5 Ways Corporate America Caused a Recession

Corporate is a scary place. Have you seen the movie the Village? That is what working at big companies in America reminds me of because of the way they react to change. The reason companies lay people off is because of sales (or so they say). But the reason their sales drop is because of value.

You know the “V” word well if you have been to this site before. I write about it all the time. The minute a companies idea of value differs with its costumers they are in trouble. Yes some sweeping changes need to occur.

But don’t:

1. Create blame storming sessions where you find reasons to blame instead of gain from a mistake or failure.
2. Focus on how to cut back instead of offering more value and grow your sales.
3. Fire the people that earn money for you
4. Cut off invaluable services to your customers
5. Nurturing a death spiral mentality (killing the things that feed you)
6. BONUS: Kill your business departments ( the day you cut the people who control your money flow your in trouble if they didn’t cause your drop session).

The root of the problem is not within your organization its in the level of value you are offering to your customers.  So when you are selling a $20,000 car and people are saying they value a $12,000 car does that mean you lower your price? Yes and no. What about taking some money off the price, and adding a feature that people can really use?

For example instead of laying off employees in my example why not focus on testing packages to see if consumers are interested?

• Why not throw in a IPOD and a IPhone?
• What about $500 gas coupons?
• What about a Year FREE listing to a major job listing service during the recession?
• What about FREE car washes for a year?
• What about $150 gift card to Blockbusters (DVDs for people who have DVD’s in their cars for passengers)?
• What about $500 gift card for hotel stay?
• What about 3 months until your first payment NO MATTER WHAT YOUR CREDIT OR INTEREST.

My point here is provide value and lower your price. Above would be around $3,000 or less in items. Drop your price to say $17,000 and let people know about the sale. Here’s what happens

Your price drops by $3000

Your Cost for the extras is probably half the cost (you will get volume discounts) of the $3,000

But guess what? Your value will go up! You will suddenly stand out not as just a car company but a service that matters! The $6,000 in expense could raise the value of your entire offer by 25%. So a originally $20,000 car could look like a $23 – 25,000 value.

You can apply the same examples to your online business.

Universal, DreamWorks, Nissan, Coke, The US Army, The Simpsons, and a ton of others picked my brain for idea’s like this. Why not benefit from the consulting experience? At the very least look at all the great people who have recommended me (bottom page).

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