Bang for the Buck ....

Guess I've been in sales too long. 

Value.   To me EVERYTHING is about Value.  I don't always agree with the way things go down.  I've got the ability to look at things from the outside, since I don't always have skin in the game.  Here's an example.

I've been in situations working for manufacturers that are publicly held companies. As we've seen with automakers, sometimes they are willing to drop their shorts.   How many of us have heard that if you go buy a car at the end of the month, you get a deal?   Sometimes ... often ...it's true.  If you buy at the end of a model year, you get a better  deal?  Sometimes, it's True.  Depends on how the dealer is doing.  How long that specific car has been sitting in the lot.  What most don't realize is many dealers get additional money by the the quantity of units sold.  Most dealerships are paying interest on the cars sitting at their dealership.  Sometimes, they can sell at a 'loss' but when the bean counters are done, they make a few bux.  Crazy but true when dealing with bonuses .. rebates... tax write-offs.  I've found that when I try to time these things, sometimes backfires.  But more than a few times I've stumbled into situations where it seemed like they were trying to give them away and I execute....  wish I was a little luckier in this one,  more often :)

Having worked at multiple manufactures several years back (I haven't in almost two decades for those wondering) I've seen crazy things.  Especially in situations of Publicly held corporations.  It's all about the stockholders and revenue.  All about the bottom line they report to keep the stock prices up.   I've seen things that sell for a $1 (okay .. more like 100k), literally sell for .10 cents on the dollar.   Then a month later, back to $1 for the exact same thing and for the next 11 months, nobody will budge on a discount.  Why?  Because the company was short on their revenue to report and needed a bump. So, they gave away the farm.  I never understood that.  They damaged the value of the product/company.  Now if you were the customer you looked like a rockstar; felt like one.  Some companies (customers) can time their purchases when they figure out some of this; most can't.  Especially the Government.  Funds get approved, money has to be spent.  And the cycle continues.

I always watched this thinking ... fuck .. just sit on it until it sells.  But there are bean counters somewhere with a different calculator than I, that disagree.  So, the game continues.

Well, we come to the point of this post. I was recently in a situation where we were raffling off items to a crowd. Problem is, in my opinion we had too many items. If you have say ... 500 people. and you have 50 items to raffle .. and hoping each item will bring triple digits, you've got to do some math.  Of those 500 people less than 10% normally are going to part with their hard earned cash.   Now, if all 50 items are over the top awesome, that changes things.. .but that's rarely the case.  Along the way during the raffle, some folks, may  buy 2+ items.  So when you get to the end of the raffle, the buyers are done.. have left ...   aren't interested.  By the end if you take too long, only 50 of those 500 are left in the crowd and you're lucky if 1 or 2 of them are even buyers.  Now, they are ALL buyers if the items are going way below their value.  Which brings me to my point.  If you find yourself in a situation where you can't emphasize the value and receive a fair compensation ...........stop.   Pull back your items and park them for another day.  Why take a fraction less than one would normally get?   Why take less they are worth.  Now, there is a time and a place. But if you can survive without that revenue, stop.  If you have another time in the future you can do a redo, stop.   If you are giving it away ..... stop.   

I've never understood the fire sale concept when it wasn't necessary.  I'm all about Value.  If there is a value to a product, stick to one's guns.  If not, I'll be the first one to open the wallet and give you .10 cents on the dollar all day long.  Makes me the winner, not the sucker.   Don't be a sucker.