What Is The Total Package, Anyway??

Tom from Ann Arbor has a question:

Dear Kevin:  Long-time reader, first-time questioner.  I reviewed your product offerings. I don't understand the difference between a Pricing project, a Total Package project, and a Contact Strategy project. Can you describe the differences for me. Thanks, Tom.

Tom, here's your long-distance dedication. No, wait, that's American Top 40 from the 70s.

Anyway, there are several different projects I typically perform for nearly 250 clients since founding MineThatData in 2007. 

We have the Elite Program, which just wrapped up an October run. For just $1,800 (and then $1,000 thereafter, three runs per year) you get a sampling of Total Package and Pricing tables, and a writeup of how your business is performing. It's the perfect entry-level project!

Next is Hillstrom's Pricing. For $8,500 through 12/31 ($12,000 therearfter) you get a full study of how your customers respond to different price points. You'll learn if you have a "pricing problem" or not. I created Hillstrom's Pricing because so many clients were increasing prices on new items, and then discovered they had a "new item" problem. Noooo ... they had a pricing problem. You'll also get a series of channel-based, product-based, and price-point-based targeting variables that you can program into your omnichannel database.

Hillstrom's Total Package is a combination of former products. You get the following:

1. Hillstrom's Pricing.
2. Hillstrom's Merchandise Forensics.
3. Hillstrom's Fix it.

You ask for a Total Package project when you are not sure why your business is not meeting expectations. Most often, I discover the following:

• A customer acquisition problem (i.e. a marketing problem).
• A merchandise problem (i.e. merchandising issues related to new / existing items).
• A pricing problem (oftentimes rooted in discontinuing inexpensive items that loyal customers crave).

You'll learn why your business is struggling, and you'll have a road map for improving performance.

Finally, we have Hillstrom's Contact Strategy ... a product specifically for catalog marketers. In this project, I determine (for every customer on your customer file) the number of annual catalogs that optimizes profitability. Based on the now famous "organic percentage" ... the fraction of annual volume that happens independent of catalog marketing, I am able to generate a hundred million dollar catalog brand a million dollars of incremental annual profit ... oftentimes more!

You can click here to learn about the cost of each project, and learn more about the file formats required to complete each project.