BUS 3500 Week 14 (the final week)

This week we learned about Setting the Right Price. The one part of this chapter that really stood out to me is was in the slide presentation  where it talked about value pricing. The slide presentation showed the steps to creating a value pricing system. I thought the following two points were particularly use full, they are:

• Companies that set prices using a cost-plus model—adding a predetermined percentage to a product’s cost/unit to produce a profit—may be leaving money on the table.

• Instead, a company should use the cost-plus model to determine its pricing threshold and then use value-based pricing to set the best price. 

 To me the idea of using the cost plus model to come up with a threshold was interesting. At the store I work at, we use the cost plus model. I didn't realize that we could potentially be leaving money on the table. The idea of value pricing is one that I would use for any retail business. 

All in all this chapter had really good information. The same can be said for the class in general, I now know that marketing is much more than advertising.

BUS 3500 Week 13

This week we learned about Sales Promotion and Personal Selling. The textbook talked about sampling as a way of promotion. It showed a picture of a Starbucks employee with a tank of coffee on his back giving out free samples of coffee. This way the potential customers could try the coffee and then purchase it if they liked it. What it did for Starbucks was it familiarized people with their product. The idea behind sampling or any sales promotion is to change the buyers behavior into a short term purchase.

I can think of several occasions where I have purchased a product that I have sampled at a grocery store. So, the sales promotion did just what it was intended to do, change buyer behavior. Instead of purchasing the product later or not at all I was influenced to buy what I sampled.

The ideas of sampling and sales promotions are great for growing a business, and if possible I would look for ways to incorporate sampling in any future business I was involved in. I see it as a very effective tool for gaining sales.

BUS 3500 Week 12

This week we learned about advertising. As part of advertising the textbook pointed out that you need to identify the product's benefits. It gave the following suggestions.

• Sell the Sizzle, not the Steak
  

• Sell product’s benefits, not its attributes

• A benefit should answer “What’s in it for me?”

• Ask “So?” to determine if it is a benefit

I liked this part the best because selling the sizzle not the steak, because this is what I've tried to do at my workplace. When selling appliances, furniture or anything for that matter it is easy to fall back on the attributes. Since learning about this, I have tried to implement the suggestions given in this chapter in my sales approach.

BUS 3500 Week 11

This week we learned about Integrated Marketing Communications. This is becoming a popular way of promoting a product. To me it certainly seems more efficient. The slide presentation to the textbook gave these reasons for the growth in popularity of IMC.

• Proliferation of thousands of media choices
• Fragmentation of the mass market
• Slash of advertising spending in favor of promotional techniques that generate immediate response

What I gained from this was that with a integrated approach to promotion a company can save advertising money. This would particularly good to know if I were to help grow or start a business.

BUS 3500 Week 10

This week we learned about marketing channels. Marketing channels provide contact efficiency. The book showed an illustration of this.

What this showed me was the need for an intermediary. The transactions went from 20 down to 9. In the future if I was to run a manufacturing business it would be beneficial to find a marketing channel with an intermediary, like Circuit City in the example.