Anytime there is market uncertainty in a candidly really market chaos, I always advise the local businesses that I work with to go on an ethical money grab. And what I mean by ethical money grab is that people do some really, really crazy things when the economy gets dicey. They do things from heavily discounting things to giving stuff away for close to free, to really just trying to grab whatever cash they can.
What you will learn today is all about bundling and getting your customers to prepay in advance for more profits.
If you’re in a market that is really at all competitive, you’ve got to know that your competitors most likely are not going to be operating from a logical standpoint—they’re going to be operating out of a completely fear mindset. You may very well be in that exact same mindset yourself as well.
However, cash is king at any time when things just get so crazy that you really don’t know what some of the next steps are going to be or what’s going to happen next.
Here is one thing I want you to consider. Personally, I’m a huge fan of bundling. Now, while this is a strategy that you should be using in your business, regardless of any situation, let me explain it to you a bit and let me show you how it’s going to put your business in a little bit of a different category than everyone else.
For example, you own a landscaping business and you’re trying to start to get customers for weekly lawn care. Now, if you know anything about the landscaping business, it’s pretty easy to get started. I mean, you really just need basic equipment. You don’t even need a truck, as I have seen some people use cars and vans, and they put a mini trailer with literally a standard lawnmower. I mean, it’s pretty easy to get started. And even on the commercial side, there are quite a few landscapers who have this kind of business as a fallback business. I hate to say that term but it tends to be one of those businesses that when you’re sitting around and you’re trying to brainstorm what type of business you want to get into, landscaping often tends to come up as one of those on top of the list.
Now, if you know that all of your competitors are going to be doing the same type of offers, they’re going to try and get people in for weekly cutting, they’re probably going to do similar things. They’re going to potentially give out flyers in the neighborhood. They might use some door hangers or if they’re a little bit savvier, they’re going to try Facebook ads. If they’re even savvier, they’re going to use Google AdWords or YouTube ads. But usually, landscaping companies and in particular, companies that are focusing not on the higher end landscaping but rather weekly grass cutting, they tend to love flyers. It’s an easy thing to do flyers or door hangers, but usually flyers. I think I’ve probably already gotten 10 different kinds of offers in the last week and I’ve got a couple of them on my desk, as we speak. However, they’re all essentially identical. By identical I mean they’re all saying free estimates. One of them has 10% off for the season if you prepay which I like that first cut free or satisfaction guaranteed but everything from one to the other is essentially identical.
There’s one I got a couple of weeks ago which basically stood out from the rest, giving him or her a good jump on the market. It was offering not only satisfaction guaranteed, but he/she guaranteed they will beat any price that you’re comparing apples to apples. Didn’t literally say apples to apples, but will beat any comparable service price. So if someone’s coming in at $20 to cut the lawn each week, he’ll come in at least 10% less. So that was what caught my eye and I actually really liked these kinds of offers.
Here’s what I want to throw at you in this kind of economy. What could you bundle with your offer that would completely separate your flyer from the pack? Now, this isn’t an episode on building a great flyer, this is about how to bundle for more profits.
As a customer, what I’m interested in is something like free power washing at the start and the end of the season. Free window washing, now you can use the word free but you clearly can bundle it into your pricing. You’ve got to make sure that the wording is appropriate. And I love to show that it’s free, even though again, you’re bundling it into your price.
So whereas all the other people might be charging $25 a week, you’re charging $30 for example. Just a sample pricing since I know there’s different costs for power washing. But you get the picture that I’m looking for you to bundle in something that is quite different, but it’s complementary to what you’re offering.
So again, they don’t want more of the same. What I don’t want you to do is while you’re going to bundle in all the lawn care, and then you’re going to try and bundle in a few offers. You can bundle in snow service from your usual lawn mowing service if you’re in an area that snows a lot, unless, you’ve got some really insanely high prices for a weekly lawn cutting, you couldn’t afford to give people snow service for the season bundled in. So I’m looking for you to just think a little bit outside the box and just see if there is something that you could bundle in.
If you own a childcare center, what could you bundle in with the tuition? Could you bundle in something that’s completely different? For example, once a month, the family is going to get a gift card so they can probably order meals in or something like that. I’ve seen a lot of companies partner with some of those different meal delivery companies that like that the family meals and things like that, for some reason, all the names are escaping me at this very moment in time.
What could you bundle in again, that is not just an add on? More so, something that your competitors are not doing.
If you were offering power washing, we’re going to power wash your driveway or we’re going to power wash your windows. What could you bundle in? Could you bundle in gutter cleaning, for example? Your pitch could be something like, “So while we’re power washing your windows, we’re going to make sure that we clean your gutters for you as well and we’re going to add in that completely no charge.”
What I love about bundling is that your competitors will look at doing it, but they only will look at doing it with something that is inside their wheelhouse, they’re not going to think outside the box.
Like someone doesn’t want more of the same. It’s one of the biggest mistakes that people make when they’re selling information or products is that you sell a product, let’s just say for $1,000. And then you try and upsell someone for an add on, but it’s more of the same.
Put yourself in your customers’ shoes, what else would they want? What else could they need around their house, for example, assuming that you’re in the realm of that service? Whatever business you’re in, what could you bundle and offer to save them time and money? Those are the two big ones, saving time and saving money.
So I want you to look at this kind of economy, how can you bundle to start to separate yourself from the pact because that will start to drive you more sales.
Get out there, make a change, and take some action today.
