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Recession-Proof Your Business - Quick Tip #2 On Pricing

In recessionary times, it helps to know your audience’s comfort zones as far as price goes. This mini-tutorial gives ideas you can implement quickly to increase your cash flow by making customers feel more secure about buying from you.

Sometimes a sliding scale works, letting your clients choose the spot on the scale they’re comfortable paying. Just make sure the lower end of the scale is one you can live with. Although, apparently, more people opt for the mid-range rather than the lowest price, probably to save face a little (rung 4 on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Ladder).

You might bundle your services into small, medium and large style offerings. Some people will only be able to afford the least expensive items, but if you bundle two or three things and give a discount for the bundle that prices it less than each item added up separately... you gain a happy customer who has gotten a bargain... and you’ve sold more items. Discounted sold items are better than higher priced unsold items, especially when your business bank account looks thinner than usual.

In the same vein – have a sale. A whopper of a sale. A once a year (or maybe twice a year) whopper. Make sure you have a clear, fairly fast deadline for your sale, though. It’ll unfreeze your cash flow and make you feel prosperous... thereby unfreezing your anxiety at the same time. This lets more good flow in. Some people offer a deep discount to the first 5 or 10 buyers of an item. That speeds up purchasing, too.

You can also extend payment terms. If you’ve ever watched the home shopping channels for ideas (it’s a worthy suggestion, by the way), you’ll notice that every so often they’ll extend their payments from one single payment to two, three or even more partial or “easy” payments. You get your item home after the first partial payment, which includes shipping and handling and, probably the wholesale cost of the item. The rest of the payments are icing on the cake, really. But it helps the customer out financially and keeps the cash flowing in for the vendor. Good for customer loyalty, too. And customers can feel more secure when they can afford the lower, spread-out monthly payments.

*** Don't forget to check out the Tutorial Lady's 6-week Holiday Giveaway... a different tutorial available for free download each week through January 1, 2011. Just visit www.squidoo.com/tutoriallady for details.

Recession-Proof Your Business - Quick Tip #1

One thing we should all be doing is using an email signature. And not just our website URL under our name... and especially NOT multiple replicated MLM sites under our name – in 5 colors. (I’m not making that up.)

Since we’re emailing people all the time, we can automate our email signature (through most email programs) and we can use it to promote an upcoming class or teleconference, a new product or ebook, a discount or sale we’re offering. Make your signature a mini-press release, in other words. A press release the size of a classified ad.

 

Free This Week - Recession Proof Your Business Tutorial

Week 2 of Tutorial Lady's 6-Week Holiday Giveaway starts today. For seven days, you can download my 16-page PDF report "Recession Proof Your Business" or listen to the 1-hour audio - FREE - no strings.

Also... this is the final day to download the Spelling and Grammar Fixer Tutorial free. This information is available 24/7 on the Tutorial Lady blog... but the report is downloadable and printable and very handy when you're having a bout of spelling amnesia.

Here's the link: www.squidoo.com/tutoriallady

Recession-Proof Your Business Tutorial - Lesson #5

Our tutorial has reached the top rung of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs "ladder" which addresses the need for self-actualization, inner meaning and self-fulfillment.

Before you offer services and products at this level, just remember that the other needs have to be more or less filled first or people won't "get" what you're trying to do.

If you try to teach or facilitate services at this level before your target audience is ready, they’ll say it doesn’t work... or that you’re a lousy teacher – in which case YOUR reputation and standing will be lowered. So use this language and speak to these needs only to an audience that is primed for it.

But when you find that group of people, you help to elevate them to the stars. For example, can you help people picture their soul mission? People who have a need for inner meaning have probably had a good life materially, but may now be at that empty nest stage when they are ready to explore their inner self. They may have had an inkling about it earlier in life, but with jobs, kids, aging parents – what have you – their own self fulfillment always took a back seat. If you teach something they’re looking for and can find these folks in enough numbers, what a glorious business you can make for yourself.

Do you teach self-empowerment that goes farther than survival, security, a sense of belonging and being respected by others? This is spiritual power, a tricky concept, but the ultimate one. Do you help people connect with their Higher Self? At this level, you’ll find not only people who know what you’re talking about, you’ll also come across others who have reached the 5th rung… but don’t have the metaphysical or spiritual education to understand what a higher self is, never mind connect with it. They may have just got there naturally. Again, you need to know your audience. Who do you want to work with? These are not people desperate for money. They’ve got that figured out. But they are desperate to feel that their life has meaning.

We all know (maybe we all are) people who “get” the concepts of inner meaning and self-realization, but we haven’t secured our money rung yet. What do you do then, if you want to teach about self-fulfillment? It’s not going to be internalized if we’re worried about putting food on the table or buying gas. Fear, anxiety, and other emotions that lower vibration are going to inhibit that clear sense of God-consciousness that we’re aiming for. So this is one instance where you might have to work on two levels – or rungs – at the same time. I know some teachers – and students – in this situation. Struggling with rung two – security – while trying to live at number 5 – inner meaning. What could you do to solve this dilemma? If you can figure it out... you’ve got a humdinger business solution for recessionary times.

Now, to really capitalize on these ideas I’ve mentioned, I feel it’s important to pick one area – or rung – of the needs ladder and get well known for solving a problem or issue associated with it. This can get you word-of-mouth buzz and it will be easier to create a more solid-feeling presence because you’re not all over the map. People will know what you stand for and they can order your products and services when they’re ready for them.

The other thing to remember is that people with desperate needs are the people who are ready to buy your products and services. Until you’re pushed to the wall, especially when finances are tight, you tend to not open your wallet.

Philosophically and practically speaking, getting from rung one to two leads you past rung one and a half, which is where you can establish higher-level food/clothing/shelter and water businesses – such as the vegetarian cooking classes I mentioned in an earlier tutorial. We’re still dealing with survival issues, but on a higher level. Here survival is not so much about finding food, but about staying alive longer by keeping toxins and fats out of our bodies, rather than scrambling for our next meal.

At the other end of the spectrum, people don’t usually begin an intensive search for meaning until some crisis strikes or they feel so out of sorts – one of my teachers called it spiritual discontent – that they feel they have no choice but to venture inward for their answers. You probably know tons of people like this. Again, it’s the need that spurred them to take classes, devour books, watch The Secret and so on.

People have built successful businesses helping others move from crisis to inner peace. And it’s not to say anyone is being taken advantage of in a bad – or needy – situation. It’s just that at a certain point in our lives, we have these needs and we look for answers. If you’re Johnny-on-the-spot with an answer for their need, you’re hired!

Here's the page on my website with the "ladder" graphic for Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs so you can plan your business adjustment: www.newradiance.com/r-p-ladder.htm

Cheers!

Recession-Proof Your Business Tutorial - Lesson #4

We're down to the final two rungs on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs "ladder." At the 4th rung, we want respect, and we are more concerned about our reputation and status in the community, whether it's our local neighborhood or a worldwide professional community.

Here’s a 4th rung idea. If you teach folks how to be confident speaking in public, you’ll find people who need your service. And by confident, I mean, so they don’t look and feel stupid or unprepared. I was a student at a metaphysical college in Tampa Bay and one of the best courses I took was called “platform decorum.” It’s all about how to project your ideas when speaking in front of a group of people. I’m essentially an introvert - a writer, not a speaker. Had I not taken that class, I probably wouldn’t have considered teaching teleclasses.

If you have these types of skills that you can teach, then you’ll want to speak to the needs for status and reputation. And for business people who want to gain publicity through YouTube, you could be a valuable resource, to help them with poise and naturalness.

Are you a writer? Can you edit other people’s writing? Article writing is a major way to get known on the internet. But a lot of people balk, because their level of writing may detract somewhat from the expertise of their “real” work. So here’s where a talented editor can make a good living... polishing the articles of business owners who wants to build stature as an expert in their field.

Can you teach Neurolinguistic Programming? It seems to me this is an underused tool for helping people polish their language and communication skills – and gain more respect in their area of expertise.

Our next post will address the top rung of Maslow’s ladder of needs. Again, the other needs have to be more or less filled before you can tackle this 5th rung. But if you choose a target audience that is financially stable, that has solved its belonging needs and that is pretty secure in their reputation and standing in their field, then you can help them with the bigger picture. Hope you'll stay tuned.

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Recession-Proof Your Business Tutorial - Lesson #3

As we continue exploring Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs for a business revision, we arrive at the third rung of our needs ladder. After people have had their survival and safety needs more or less met, they are ready to give and receive love, to make friends, and to belong to a group or community.

The social networking sites... such as FaceBook, MySpace, and Twitter… all cater to third rung needs. You can see how urgent a need this is right now, too, from their immense popularity.

My understanding is that Tim O’Reilly coined the phrase Web 2.0 to describe – and lump – all of these interactive, joining-type internet media into a category. And the rate at which new ones keep popping up tells a pretty powerful story about our need to belong, our need to be seen, to be heard and to feel a part of something. Look at YouTube. Anyone, absolutely anyone, can be visible on YouTube. All you need is a video camera and a computer. And a little knowledge of uploading.

But, how do you turn this into a repositioned business for yourself? If you have the ways and means of helping people figure out how to belong in these networking places... or how to make themselves “presentable” on these sites, you have a business in the making.

Maybe you can figure out how to make and upload YouTube videos with the easy and cheap Flip Ultra video camera. Then you teach this in language that people can understand, with lots of visual clues. If you’re a speaker and workshop presenter, you could also be teaching presentation skills in your class on making YouTube videos.

If you’re an energy worker, you could be teaching people how to project their energy in these videos... which chakras to clear and which ones to energize. If you’re a writer, you can help people write their scripts. The whole idea is helping people not feel like a fish out of water – out of their element – insecure – while they’re learning the ropes of the social networking media. You don’t want them to drop down to rung two while you’re teaching them something related to rung three, in other words.

For many years Marcella and Charles Zinner (www.marcellaz.com), have taught a workshop on finding your soul mate. It always sells out. Marcella and Charles are spiritual teachers and healers and their combined energy makes this class a winner. But an equally compelling factor is the need for people to give and receive love.  Do you have material on hand to teach a class like this?

Another Tampa Bay teacher, Nancy Laine, is an expert numerologist... and at one point she revised her business focus from general numerology to helping people find the man or woman of their dreams – using numerology. An excellent example of a rung 3 niche business.

Are you a teacher? Emphasize the nurturing environment of your classroom. Do you operate a singles group? Use testimonials to demonstrate a sense of "belonging." Spiritual centers can be particularly important resources as people with like ideas naturally group together in times of crisis. Tell people who you are and how to reach you.

Recession-Proof Your Business Tutorial - Lesson #2

Continuing our tutorial on using Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs as the template for restructuring our home business for the current economy, we're now ready to consider the second "rung" on Maslow’s ladder - the need for Comfort and Security.

If you’re a coach who currently offers the more general “life coaching,” you might now want to specialize in something people are more desperate for – and also willing to pay for. Career coaching comes to mind. I know a coach – Sue Koch – who specializes in helping clients get out of the rat race and into their own business. She calls it designing exit strategies for corporate rats (www.corporaterats.com). She’s helping her clients stay secure financially with a plan that doesn’t let them run out of money before their business is established.

Healers are in the comfort and security business.

Reiki Masters can teach ways for parents to keep their kids secure health-wise. Massage therapists are definitely in the comfort business, but to my way of thinking, they’re also in the security business, because they help people maintain good health at a reasonable price, saving potentially thousands of dollars in medical bills. A relaxed body heals faster than a tense body. Massage therapists can also sell themselves as the key health professionals for people with no health insurance… for this same reason. Relaxation is great preventive medicine.

Let’s look at prosperity coaches, teachers and authors. After our basic needs are met, most of us don’t want to be scrambling paycheck to paycheck to replace our food, shelter, water and clothing. So learning money multiplication skills is a necessity for our security – whether it’s done through savings plans, investing groups, visualization courses, or Law of Attraction lessons.

If you want to see how securing finances can be done with high vibration tools, check out Carole Doré’s Emergency Handbook for Getting Money Fast. You can read about it at www.createmoneyfast.com. Carole is a visualization expert and has created her Handbook and other terrific resources to help you visualize and attract financial success.

Now what about spiritual teachers? They don’t just talk about Universal laws or personal development or some technique or other that they’ve learned. They are teaching people to be secure within themselves so they don’t give way to fear or even to mental enslavement to the status quo, to other people’s ideas, to jobs they hate, or to whatever else isn’t working in their life.

An important point to remember is... the language you use to market your service at this 2nd rung level of need must speak of “security” and not self-realization, which is a different need altogether. It depends on where the person is on the ladder of needs at this particular stage in their life.

** Don't forget to print the "Needs Ladder" graphic to help you decide where your own business belongs on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. You can download it free here: www.newradiance.com/r-p-ladder.htm

 

Recession-Proof Your Business Tutorial - Lesson #1

The idea for a tutorial called Recession-Proof Your Business grew out of an article I wrote for my (now discontinued) newsletter, Messages from the Soapbox, a couple of months after 9/11/01. You’ll remember the financial backlash that happened in the months following September 11, when fear was gripping the country and people cancelled vacation plans and cut down on all kinds of non-essential spending. Big businesses cut thousands of jobs and the economic talk was generally negative.

It occurred to me that home-based business owners could turn their businesses around more quickly than the multi-nationals could. After all, a committee of one doesn’t get much argument.

In my article, I used the example of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as a way to find ways you could re-position a home business in order to fill needs people were having RIGHT THEN. When fear and money were big issues. When people stopped spending on discretionary items and stuck with the essentials.

General, philosophic, feel-good topics were not speaking to people’s desperation. Survival and a sense of belonging were more to the point. You remember seeing Congress singing “God Bless America” on the steps of the Capitol? THAT’s the kind of belonging we’re talking about. And a back-to-basics, meat and potatoes kind of economy.

When people are struggling with fear and wondering how they’re going to feed their family next month, they’re not in a mindset to be learning new things, especially when what they really want is help with a specific problem they have right now – like the price of gas.

In times of economic uncertainty, such as now, and after 9/11, it makes sense to focus on essentials, rather than on the esoteric. On the other hand, people who are not bothered by the economy and do have the luxury of time and cash – may be the ideal clients for what you are offering.

It’s all in how you present your offer.

So here are a few ideas to try on – and see how they could be re-worked for your own business.

You’ve probably heard of Abraham Maslow. He was a psychologist who suggested that we each have what he called a “needs hierarchy” which essentially tracks our life cycle from birth to maturity.

On this page of my website, you’ll find a graphic for the ladder analogy I’ll be using throughout this tutorial. It helps us picture this hierarchy more easily. Also, it’s important to remember that we’re not motivated by the “higher” needs until the basic ones at the bottom of the ladder have been filled. On the other hand, all of the needs keep recurring, so we’re up and down the needs ladder quite a bit.

The first need Maslow identified, which I’m calling the “bottom rung” are Survival needs… food, water, clothing and shelter. Things you absolutely have to have to function.

So here’s my question:

How could you reposition your business to represent a survival need that people have right now? Without pandering to their fears, I mean.

If you’re in a health-related business, one way is to become an expert on toxin-free, organic foods or clothing. I’m also pretty sure people would come to your workshops and teleclasses on organic gardening, now that the price of food is going through the roof. (Do-it-ourselves food production.) Or you could get on your soapbox about green buildings and building materials. We’re still talking about survival needs, but just kicking them up a notch.

Have you ever seen those community garden plots here and there, where people stake out their little section of vegetables? If you have enough space and parking, you could charge a fee and teach people how to grow their own organic produce, right on the spot. How about teaching folks how to create a kitchen garden. Or… you might start a local vegan or vegetarian cooking club. Teach what you know, make it easy to learn and sell the videos afterward… or upload them to YouTube to promote your vegetarian recipes e-book.

What about water? There are many opportunities in the water business – selling filtration systems, energized water, ionized water and such. If you offer water resources on your website, you can join Amazon.com’s associate program (it’s free... scroll down to the bottom of any Amazon page, click on "Join Associates") and offer Dr. Emoto’s Hidden Messages in Water books at the same time. It’s kind of a neat tie-in. We need water to survive... again, we’re kicking it up a notch.

After food, clothing, shelter and water needs have been looked after, folks are ready to "climb" the ladder of needs. The next post will focus on Maslow's #2 need: Comfort and Security.