Posts by Patrick Lefler
What Was Verizon Thinking?
Verizon’s botched $2 “convenience fee†price hike for customers who pay cellphone bills over the phone or on the Internet should serve as the poster child for bad execution of a price hike strategy.
Read MoreDon't Confuse Change with Innovation
Peter Drucker said something very similar. “Don’t confuse novelty with innovation.†And what he meant was that innovation is much more than just change. It’s all about new products or new markets for existing products, or even new ways to sell existing products in existing markets.
Read MoreDynamic Pricing Hits Broadway
This past weekend, a New York Times story written by Patrick Healy described how Broadway is adopting the newest trend in pricing models – dynamic pricing. The article – Broadway Hits Make Most of Premium Pricing – highlighted the recent success of performances like “Hugh Jackman; Back on Broadway” in leveraging dynamic pricing.
Read MoreOncoming Meteor Targets Traditional Book Publishers
The Wall Street Journal’s Jeffrey Trachtenberg wrote an interesting article recently that asks the question: As more and more readers make the switch to digital books, why are so many of the most popular ones priced so high? As physical book sales fall, publishers’ fixed costs are becoming more cumbersome. One area major publishers can…
Read MoreDon't Ignore Your Innovation Partners
MoviePass, the subscription service that provides theatergoers the ability to attend unlimited movies at a fixed monthly rate, is promoting their innovative pricing model one more time. According to yesterday’s press release: MoviePass Inc. announced today it will enable film enthusiasts across the country the ability to attend unlimited movies for a fixed monthly fee…
Read MoreDevilish Variable Pricing Schemes
Variable pricing – charging different prices for the same seat depending on different variables of the particular game (opponent, date and starting time, etc.) – has come to New Jersey. The NJ Devils recently announced a three-tier pricing structure that will charge higher than normal prices for the more popular games and lower than normal…
Read MoreAmazon to feast on Groupon?
As the Wall Street Journal so succinctly puts it with regards to Groupon’s business model…â€The clones are attacking in droves.†According to Monday’s Journal, another company has joined the fray to compete with Groupon…but this time it’s a formidable competitor with deep pockets and a successful history of getting what it wants. “While Groupon has…
Read MoreApple's Questionable Lion Pricing Strategy
Besides Steve Jobs’ well-publicized announcement of Apple’s new cloud and music storage service on Monday’s opening day of Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple also announced that their new operating system, Mac OS X 10.7 Lion would be priced for download at $29. What’s interesting about this is that is represents an almost 80% price cut…
Read MoreLeadership Lessons from the Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is one the great leadership organizations whose principles have become the envy not only of other service branches but for business as well. Companies large and small have spent enormous resources trying to successfully emulate the Marines’ basic leadership principles and put them into application. Leadership consultants are forever trying…
Read MoreWishful Thinking – Greatest Enemy of Today's Entrepreneur
It’s been said that in warfare, the greatest enemy of victory is wishful thinking. The same can easily be said for today’s entrepreneur. In its most basic definition, “wishful thinking†is believing something because of a desire that it be true. It’s thinking that ignores fact, and instead, relies on a premise for the conclusion…
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