How do you tell a genuine deal from a good bit of marketing?

Have you ever noticed how some companies seem to have a sale every other week?

This article is written around my own experiences in my own industry but the examples I use can be seen all around us in just about any industry that sells products to the general public.

IT’S YOUR OWN FAULT.

Before I tell you how it all works and how to avoid getting caught I’m going to have a pop at you and because you pay too much for almost everything and it’s your own fault.

As consumers we are lazy, we will pay the first person that comes along and offers us what they say is a good deal without doing any research to prove their claim. In my town there are four shops that sell fresh bread all within half a mile from my front door. By chance the nearest one is the most expensive but I always go there because it’s the nearest. This isn’t too bad as it’s only a few pennies extra that I’m paying. But if you take this attitude when buying a large item and add in the clever marketing factor you will soon find yourself hundreds if not thousands worse off. PAYING TOO MUCH IS LEAVING YOUSELF WORSE OFF, think about it. If your boss said to you come in and do 8 hours for me at the weekend and I will give you a thousand toward that kitchen you’re going to buy, you would most likely jump at the chance. So why not take time to educate yourself before you buy these large items. When I say educate yourself I don’t mean listen to what 3 different salesmen have to say. I mean do some research use the web, check out local small companies and compare them with some large companies. See what they offer both in price and quality of service and speak to loads of them. They will hassle you that’s their job, to sell you their product but once you let them know for certain that you won’t be buying from them they will move on to someone else. They don’t want to waste their time. Let’s now have a look at some of these great deals.

HALF PRICE SALE (50 weeks of the year)

You know who they are but the question is. If they can sell you their product half price how much was their profit margin in the first place?

The fact is the product is being offered to you at half the price that it would cost if you doubled the price you were being offered it for, nothing more, nothing less. It doesn’t make it a good deal and knowing what I know I can say that in my beloved RIP OFF BRITAIN it often isn’t a deal at all and in some cases it’s a downright bad deal. If you want to find out who to avoid type example (kitchen rip off) in your search bar and have a good look around the forums and blogs that come up.

HOW IT WORKS

As I said earlier I am a kitchen supplier and I am now going to demonstrate to you how I can offer you a half price kitchen and laugh at you all the way to the bank.

If I showed you the RRP on any one of the kitchens that we have in our range I would be sent packing right away. For some reason when people are told that they are getting 50% off they don’t seem to stop and think “would anyone ever pay double that price for that kitchen”? Or more importantly “would I be able to get an identical kitchen elsewhere for a hell of a lot less”? The fact is if I sold you one of my core range kitchens at half the RRP of our supplier I would be more than happy. Assuming an average sized kitchen I would walk away with about 10 - 15% more than I needed to make to run my business and keep a high standard of customer service.

Of course it’s not all about price. Service is just as important as price. Example if you’re paying someone to fit your kitchen. The last thing you want is for them to be standing around because half of it didn’t turn up when it was supposed to.

THE FREE COOKER THAT YOU ALREADY PAID FOR

No that appliance isn’t free. If the company can give you a free cooker or any other gadget then they simply put a deal together and factored in the appliance/gadget to create a nice big carrot to dangle in front of you.

Q. Why do so many companies start out to achieve a maximum profit instead of offering a fair deal in the first place?

A. Because most of us will make no attempt to haggle with them or get a better deal elsewhere thus giving them a nice bonus to add to their bottom line margin.

BRANDNAMES

Did you think they paid for their marketing campaigns?

No sorry, you did and the bigger and more lavish they are the more you paid for them.

Not too long ago I switched from a well known satellite TV provider to freeview.  The satellite is better and I can’t say that I don’t miss it at times but I feel strongly that this company is blatantly taking the Mickey out of its subscribers. Firstly I think it’s overpriced for the quality of repeats it continually shows. Secondly it shows adverts on its own channels within 5 – 6 minutes of a programme starting and it’s getting revenue for that too. But for me the biggest factor is that it has got far too carried away with its brand and I was paying for it.  Now when I see one of their vans with its extremely expensive looking graphics I feel glad that I voted against them. I voted with my pocket against the endless leaflets that I was paying for, the expensive van graphics already mentioned, the huge amounts of adverts in their programs that they are paid for and I was paying to watch.

They get new customers by offering a half price deal and I was paying for that too.

Now as I am in business I except that marketing is a very important part of what I have to do to gain new customers and it costs.  But when I see big companies with an already well established brand exploiting the very people who put them where they are and indulging themselves in lavish unnecessary marketing ventures it sickens me.

If they put half the money & effort in to their customer services departments they would have a lot more customers recommending them. Let’s face it customer service is in serious decline in most sectors now days.

We the consumer feel so powerless and yet we are the very people in control. If we all stopped buying from these companies tomorrow they would have to do something about it and fast.

Last of all there are a large number of big companies that are doing a fine job and large companies offer some benefits that some smaller companies can’t. This was not meant to be rant at large companies.

But please open your eyes and do your research before you buy anything of value. You owe it to yourself not to part with far more of your hard earned money than you should have.

For more information I have a page on my website that offers tips on how to root out the genuine deals from the less than genuine ones, as well as a number of pages offering tips on planning and fitting. No matter who you choose to supply your kitchen, you can use the information provided to find out if you have got a fair deal or not. So have a look, get educated and give yourself the best possible chance before you commit.