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Part 40: How Small & Mid Sized Companies Grow – Loss Leaders

February 07, 2014
by Michael Neidle
Optimal Management, optimal management san mateo, Personnel Management, Staffing, Staffing Consultant, Staffing Management, Staffing Management Coaches, staffing management consultant, Staffing Services
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Did you ever wonder how someone could sell something so cheaply?

Did they consciously know what they were doing? Did they have to sell at a loss because perhaps they were liquidating a slow moving, damaged or obsolete product, or were making room for a new product? Were they making a mistake in pricing? Did they somehow get their costs down so much that they could actually make profit at the price they were selling at? Or did they know exactly what they were doing by losing money to get customers in then door and then selling them more things at a higher price to make up for their initial losses?

Very often the later situation is the rational for offering prices below cost, which is known as a loss leader. This is where initial losses are intended to be more then made up for with higher prices later on. Have you ever used this kind of marketing strategy? When it is properly used it can be very profitable. Perhaps the most famous example took place many years ago with razor blades. The leader in the industry was Gillette who famously sold their mechanical razor well below cost to get new customers. The blades did not last for many shaves and the reoccurring sales for replacements were very profitable year after year, netting Gillette a tidy profit. There is one caveat and that is something predatory pricing. This is where very low price can be set with the intention to drive competitors out of the market and create a de facto monopoly. This is illegal, but usually rather difficult to prove.

The vast majority of companies can use a similar strategy themselves. The key is will your customers come buy enough other things to make up for your loss leader? Let’s provide an example. Your company is trying to break into a key client with a larger volume potential. You know you have a great product or service but to get your foot in the door to demonstrate this. Your best option may be to use loss leader with a price your competitors can beat and tie this to a one time offer so that your customer can’t ask another vendor to match it. This approach often works if you can make your customers first experience so good that when you present them with an ongoing price for repeat business at a higher price this will not be an issue if properly unveiled. A similar approach is the Gillette example whereby they are tied into your company, as very satisfied and to switch out would be a major headache and that the new cost structure is not a problem. In all situations, make sure to run the numbers to know how much incremental volume, at what price you will need to overcome your loss leader deals.

We welcome your questions as to the challenges you face in order to grow.

To see all articles in this series please go to http://optimal-mgt.com/blog.

    

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About Us

Optimal Management has served the staffing industry since 1994 and has been a member of NACCB, CSP, ASA and NTSA. Our President, Michael Neidle has been in the staffing industry since 1989, including a senior executive for 2 large national staffing companies, starts-ups and Fortune 500 Corporations in the IT, biotech, service, and manufacturing sectors and is a noted speaker and author. Optimal Management was selected for the 2012 Best of San Mateo Award in the Business Management Consultants category. [More]

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