The problem is a common one for businesses throughout the ages: How to increase sales, especially when they seem to be going in the other direction?

Advertise – new products – additional services – etc, etc. These are all well-known techniques, and can work.

As a business mentor, I am thrilled to report about how my client – call him David – tackled a downfall in revenue. He is the owner of a pet shop just outside Jerusalem. Having set up his business a couple of years back, the culmination of a childhood dream, David enjoyed back-to-back monthly increases in sales for much of this period.

Towards the end of 2014, David became weighed down with bureaucratic demands from the local authorities. Next, there was bad weather, which forced people to stay at home, and that was followed by a general slump in the local economy. Before my client had realised it, he was facing a cash drain. Customers were going elsewhere.

What could David do?

First, he analysed his competitors. They were challenging him on key products, such as large bags of food, at times slashing prices to the bare bones. David matched them, but went even further.

David had fathomed out that others had lowered prices on a series of poor quality products. He had no problem explaining this to his customers, casually offering them alternatives. These happened to be more expensive and carry a higher margin. But for the customers’, their beloved pets were being fed the best.

And just to ram the point home, if a client chose the more expensive product, this kicked in ‘reductions’ on several other items. All of this was supported by a small leaflet campaign and a few adverts in the local paper.

Did this work? In March, historically a quiet time, sales leapt around 20%. Bingo! Further, profitability was not sacrificed, as so many clients found themselves immune to higher costs. Anything for our pets in the Holy Land!

However this case study begs a question. If it is so simple to create such a change in the way brands are perceived by others, why do so few of us adopt similar strategies to raise sales?