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Posted
Aug 18 2008, 11:15 PM
by
Ryan MacClanathan
Rating:
This post comes from partner blog Blueprint for Financial
Prosperity.
Upselling is when a salesperson
tries to sell you something more expensive than what you are already buying.
Cross-selling is when a salesperson tries to sell you something that is related
to or can be integrated into whatever you're already buying.
A prime example is a digital camera.
If you were buying a 5-megapixel camera, an upsell would be an offer of a 7-megapixel
camera at a reduced price. A cross-sell would be offering a camera case,
digital printing services, printers or even just printer paper. Upselling and
cross-selling are crucial parts of the sales process because you've already
identified yourself as someone willing to buy something. Now it's just a matter
of convincing you to buy more.
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Posted
Jun 24 2008, 05:45 AM
by
Karen Datko
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This post comes from partner blog Blueprint for Financial Prosperity: Do you want to know how I shaved nearly 13% off my college costs? I took Advanced Placement classes. I graduated college a semester early in part because I had loaded up on AP classes while I was in high school. Someone got it into my head that I could take AP classes for free (not counting the nominal fee for the exam) and get college credit for getting high marks on the AP tests. At the time, my brain wasn't thinking, "Oh, I can save money on college," but rather, "I can spend time now and have it count twice -- once in high school and once in college," so it was in part the bit of hustle inside of me that spurred me to action.
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Posted
May 27 2008, 06:27 AM
by
Karen Datko
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This post comes from partner blog Blueprint for Financial Prosperity. If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not your enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle. -- Sun Tzu's "Art of War" In this post, I'm going to try to identify a salesperson's tools, why they work, and what you can do to defend against them whenever you're going to make a purchase.
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Posted
May 13 2008, 06:52 AM
by
Karen Datko
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This post comes from partner blog Blueprint for Financial Prosperity. When I was young, I used to write a fake company name on all sorts of papers to make it look like my company stationery, as if I were a big-swinging successful entrepreneur like Andrew Carnegie. We'd play football in the streets and pretend to be Joe Montana throwing yet another touchdown pass to Jerry Rice. We'd tackle each other in the field and pretend we were LT (no, not Ladainian Tomlinson -- the real LT, Mr. Lawrence Taylor) getting Joe Theisman, minus the snapping leg.
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Posted
Apr 22 2008, 06:30 AM
by
Karen Datko
This post comes from partner blog Blueprint for Financial Prosperity. Have you ever gone to the mall and impulsively bought something you hadn't intended to buy? Have you ever gone to the grocery store and walked out with a couple things you didn't plan on getting? Sure, we all have.
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Posted
Apr 01 2008, 05:34 AM
by
Karen Datko
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This post comes from partner blog Blueprint for Financial Prosperity. It's been said that we Americans live in a world of instant gratification. We want the coolest gadgets and gizmos, the best food, the best cars, the best everything -- right this very second. We are impulsive, we are impatient and, most important of all, we fund our impulsiveness and impatience with lots and lots of spending. You know who else knows this? Stores. There's a very good and profitable reason why tabloids and candy bars are at the checkout aisles. (One of the reasons self-checkout kiosks haven't become ubiquitous is that you can't sell someone high-margin items like magazines and candy if they're busy checking themselves out. Plus, the machines always break for some reason.) Anywhere you go, you'll also likely see small items by the register like trinkets or votive candles or whatever. You know who else knows this? Salespeople. If you get a quote from someone to do work on your house, you'll often get a special one-day deal. You'll get an "awesome deal" that will be good only for the next three days. If you go into a store that sells furniture or other big-ticket items, you'll be offered six or 12 months of 0% financing if you buy today.
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Posted
Mar 25 2008, 07:07 AM
by
Karen Datko
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This post comes from partner blog Blueprint for Financial Prosperity. I try to do as much shopping as I can online. Nothing beats comparing a bunch of locations all at once to get the best price or taking advantage of a vendor's price-matching policy. What's also awesome about buying online is that you get to avoid malls, parking and dealing with people who are grumpy or had a bad day. Here are eight reasons why I prefer to shop online: Better prices. While not always true, in general you can find better prices online because online vendors have lower overhead costs. They don't need to rent a physical store location, staff it with people, and support all the other overhead costs associated with a brick-and-mortar store. Online stores have warehousing infrastructure and distribution costs, but they save on the overhead associated with storefronts.
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Posted
Mar 11 2008, 06:08 AM
by
Karen Datko
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This post comes from partner blog Blueprint for Financial Prosperity. If your employer offers tuition reimbursement and you're not taking advantage of it, you're leaving a tremendous amount of value on the table each year. In the two jobs I've had since graduating college in 2003, I've been lucky enough to be offered the opportunity to pursue higher education in return for sacrificing some of my time. At my first job, every education dollar I spent was fully reimbursed (you were allowed to take two classes a semester, or six a year) with no requirements afterward. In my second job, I was afforded $5,000 a year with some continuation-of-work requirements. Through both programs a majority of my MBA was paid for. In both cases, I took advantage of reimbursement to the fullest extent possible. If you have this opportunity, you should too.
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Posted
Mar 04 2008, 05:26 AM
by
Karen Datko
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This post comes from partner blog Blueprint for Financial Prosperity. A trimmable expense is one that fulfills a want rather than a need. Buying fruits and vegetables is not a trimmable; buying chocolate-covered fruit is. While you could go through all of your expenses and try to eliminate everything that is discretionary, you might find yourself enjoying life less and less. Trimmables, while not required, are there to help you live life and enjoy the fruits of your labor. Rather than cutting out a trimmable, consider reducing either its quantity or frequency. Spa treatments may seem frivolous, but if they are valuable in reducing stress, cutting them out entirely may not be a smart move in the long run. If you go every week, consider visiting every other week. If you go every other week, consider going every three weeks. Don't cut it out entirely. Reduce it so you can save a little but not lose the recuperative effects.
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Posted
Mar 03 2008, 03:30 PM
by
Karen Datko
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This shocking bit of news on a radio talk show this morning got the attention of one of our partner bloggers: Nearly half of British men surveyed said they would give up sex for six months to get a 50-inch plasma TV. The survey -- done, incidentally, by an electronics retailer -- found that only a third of women responded in kind. Also, 25% of the 2,000 respondents said they would give up smoking, and about 25% would stop eating chocolate. This talk show blather would seem like a testimony to the power of marketing, but Jim at partner blog Blueprint for Financial Prosperity found a lesson in personal finance in the exchange. (This is also the blogger who detailed the PF lessons contained in Monopoly and Scrabble.)
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