a 20 percent discount on my book “Price: How to Increase Your Prices without Losing Sales” when they use the codeword “Hotfrog”.
…and how do you reduce your costs?
The opposite strategic direction of price increases to increase your gross profit margin is, of course, to reduce your costs. While reducing costs is more difficult without compromising your quality, there are usually opportunities, such as changing suppliers, or requesting supplier volume rebates.
Another opportunity to consider is that you may find part of your operations can be outsourced to someone who could provide cheaper service. Elance.com and Guru.com are great places to outsource parts of your business where people across the world will bid for your work. There is a buyer feedback system on these sites, similar to eBay, to give you confidence before you choose.
Creating systems such as templates can reduce effort and mistakes. Efficiencies can also be gained with software and with equipment that increases productivity. Even training can reduce costs.
Delegating to others is an opportunity missed by many business owners. Too often, they waste their time doing jobs others could do for them because they don’t put a value on their own time!
Identify the strategies you can use to increase your prices and to reduce your costs and together they can be used to Increase the Fifth Profit Driver – Increasing your gross profit per sale.
May Your Business Be – As You Plan It!
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