I learned about leverage early on in life with pop bottle openers, diving boards and a wooden 12-inch ruler that could catapult my little wet paper balls onto the ceiling of my grade 5 classroom. Today hedge fund managers leverage Billions in assets by using derivatives to multiply their funds’ market gains and losses.

Fast forward to February 14^th 2013.

Chocolate manufacturers, florists, card shop owners and owners of dimly lit restaurants the world over will help you make the most of this very special day’s accumulated brand equity – which includes a healthy dose of peer pressure that directly or obliquely encourages you to participate. If you don’t – odds are you’re some sort of romantic Scrooge.

How to leverage Valentine’s Day’s established brand equity for a greater good:

What most people the world over don’t know yet is that the accumulated brand equity of Valentine’s Day is being used to bring greater awareness and attention to sexual violence.

February 14^th is V-Day, a global movement to end violence against women and girls inspired by Eve Ensler's play, The Vagina Monologues. The movement was started in 1998 by author, playwright and activist Eve Ensler who has been quoted as saying that it was women's reactions to the play that launched V-Day. After seeing The Vagina Monologues, women would line up after to tell Eve their personal experiences, most often of sexual violence.

The challenge here is as regrettable as it is obvious: ignorant and disturbed men. The men that this movement needs to reach and change the most are those men who are least likely to notice, let alone respond to the original Valentines’ Day message unless it is seen to further their own misguided objectives.

Combining the leverage of moral outrage and Valentine’s Day to effect change:

At its core, brand leadership is not about getting you to buy more, it’s about getting you to think differently. And like any healthy relationship, a healthy brand relationship with change your behaviour for the better.

On February 14^th I would like you to join me and make a change for the better. Take a stand and find a way to teach others that violence against women and girls is wrong, and that it must stop now because people are not for hurting.

Dignity and self-respect are just a thought away. This is not rocket science. This is common sense.

For year I’ve been teaching and preaching: “price is what you talk about when you have nothing else to say.” Unfortunately some of my friends still want to get out their rate-card and talk price because some of their prospects have told them that price is an important consideration.

Convinced he should publish his rates, one of my friends drew up a service rate-card that also explained how he would bill for his services. Then he sent it around to some of his trusted clients to get their point of view.

Fascinating results! I’ve edited the comments for brevity and anonymity. That’s all.

#1.   I like it.  Very clear explanation. My only concern is in the Hourly Rate section.

#2.   I'd remove hourly rate and discounts.

#3.   I agree with #2. Don't publish a rate.

#4.   I like #2's suggestion.  I think a positive approach that emphasizes the team approach and your strengths is best.  Customers will use price to qualify the service.  You need to make the conversation about something other than price.  It should be about quality, service and other factors that make you the best choice.  Price should be the last concern.

#5.   I agree with all of the others on staying away from talking about the hourly rates.  The one thing that stands out about you and your company to me is that you have a genuine interest in what is right for the customer.  Do whatever you can to try and get that message out to the potential customer. I would do business with you in a heart-beat because of that.

#6.   I like paying contractors by the hour. I say keep it in. It shows you're flexible.

#7.   I think this is of little consequence.  I know how agencies bill (by the hour) and I know that it will be more than if I do it myself and that the rates are subject to volume discounts. I don't care to read a page like this about the rates.  I am interested in the supplier because I know they can do the type of work I am interested in - a high level overview of the idea.  I also know that I will negotiate a price in the end for what I want, but I also know they need to make some money too.

# 8.   I like the flexibility of the pricing options - which I think should be the focus of the overall section. On a different note, I'm not sure I would include the Discount area. I don't know how others in the space approach pricing, but again the flexible approach speaks to how the customer can expect to be treated - based on their preferences.

My take away from this survey is this: work out your rate-card, use it when assembling a quote, present your submission and your price with confidence, and sell the overall value proposition.

Do justify each line item.

By focusing on the hours and rates you client loses sight of the big picture and your USP.

Last year my friend bought and launched a new business.

He’s an optimist: so he bought into the ambitious “business potential estimates” with-out doing any home-work.

While he wants to make his short term sales numbers, he forgets that the products and services he’s selling have VERY long purchase cycles.

Each month he has a “sale”: Grand Opening Sale, Spring Sale, Summer Sale, Fall Sale, etc. to teach his prospects and customers that they should shop for the best price; not the best quality or relationship.

The discounts he offers leave him with paper thin margins that are too low to sustain his business with.

He’s open to trying any media that knocks on his door, but is not willing to put some pre and post sales event performance measures in place to help him determine which ads and media are working for him and which are not in the short and long term.

Because these tactics have not been thought through and are not working, my friend is starting to panic. I can’t blame him. I would too if all I did, did not appear to work.

This morning I was walking Charlie through an old apple orchard in my neighborhood and I was reminded of a more sustainable business cycle that goes something like this.

• The smart farmer does homework to see what’s thriving in the area and what’s just barely hanging on in order to determine what the land’s yield potential is & profits might be.
• Current supply and demand for the produce or livestock options are taken into account – as are changes in how his community lives.
• The smart farmer doubles the estimated expenses and reduces the estimated profits by ½ to determine if an option is viable.
• Given the cyclical nature of crop and livestock growth – as well as the barriers to a successful harvest, sorting out a steady short term cash flow is critical to the smart farmer.

The smart farmer develops a sustainable business model that enables the operation to weather the tough times and grow the business over the long term.

• The smart farmer is no different than the smart retailer – she does her homework 1^st.

Some context regarding the old apple orchard:

My guess is that this orchard was planted around 1918 when the land was part of the Scarboro Mission (which was founded to send Catholic Missionaries to China). For the last 30 years this orchard and some adjoining lands have been part of the Metropolitan Toronto Parks Network but continue to bear fruit which is enjoyed by the local residents and wildlife.

Across North America everybody wants more for less – plus a lifetime guarantee. To satisfy this insane and insatiable desire for more cheap food, goods and services, we’ve sent millions of jobs to Asia and India. We’ve also done a wonderful job of teaching our kids that many jobs are not worth doing or having. This mentality has shut down industries and laid waste to cities, towns and individuals all across America and Canada. Where will this end?

When companies do not earn decent profit margins their foundations crumble.

• They no longer can afford to do research and development.
• Without leading edge research and development their managers blindly follow the “best practices” of their competitors, and fail.
• They cut back on staff training and development.
• They cut back on benefits.
• Full time staff is rehired as part-time staff with no benefits.
• Part time staff juggles two, sometimes three, jobs to make ends meet.
• Because they are just making ends meet, time and money to support the arts and those who are less fortunate are also affected.
• It impacts time at home with family + friends.
• And on and on it goes.

Last week a friend of mine had his website built in the Philippines to save money. The money he paid has left Canada and will not be used to buy any of his products and services on Black Friday - or on any other day of the year.

Why not charge a fair price and invest the profits in our people, our communities, industries and Canada?

Halloween is a unique opportunity to experiment with branding since it appeals to so many different demographics and psychographics. Just Google™ “Halloween Pictures” or “Halloween Events” and I bet you’ll find a wider variety of Halloween ideas and associations than you and your in-house team would have conceived of. There are many obvious ways to capitalize on Halloween: dressing your staff, your places of business as well as your products and services. I trust you and your team can figure that out.

While direct participation may make sense for your brand and give you a fun & profit spike for a few days each year, there is another path that can pay long term dividends.

White box products and services.

For more reasons than you care to read in a blog post, your products and services have appeal limitations because of what your brand has come to represent to prospects in its primary marketplace.

Selling your products or services to other distributors under terms you define and enforce can help you understand what happens:

• When you go local, domestic, ethnic or global.
• When you sell into a premium, typical or discount market.
• When you appeal to one two or more genders.
• When you appeal to different age groups.

I think you get the picture.

Halloween lets you reimage yourself and your brand for fun and profit a few days a year.

White Box strategies let you do it all year long.