Smashing the Link between Cost and Price

  by Dr Greg Chapman

Businesses often use simple formulas to calculate their prices. Usually  based on some on some mark-up, so in a store all items might be priced with a 60% mark-up on cost with the 60% covering wages, overhead, and hopefully profit.

In a businesses where prices are easy to compare, this practice is rife, but for more complex services or businesses which package their products in ways that can’t be compared, this restraint need no longer apply.

The Third Profit Driver – Increasing Average Value per Sale

by Dr Greg Chapman


In an earlier article I described The Five Profit Drivers marketing system. The third of the Five Profit Drivers is Increasing the Average Value per Sale.

When they ask: “Do you want fries with that?” McDonalds knows that about a third of their customers say yes. The marginal cost of the fries is small. Their overhead costs, which are quite considerable, the restaurant, staff and equipment have not changed because of this additional sale. The cost of the fries, the potatoes and packaging, is a small fraction of the selling price of the fries, so almost the whole price of the fries goes straight to the bottom line, all achieved by asking a simple question at the time they were making a sale.

Ad of the Month - The Elephant in the Room

by Dr Greg Chapman

What’s the biggest objection people have to purchasing any product or service in your category?

Does it work? Will it really save me time? Will it really save me money? Will it really make me money? Can I trust it? What if it breaks down? Is it really value for money?

What is the biggest objection in your industry? In the following ad, the question is data privacy.