In a constantly changing environment many businesses are looking fundamentally at their business model and marketing strategy in order to increase sales and profitability. You need to be customer responsive and adapt to changing market needs.
At a recent UK workshop of Mindshop, the international business growth network, strategic experts were focusing on the importance of not only the core product or service that is offered by a business, but also what surrounds it, the “product surround”.
They estimated that 80% of the cost and 20% of the perceived value in the customer’s mind comes from the actual product itself, whereas 20% of the cost and 80% of the perceived value comes from the product surround.
What is the product surround?
For an example look at Jetts Gym
Their core product offering is a gym. The added value lies in how they address the key challenges and issues for their target marketplace:
- “Don’t like being tied in” – NO CONTRACTS
- “Not open when I want” – OPEN 24/7
- “Full of muscle bound monkeys” – FAMILY MEMBERSHIPS
- “Can’t use when I travel” – BIG NETWORK ACCESSED BY ANY MEMBER
- “Too crowded” – NO CLASSES
- Too expensive – WEEKLY FEES PAY AS YOU GO
A gym is a gym, but the perceived value amongst your target market may lie in what surrounds this core product.
So look again at your own business, consider the challenges faced by your target market and ask how you may grow by focusing on your “product surround”.
If this has struck a chord, ask us about our Growth, Learning and Development services.
We take owners and key managers away from the day-to-day running of their business to focus on a strategic plan: NOW, WHERE, HOW – where is your business now, where do want it to be, and how are your going to get there.
Facilitated by a Dafferns partner the session will identify key challenges and goals, create an action plan and then provide a monitoring process to keep you on track.
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