Tips and profit improvement ideas from CBSL
The fastest way to improve profits...
...is usually through pricing. It has a much quicker effect than cost cutting or trying to win new customers, and all the benefit drops through to the bottom line.
Understanding Pricing
You could gain a significant benefit to your profit by taking a more systematic approach to Pricing as a subject. A lot of firms aren't ready to start full-scale projects at a time like this, so CBSL is putting on a seminar to go through this topic in more detail without incurring significant cost. At the bottom of this email is a voucher for a half price ticket, which is normally £50 per company (for up to three delegates).
Price Setting Tool - Free Trial
Delegates will also get a free run of CBSL's price optimisation tool. This has been developed in-house and quickly works out for you what price to set your products at if they sell in some volume in a competitive marketplace. It is ideally suited to on-line and retail businesses, but the principles can be applied more widely. It works on the principle that you really can measure how demand varies with different prices, despite what some 'experts' tell you, and you can then predict where is the best point to set your prices at.
Here is what one of our clients said about it:
"We thought the pricing of our on-line products was fairly straightforward until CBSL showed us what can be achieved. They demonstrated that you really can measure demand elasticity - quickly and easily, and showed us how to convert the results in to the optimum pricing level to maximise profit. After only a month, we increased profits by 87% on our biggest selling line by reducing the price and trebling the volume. Now we've seen this approach, we can't believe it is not more widely known about. We would have no hesitation in recommending them." Aled Ellis, Britink Marketing Director.
Avoiding the Pitfalls
A lot of companies think this is an area which they have sewn up, but it's amazing how so many errors crop up time and time again. In one firm we worked with, a mix up in the sales team between the terms 'Margin' and 'Mark Up' was costing over £100,000 per year in lost profit. In another, a rigid system of cost-plus pricing was losing orders and under-pricing others. We have also seen arguments between accountants and sales people on when its okay to price based on full-costing or marginal costing.
The most common gap in understanding is to do with predicting the best price to sell at in a competitive market. In our seminars we ask if delegates can plot the price/demand relationship and most people can have a pretty good stab at it, however unscientific. However if you ask people then to produce the profit/price relationship and people glaze over. If this is you, your company could be missing out on big profit improvements.
Seminar Details
The pricing seminar is designed to provide practical advice on how to employ effective pricing strategies to drive profitable growth of your business.
- The seminar will cover aspects of pricing strategy including;
- Introduction to generic approaches to pricing
- Factors affecting pricing decisions
- Measuring the price-demand relationship
- Practical methods for developing a pricing strategy for your business
- Who Should Attend?
- Anyone who is interested in making sure that their pricing strategy delivers profitable business growth.
Further details
The seminar will be held at 5 pm on Thursday 18th June 2009 at the Prostar Stadium (Shrewsbury Town Football Club).
The cost of the seminar is £50 (plus VAT) for which three delegates from your company may attend.
The seminar will last for approximately one hour with time afterwards for networking with other guests or to ask the speakers any questions. A light buffet will be provided following the event.
To book a place on this seminar please contact Susanna Hinton via e-mail at susanna.hinton@cbslgroup.com or via telephone on 01743 249992. Alternatively, download the pdf booking form and send the completed back to us.
Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter, we hope you found it interesting. If you would like to find out more about who CBSL Group are and how we could help make your business more profitable please vist our website www.cbslgroup.com.
Yours Sincerely,
David Parry
CBSL Group Limited
