“…companies should always be looking to renovate the offering – in other words, don’t look to do new things, look to do more of what makes your products successful in the first place.”

I think this statement does a good job of summing up this chapter. Sergio Zyman gives some great reasons and examples to why we should focus on what we have and the reasons why our best customers buy from us before investing in innovation.

The one tip that really stood out for me was “Don’t Slash Prices”. As we are just wrapping up the end of the quarter, Sales teams are willing to go to the extremes to close business. Companies are willing to do everything they can to get those last couple of deals in and often slashing prices is at the top of the incentive list. Does the value of the offer change with the seasons? So why does the time of year determine how much a prospective customer pays?

Consider this – “Everything you do communicates something about your brand to your customers and prospective customers. Even your prices communicate something about your business”. So does that mean discounting the price is also discounting your value and brand? I think it might.

Zyman goes on to say, “Temporary price breaks tend to become permanent.” This is definitely true. Price breaks make it difficult for a customer to pay full price again and even more difficult for a Sales team to ask them to pay full price. So does this mean we have permanent discounted our value with this customer? Or does it just mean we have to work harder to prove our true value? I’m not sure on the answers to either of these questions but it makes me wonder…

I’ve gone off on a bit of tangent here, sorry. This chapter has lots of great ideas to consider if you are at the fork in the road trying to decide where to go next. Innovation seems to be the “in” thing but that doesn’t mean it’s the right decision for every business. I think the overall message here is, consider what you have and why your customers by from you before deciding to move on.

And that’s it. We have made it through our first ReachForce Book Club book. Thanks to everyone who joined in the conversation. Stay tuned to see what book we will be discussing next.