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Switching costs: A competitive advantage?

Berkonomics

Know the cost to move from your existing platform and estimate the switching costs for moving from a competitor’s product or service to yours. Increase the barriers to your customer’s switching, not just with excellent service, but with some form of personal touch. So, email was out. A personal story to illustrate the point.

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Can you defend your pricing niche against your competition?

Berkonomics

There can be nothing more important in your business planning that selecting the proper pricing niche, making your story clear using that niche, and the defending your position against the competition. Companies that compete on price rarely compete against others who emphasize service or quality. What competition would you face?

Pricing 226
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Here’s how NOT to define your competition

Berkonomics

An entrepreneur pitches using a deck with no slide for competition. We have no competition.”. It is a failed litmus test for the entrepreneur, even if the plan is for a totally new device or service that could take the world by storm. We investors see this all the time. When asked (as we always do,) the response is “This is new.

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Recurring revenues: Oil or glue?

Berkonomics

Management undertakes a simple exercise of calculating the increased profitability of shutting down all R&D, sales and subordinate operations, and universally notes with shock the high net profit that results – from shutting down all operations except customer service to recurring customers (as in software support operations.).

Sales 296
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Have you found your “teacher customer?”

Berkonomics

But there is a balance… [Email readers, continue here…] This is not to bend this insight into a claim that a company should wait to develop new, groundbreaking products and services until a customer asks for them. We have explored feature-functionality.

Customer 156
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Be careful how you define your competition.

Berkonomics

Professional investors laugh when they hear an entrepreneur state, “We have no competition.” It is a failed litmus test for the entrepreneur, even if the plan is for a totally new device or service that could take the world by storm. Email readers, continue here.] Consider the state of the economy.

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Do you even need a business coach?

Berkonomics

Entrepreneurs will have a relative willing to devote time, a school friend with business experience, professionals who charge for the service, investors with a reason to promote your success and more. Some charge by the hour, making themself available much as an attorney, keeping track of hours spent on phone calls and emails with you.

Coach 156