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[EmSeta]

I'm working with a company right now that's going to raise their pricing for all their consumer offers. I'm supposed to handle PR damage control. The textbook way to do this is to insist on the consumers getting more service for their money, but they're not getting it in this case. It's just a higher price tag.

What are some good ideas?

 

[EclipseGST]

cost of living increase in the area...blah blah...R&D for the future....

 

[Funky Papa]

"Hey, I just work here"

What kind of products are we talking about? Different markets need different approaches.

 

[Suerte]

Marketing is fun.

 

[EmSeta]

It's actually a service they're selling. They have a very wide customer base, and they work with both consumers and companies. It's a price increase of 40%.

 

[AntoneM]

If you offer different levels of service you could just add a few things (that either take little time or aren't difficult) to what you already do on every level. This way your not adding much more work but you are adding value and therfore you must increase the price. Also the falling dollar.

 

[gofreak]

It's hard to spin that if there's absolutely no improvement for the customer. But then I only ever took one marketing class..

I guess it depends on how much your customer relies on you, how dependent they are on you. If it's "very" you could just take a very ballsy approach to it.

If you providing exceptional value up to now, almost to the point of the customer ripping you off, then you could spin it as a necessary correction to continue providing the high quality service that you do. If you service is actually a quality one, and your customers know they've been getting a good ride up to now in terms of value, they're more likely to think "fair enough".

 

[Tazznum1]

40%?!?!?!?!?!?!? You can't spin 40% Maybe 10-15%

 

[Brannon]

It's actually a service they're selling. They have a very wide customer base, and they work with both consumers and companies. It's a price increase of 40%.

...40%...

Good fucking luck, seriously. What's the service they sell?

 

[AntoneM]

Tazz is pretty much right, you'd have to do a cobination of things in order to justify a 40% increase. Most likely you'd lose your current customers and would have to find new ones willing to pay that price.

 

[xsarien]

It's actually a service they're selling. They have a very wide customer base, and they work with both consumers and companies. It's a price increase of 40%.

Say that it's to help offset the cost of future offerings. It's vague enough that people won't question it, and, hey, it COULD be true, right?

But, yeesh...40%? You should at least let repeat customers have access to special sales or something...

 

[Minotauro]

Hey, guys. Last night, I raped and killed a girlscout. What would be the best way to dispose of the body?

 

[Brannon]

Buy a box big enough to lay kid in, fill part way with concrete, insert body, fill the rest with concrete, let dry, break box, carve in fancy letters "In Memory of the Girl Scouts", and rent a Bobcat to transport it to your local Girl Scout troop. They will be moved by the gesture, and if you need to get rid of it later, you can rent a Dodge truck and transport it to a landfill.

Trying to spin 40% is a bit more difficult I think...

 

[MrPing1000]

Hookers are demanding too much these days

 

[Tazznum1]

Hey, guys. Last night, I raped and killed a girlscout. What would be the best way to dispose of the body?

Well don't tie her up with concrete shoes and dump her into a marina on Christmas eve.

What I would do is never wrap her up in a bag or anything that can seal in evidence. Then go to Staten Island on the exit ramp off the gothels bridge and keep driving on the service road and dump her on the right where it is deserted.


Worked for me! Damn ex boyfriend. I mean....you should try it before decomposition starts.

 

[Minotauro]

Thanks for all the suggestions! On second thought, though, I think I'm going to hang onto her for awhile. I'm not quite satisfied sexually yet. Plus, I could use the company.

 

[scorcho]

What are some good ideas?

you could pull an Apple and actually remove features to justify the higher price.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

It's actually a service they're selling. They have a very wide customer base, and they work with both consumers and companies. It's a price increase of 40%.

@_@
For that sort of increase, how about "Our president's children are allergic to oxygen, and they need all the help we can give them."

Hey, guys. Last night, I raped and killed a girlscout. What would be the best way to dispose of the body?

Moving it would just point more evidence towards yourself. Make sure to write "Minotauro didn't do it." on the body and you're fine.

you could pull an Apple and actually remove features to justify the higher price.

Life is more exciting if you don't know what song will come next! Or if you don't know how you'll pay your next bill!

 

[Xenon]

Blaim the terrorists. It works for all those oil companies.

 

[belgurdo]

Hey, guys. Last night, I raped and killed a girlscout. What would be the best way to dispose of the body?

Wood chipper. According to CSI, mulch absorbs blood. See; television CAN be a wonderful learning tool!

 

[Dilbert]

I'm working with a company right now that's going to raise their pricing for all their consumer offers. I'm supposed to handle PR damage control. The textbook way to do this is to insist on the consumers getting more service for their money, but they're not getting it in this case. It's just a higher price tag.

What are some good ideas?

It would seem that if the senior management is sticking you with a stupid business move, then you're not going to have a good couple of months regardless of what you do. I'm not a marketer, but here are some ideas:

1) Be sure that you completely understand the business case. You must be in one hell of a unique situation with respect to your competitors in order to pull this kind of stunt -- do you have a huge marketshare? Are your competitors struggling or offering a clearly inferior product?

2) Try to establish SOME kind of increased value justification in the mind of the customer. The textbook answer is in the textbook for a reason, after all. Obviously you can't lie -- if management decided to jack up prices for no good reason, then this isn't going to work. But if there is anything which might make the extra 40% seem "worth it," call their attention to it. (Given the magnitude of the increase, I'm not holding my breath on this one.)

3) Ghost your competition. If you think about the situation with respect to your previous baseline (used to offer X at price Y; now offering X at price Y+40%), it looks bad. But if you look at it as "rebalancing your value in the segment." it might not be as bad. If you've been better that your competitors for a while at a comparable price, then MAYBE the customers might realize, "Yeah, they ARE worth a premium."

4) Hint at future value. It's bad to promise future upgrades, but if you can suggest (without being specific) that the extra $$$ will result in increased value in the future, people might see it as a down payment of sorts on a new-and-better whatever.

Good luck...hopefully someone with a real marketing background will come in.

 

[MrPing1000]

Our hookers are now not aids infested!

 

[Meier]

Tell them it will have Sony's name on it next time. Seems to justify their electronics costing so much more than their competitors.

 

[EmSeta]

Well, the company has a huge market share based on recognition and establishment, and that's why they're pulling the move. I'm not really comfortable saying what the service is, since the raise isn't official yet. I'm being paranoid, but who knows... the market share is bound to drop, but financially it's a good move since the increase will generate more money. It's PR hell though.

 

[Brannon]

Could you give us a hint of a hint?

*hint hint*

 

[Bishman]

Hey, imitate what Sony does. Bound to work.

Seriously though, this sounds tough, spinning a 40% increase. GL.

 

[Tarazet]

It's actually a service they're selling. They have a very wide customer base, and they work with both consumers and companies. It's a price increase of 40%.

Is it Ebay?

 

[NLB2]

Hookers.

 

[NohWun]

I'm working with a company right now that's going to raise their pricing for all their consumer offers. I'm supposed to handle PR damage control. The textbook way to do this is to insist on the consumers getting more service for their money, but they're not getting it in this case. It's just a higher price tag.

What are some good ideas?

<not so serious>

Make up something that the consumer will now be getting.

1: Now we've finally got a clue!

2: Now we'll swallow!

Okay, this isn't going anywhere. I'm going to bed finally.

 

[gblues]

The textbook way to do this is to insist on the consumers getting more service for their money, but they're not getting it in this case.

You're reading the wrong textbook, then.

The key is to focus on the value that the customer is getting. List the things that you do better than your competition. Then reassure the customer that the increased costs will result in continued excellence (by the virtue of still being in business and not going bankrupt--this part you don't tell your customers).

Notice I said nothing about "getting more service." It's not about that. It's about enabling you to continue to provide the excellent service they've come to expect from your company. It's about continuing to get what they can't get anywhere else.

But you're definitely going to need to find out exactly why that 40% price increase was approved. If it is due to increased labor/materials costs, spin it as market correction. If it is due to r&d into new products, spin it as enabling future quality products to make your work better/faster/sexier/whatever. If it is because the CEO is a greedy bastard and thinks people will pay it... you're pretty much stuck with pimping your assets and focusing on the value you provide like I said above.

Good luck!

Nathan

 

[Brannon]

So what's the synopsis so far?

 

[Crow357]

but financially it's a good move since the increase will generate more money.

Not if volume drops. Anytime price increases, sales drop. The key is to keep gross profit from dropping below what you were making before.