Constant Cogitation » Marketing

Successfully Selling Through a Price Increase

Greg — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 12:26:37 +0000

Increasing prices is a necessary but challenging part of successfully managing a product line of business. Once you've made the determination to increase prices, these tips can help you achieve buy-in on new pricing agreements with your customers.

Innovation in Aftermarket Offerings for Industrial Marketers

Greg — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 15:15:28 +0000

Often the most profitable, yet most neglected, portion of an industrial equipment company’s portfolio is its range of aftermarket solutions, such as replacement parts and repair services. Typically a captive market, aftermarket parts and services offer significant profit margin potential, yet the attitude most often in place at industrial equipment firms is that such sales “just happen” and there is not much that can be done to influence them. This attitude overlooks the great improvement that even a small increase in aftermarket sales can provide to the bottom line.

Book Review – Beating the Commodity Trap

Greg — Thu, 27 May 2010 03:45:41 +0000

Beating the Commodity Trap: How to Maximize Your Competitive Position and Increase Your Pricing Power provides some outstanding advice and case studies on using value equivalence lines (or price-benefit lines) to understand pricing dynamics in your industry and craft strategies to respond to commoditization pressures.

Strategic Pricing Using Value Equivalence Lines

Greg — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 02:21:02 +0000

To improve on your outdated cost-plus pricing approach, consider developing and using Value Equivalence Lines (VELs) to help set you positioning and pricing strategies in a given market.

Spreading More Crumbs of Cogitation

Greg — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 13:55:04 +0000

In recent guest posts on other blogs, I discuss why Six Sigma is a bad idea for startups, how to extend your brand presence at trade shows, the impact of demographics on business, and leadership tips from Jack Welch.

10 Ways to Extend your Brand with Industrial Customers

Greg — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:25:24 +0000

Disney has mastered the art of extending the brand experience for its customers. Here are 10 ways you can replicate the magic in your more industrial markets.

Cogitation across the Nation

Greg — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 02:39:27 +0000

Links to recent guest posts on marketing in small businesses and startups, trade show planning, using Outlook for task management, and planning your work/life strategy.

7 Steps to Prepare an Engineer for a Sales Call

Greg — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 12:10:37 +0000

While many engineers have a natural capability to work with customers, some need help in this process. Here's seven steps to help an engineer contribute to a successful sales call.

Market Segmentation for Electric Vehicles

Greg — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 02:42:05 +0000

Understanding the segmentation of the automotive market by customer behavior and vehicle usage patterns is going to be critical in designing electric vehicles with the appropriate price and performance (in terms of battery range) for success. Nick Hodson and John Newman of McKinsey recently published an article with a first-pass segmentation that points out some opportunities for differentiation by automotive producers.

A Market Segmentation Example

Greg — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:31:32 +0000

After laying out the differences between market segmentation and classification in a previous blog post, this follow-up post provides an example of how segmentation was used to target growth for a new product by selecting customers for whom it had the greatest value proposition, allowing it to be priced at a significant premium to existing offerings.