Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your
contribution is not tax-deductible.)
PayPal Acct: 
Feedback: 
Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):
| [ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, [4], 5, 6 ] |
| Subject: Can you stablize your profitability with subscriptions, continuity programs or until further notice offers? | |
|
Author: Dennis S. Vogel |
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
Date Posted: 17:35:34 12/29/10 Wed In reply to: Dennis S. Vogel 's message, "Why Isn't Back-to-School a Subscription?" on 16:59:01 09/29/10 Wed The questions below are what you should consider if you want to start a business & wonder about feasibility. When you need more sales to stay in business, you should consider these issues in your sales efforts. Should what you offer be sold as a subscription, a continuity program or something similar like until further notice offers? Examples of continuity programs (also called loyalty promotions): A card is punched or stamped when people make qualifying purchases. Qualifying purchases can be transactions at or over a certain dollar amount or buying specific products/services. Examples of until further notice offers: Delivering/sending a product or providing a service until a customer cancels or stops paying. This is often how people get internet access. On location oil change services &/or vehicle detailing can be offered like this. At certain times, as long as customers park vehicles in a particular place - - like where they live or work, a mechanic changes oil & possibly other maintenance. Buying a magazine subscription means a magazine becomes part a recipient's life. In effect, magazine issues are invited in. Something about the magazine seems important enough to invest money to get it. Maybe buying a subscription is a way to help somebody raise money for a project. Think about what you offer to consumers, why should it be a regular part of their lives? What would inspire people to invite your product/service in on a regular basis? Why would people NOT want something on a regular basis? Their lives may seem to be complete or overly complex already. Would people get relief from stress OR more burdens when they buy a product/service? Would they be required to make loan payments? Does owning a product/service solve more problems than it causes? What responsibilities do people accept when they buy from you? Consider what owning something requires. Do people have payments to make or are payments automatically deducted from their accounts? How often is maintenance required to keep a product in good condition? Do they have to learn how to use what they buy? How soon & often will they get their expected benefits? How long will the benefits last? Will they be making payments after the benefits are gone? Have you thought about how subscriptions & buying clubs (like book of the month clubs) help people? An annual magazine subscription can be better than deciding whether or not to buy a magazine issue each week or month. By committing to buy a book each month, people just make monthly decisions about which books to buy. That can seem minor, but how often are you so mentally tired you avoid making decisions? How often does paying attention seem impossible because your mental energy account is overdrawn? (If this is never true about you, excuse me, but the rest of us may not be as perfect as you.) ;^) wink - grin When you offer long-term services you take on a responsibility to follow through. Does it seem like a burden? - - Welcome to the business world! Can you follow through consistently on schedule? Businesses exist to relieve people of burdens or at least mitigate problems. It means you accept a burden. Is it worthwhile? How can you make it worthwhile for yourself & customers? If you make your business profitable, competitors are apt to notice. Keeping your competitive edge sharp may be harder than starting your business. There are so many permutations; covering them all in a small space like this is impossible. Complexities keep consultants in business. It means you pay us to relieve your burdens & mitigate your problems. When we do our jobs well, you can be more successful by focusing on profitably helping more people. I plan for the next part of this message thread to be about advertising frequency. Until you read it, you may want to consider this: When your message about a subscription or until further notice offer reaches somebody who makes a purchasing decision, you can focus more of your marketing on persuading others. Selling through subscriptions, continuity programs or until further notice offers can make your sales cycles & revenue more stable than relying on occasional sales. Dennis S. Vogel thrivingbusiness@email.com Your success depends on knowing consumers well enough to offer the best value they need & can afford in their situations. Tips about marketing in my free information web site & blog can help you with those details - http://www.lakefield.net/~thrivingbusiness/ http://www.voy.com/31049/ [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |
| Subject | Author | Date |
| All Work & No Play Makes Jack A Dull Boy | Dennis S. Vogel | 17:34:59 01/30/11 Sun |
| Requests For Clarification | Blog Readers | 16:42:30 02/27/11 Sun |
|
||
|
Forum timezone: GMT-6 VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB: Before posting please read our privacy policy. VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems. Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved. |