Finding a Win-Win

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I was at an event last night met Angela, who is in runs a her own company, Goldsmart. Goldsmart buys gold. 

The gold buying industry is one dominated by people who spend thousands of dollars on TV advertisements (if you have ever seen Toronto TV, you know Russell Oliver) in order to drum up business.

Angela does things differently.  She helps her customers harness the power of group selling to get better prices for their gold and, by giving up to 10% back to charity, help the community.  Organizations, offices or groups of friends get together and throw a "gold buying" party and it makes the whole process fun, informative and efficient. Instead of spending money on advertising, she gives the extra money back to her customers in the form of higher gold prices. 

It's really a win-win situation.  People are able to turn their gold into cash, Angela does business and a charity/non-profit gets much needed funds.

As I was talking to her, my brain was going into overdrive... how could I make my business, and how could you make your business grow by harnessing the power of win-win situations?  Do we always have to be looking for a transaction in which money is exchanged for goods/services and that's all?


 Look for ways to further align yourself with the values of your target market.


Consider additional products or services that could be bundled with your offering at no extra cost.

I'm sure that most of us believe that everybody wins in transactions with our firms.  We get revenue and customers get amazing products/services... but is that really the case?