Need to know something important? And get some feedback on a critical project?
Getting the best advice on anything is always a tricky task. Many of us gravitate to asking our friends. This is generally not wise and a big waste of time.

• Your friends hopefully like you, so they will say nice things about you.
• Your friends are also often not experts in what you are asking them for advice on.
• And free advice is also often aligned with quality (you get what you pay for).

A couple of weeks ago I was wrapping up a very important book proposal. This was a second chance to score with a big publisher. My first submission was kicked back (with important publisher/editor suggestions) that I needed to add or change. I knew it was now or never. While I felt good about my revised draft, I was not willing to risk the result (or my investment to date over 100 hours) without running it by a proven expert.

I remembered a coach I had worked with in the past who had written some books with this same publisher that I was having dialogue with through my agent. I shot him an email, explained the situation. He agreed to provide a read through and some counsel for $1000. In making my decision, I looked at what this book deal was worth to me, certainly that figure times at least a 100 times, and I knew this consultant/expert had the experience I needed with this publisher and many publishers.

So I fired off my draft with an email summarizing many things that I thought were important for the consultant to know. He fired back a short email. “Karen, you need to be more concise in your emails, I don’t need all of that. And your first draft gets a C”. He also provided very concise bullet points on what I needed to improve.

Our subsequent conversations were also very direct, no sweet candy coating, in fact, they were Sergeant-like blunt.

I got to work. I didn’t get emotional about him not blowing sunshine up my skirt or feeding my ego, which my friends would have done if I asked them for feedback.

After 8 intense days of focus and reworking my proposal, following my consultants advice, I sent him back the new draft.

This time he responded, “Excellent! Well written. Fascinating chapter angles. This is ready to send to the publisher”. The consultant also offered to write my forward and any testimonials. WOW! This consultant has written 30 titles in 9 languages. That said a lot.

Was it a joy and pleasure working with this very smart dude? NO. It was not like paling with my buddies.

Did his contribution significantly increase my work product value and the likelihood of me winning a great contract. Oh YES!

For more advice, check out: Mind freeze, is there a fast way to thaw your thoughts?

Call me crazy, the anti-saving queen, the discount defector, the over spending psycho shopper – I don’t like coupons!

I do like being rewarded with gifts for my loyalty, finding items with extreme value for a fair price and being a recipient of a bonus tied to a purchase. To me that’s all cool. However, you will never see me packing a coupon at a nice restaurant or signing up at Groupon. See end of story of their story.

So what’s the difference?
The difference is: How it’s packaged and the psychological message that accompanies it.

My aversion to discounting started as a child. My mother and grandmother were coupon addicts, my mother still is. So from the get-go it was part of my rebel nature. If my mom did it, I was not going there. (Sorry mom)

Later in life, when I started selling things that I created and built with lots of sweat and investment, a client wanted a fire sale price or discount. I processed that request as if the buyer didn’t see the value in what I delivered; they were uneducated or maybe just cheap, either way my ego was insulted.

As I matured as a business person and understood the costs of goods/services, overhead and profit, paying full price for things was tied to my value system. As an entrepreneur supporting other entrepreneurs and economies I felt it was my duty to pay a business, that provided a quality/valuable product, a fair, and many times full price, so they could be around next year.

I also have been around many whiny people who do not value themselves, always feel like they are a victim and don’t run a business. Their affinity to discounts, and their chest pounding with feelings of triumphant, when a business has to discount—annoys me.

Discounts, two for one, buy one, get one free—all scream desperate, needs sales badly or worse – sneaky marketing.
Maybe my knowledge of business gives me an unfair advantage or my knowledge of life cuts through any faux coupon cloud.

First point.
My opinion on coupons and discounts is not universal, I am a market segment (professional, educated, not poor, supports capitalism, high level of quality standards, values principles of business) that certain sellers need to understand and speak to. To get me to buy one needs to package a quality offering, price it in a fair manner and stand behind it with enough resources (that hopefully you’ve earned).

Second point.
There are many consumers who are not like me (my mother, a college student, a single mom with 4 kids etc.) and successfully selling to them may look different. The recent recession has had an impact on pricing strategies. The key, to discounting or not, needs to align to the values of your buyers.

Third point.
I’ve witnessed many a brand demise when quality companies resort to deep discounting. Instead they should focus on better communications on their value offering, product experience and performance. Apple , Rolex, Mont Blanc or BMW don’t discount.

Another story, three more important points.
Even though I’ve hammered against the concept of discounts and coupons, today in The Wall Street Journal there is an excellent story on Groupon, an online company that was offered $6 billion from Google and they passed. Groupon offers local, online visitors, daily deals with significant discounts. I applaud their confidence in themselves, the intriguing business model and their success. The story is worth reading.  Three messages that stuck with me were, 1.) the founder first started  the company on a different path and lost over  $1,000,000, Don’t give up! 2.) The founder believes the success of Groupon is credited to the simpleness of the idea vs. the first company concept was complex. Simple is good. 3.) Livingsocial.com is another similar local/discount model and Amazon just pumped $175 million into it. Isn’t business fun!

For more on coupons, view: Are you as consumer savvy with your advertising as you are with your groceries?

by Karen Post, a.k.a. The Branding Diva®

The past two weeks my dining regime has been upside down. I’m doing some remodeling to my condo in Tampa and with the war zone of construction, I have not had a kitchen. So I’ve been eating up a lot more fast food than I normally do. To my surprise it’s been pretty tasty and shockingly affordable.

Meet the 59 cent cheeseburger from McDonalds. Protein, vegetable, niacin and great starch, too. How do they do that and make any money? Then, I met the $1.69 small Orange High C. Now the math works and so does the psychology.

I enjoyed these cheap burgers, and they made me feel good, too.

This is a simple strategy that can work with selling creative services also. Create an offering that is a ton of value at an unbelieveble price. Deliver it with a smile, use good ingredients and make your customer feel as important as if they were buying 1,000 burgers for the entire office. Using this menu concept to solve propects’ business issues provides a great way to encourage trial buying. Showcase the very attractively priced product or service and then give equal focus to other offerings that have your normal margins.

If you are a writer, maybe you offer a first assignment at a flat fee below your normal rates.
If you are a printer, why not print double the quantity for same price.

Or, if you are an agency, package some type of marketing audit (for a flat fee) that provides a check list of the prospect’s current activities with a scoring card.

Sure, this may bring in the over-the-top penny pinchers, which you can spot and weed out or direct to other better suited vendors, but it’s also likely to bring in some very good candidates for your other menu items. This not only lets them test you, it lets you test them.

About the author: Karen Post, a.k.a. The Branding Diva® is an international authority on branding, marketing, and entrepreneurial matters. She is has been featured as a business expert in print publications; on TV, radio, and on Web channels. Karen authored the best-selling book Brain Tattoos, Creating Unique Brands That Stick in your Customers’ Minds and she is co-founder and CEO of Oddpodz.com, an idea engine for creative professionals and business. Her work has benefited large and small organizations in the United States and around the world.

by Karen Post, a.k.a. The Branding Diva®

I recently got a call from an international hotel company who was hosting a small event in New York City for 8 of their top execs. Because the group was small, the budget they had in mind for this event was, too. While negotiating with them, I said, “your group may be small, but my message is not, so how about an adjusted fee for this intimate event and a commitment to another engagement with in the next 12 months?” They loved this approach and I not only did I book the event in New York, but a month later, I’m headed to Stockholm. So many times it’s how one packages their services and presents value.

Got a client with a limited budget or a limited project investment desire? Think about adding another assignment within a calendar year. Consider bartering for something of value or bundle it with another service of value.

About the author: Karen Post, a.k.a. The Branding Diva® is an international authority on branding, marketing, and entrepreneurial matters. She is has been featured as a business expert in print publications; on TV, radio, and on Web channels. Karen authored the best-selling book Brain Tattoos, Creating Unique Brands That Stick in your Customers’ Minds and she is co-founder and CEO of Oddpodz.com, an idea engine for creative professionals and business. Her work has benefited large and small organizations in the United States and around the world.