Lubricate Your Business’s Weak Spots

Manage a well-oiled businessYesterday’s Wall Street Journal featured an interview with Garry Ridge, CEO of WD-40, the well-known lubricant. The focus was to learn the secrets of growing an enterprise built around one product.

Ridge revealed that the company not only decided to create new packaging (pen sized and a blast can) for WD-40, but they also bought a few cleaning companies that don’t compete directly with the core product.

What I found of benefit to small and solo business owners were the five tips shared by Ridge. The tips focus on selling household brands, but they are also beneficial to us. Here are the tips, shown in quotes, along with my own take on how each relates to the one-person enterprise.

1. “Don’t slap your name on just anything to make a buck.” Customers won’t hear the passion or fire in your voice when speaking with you about such products or services. It’s a dead giveaway that you don’t believe in what you’re selling.

2. “Find weaknesses with existing products and fix them. Then you can charge more.” If a report or service is highly priced, cut it up into smaller pieces that customers will buy quicker than the whole pie. I talked about this in Sell Small Pieces of Large Reports.

3. “But raise prices cautiously; make consumers feel they got more than expected and don’t hide company inefficiencies behind price hikes.” Offer an incentive that’s easy to add yet seen by the client as a worthwhile bonus.

4. “Seek new consumer bases, and design for them.” Client feedback uncovers great ideas. The question is: do you hear what they’re saying?

5. “Invest in products that consumers will always need.” This is possible through affiliates and other partnerships when your budget doesn’t allow for an outright purchase.

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May 24, 2006 | Filed Under Offline Ideas, Problems & Solutions, Recent Entries 

Comments

2 Responses to “Lubricate Your Business’s Weak Spots”

  1. Flora Morris Brown on July 3rd, 2006 1:20 pm

    You touched on an important point about pricing. Folks are willing to pay more if you’ve added value and made the increases gradually.

  2. Shirley George Frazier on July 3rd, 2006 3:50 pm

    Your words are very true, and this reminds me to take a look at my own pricing, especially the shipping structure.

    With today’s sky-high gas prices, it’s time to make sure I’m not losing money each time a product is mailed.

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