(Kirsiri - a Passion Fest highliight!)
Are you better off having a strong vision and not so strong implementation, or a weaker vision and phenomenal implementation? For business owners this question can mean the difference between success and failure. Here’s a small case study that demonstrates exactly what the risks are…
I went to a local Passion Tasting Festival on the weekend. The idea of the festival was engaging. The publicity on the festival was great. The website was fabulous. The vision sounded intriguing. But…it was a complete fizzer…
The first warning sign was it cost me $100 a head to get in the door! Quite a daunting price, but I was primarily going as research for a new venture. When we arrived, we could see about 10 tents on a sports field – I could feel that $100 disappearing before my eyes. Once inside, we discovered that there truly was little to see besides a few market stalls, the occasional performance (an excellent tribal dance by Kitsiri!) and almost nothing new to discover when it comes to living your passion. What’s more, there were only about 10 other paying customers there…
So, what went wrong? Strong vision… but in a nutshell the pricing strategy was a failure! When you set pricing for anything, there are a few things to consider if you want to be successful…
* What is your end goal? Often there will be a trade-off between volume of transactions and gross profit – work out which one is most important to your business.
* What creates value for your customers? In this case, their stallholders required a high volume of traffic and festival visitors required a high volume of interesting things to see and do… both missed out!!
* If what you are doing isn’t working – change something!! It must have been clear some weeks ago that ticket sales were virtually nil. Instead of slugging it out and failing, what could have happened if the organizers were willing to sell tickets for $10 each? At least a few hundred people would have turned up… and stall holders and presenters would have been happy – a starting point for future events… I heard they were actually turning people away at the gate who didn’t want to pay the premium gate price of $125 a ticket!!
The lessons? Less rhetoric, more understanding of your customers. Less greed, more flexibility in your business model. Business really is that simple!!
Want to know more about pricing and how it can make your vision rock? Check out this month’s Playshop – it’s all about money!!
Comments
Your post made me think about a recent invite I had to speak at a seminar for women. I was invited to come along and check it out for free if I could get two full paying customers along with me - $895 dollars for a one day seminar to be exact.
Apart from not knowing anyone in my life right now who would pay that much for a one day seminar (unless it was something REALLY incredible and rare!) the marketing for the event itself didn't draw me in - I read the brochure and thought - "Eh, this isn't really turning me on - I mean it all sounds very lovely but not the level of excellence I would expect for that price."
I declined the offer to be involved and thought more about how unfortunate it was that their market for the event (women) are SO keen and ready to better themselves in life and business but the majority simply wouldn't pay that much. And, you are so right when you say that with an event, the more people who come, the merrier! With an event, us customers MAKE the event not the organisers (although their skill ensures everything runs smoothly).
It's all about getting the message right AND having the process to make it work brilliantly - nothing else will do when it comes to where I put my valuable time and effort.
Thanks Lisa!