Can Adding Features Cost You Sales?

The heating and air conditioning service guy now wants to clean my ducts and my fireplace chimney. The dentist tells me that I need to have the area between my two molars and my gums cleaned (flossing doesn’t get there) at a cost of two hours and over $400. And every business now seems to have a telephone answering system that replaces their receptionist with way too many numeric presses by MY finger … only to be disconnected or routed back through the same choices again.

Without realizing it (my wife pointed it out) I have moved away from many tried and true service and product suppliers to those who are sticking to the basics - or at least to the ones that reflect my basics. Even my old friend American Express received a nasty rejection of a service I had used for a long time - auto rental coverage. I recently opened a letter from the company advising me that changes had been made to this coverage as detailed in a brochure that was enclosed. The brochure was four pages (front and back), in 8 or 9 typeface, with no margins top, bottom or on either side.

My letter canceling this coverage stated that I was not inclined or equipped to read that enclosure to find the changes - which I was confident were not made with my best interest at heart.

In another example I watched a TV ad with fascination about a new feature on a certain automobile that would parallel park the car with no involvement from me. Out of curiosity I inquired what the option cost; the salesperson quoted me $1000. I then asked my independent repair mechanic what he thought it might cost to fix that system - should it need repair; he said that based on what he had seen so far, anything complex would have to start at $1000 (at his rates which are about half what the dealer’s service shop charges.) I then asked my insurance agent if that option might have a higher premium. She said yes, probably something similar to the difference between a two-wheel drive and an all wheel drive. Oh you didn’t know about that one?

Let me turn this around for a moment. From 1997 to 2003 one of my businesses produced a direct mail, relationship-building newsletter for boat retailers. We had a dozen or so clients who used this product four times a year to talk to their customers and prospects about why they were the best place to buy a boat. Our newsletter was good enough at communicating the uniqueness of that dealership so that one customer stopped all other types of marketing.

When the Internet and web sites started to catch on the dealers began to focus more of their attention on that type of media, that direct mail had seen its day. I cautioned against going overboard (no pun intended) stating that they were moving from a relationship oriented business to a transaction oriented business and that in the end all they would wind up doing is competing on price.

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Art Consoli's unique background and skills allow him to speak and write about how someone with limited experience can do a self-evaluation which will let him decide which business opportunity is best, how to evaluate opportunities and gain control over the one which offers the greatest potential and then manage that business to success. Readers of his book call and write to tell him how much his book has helped their lives and improved their business. The author can be reached at www.businessstrategyartconsoli.com.