A Sales Technique That Will Reduce Price Resistance and Bring Only Highly Qualified Buyers
I used to run a radio commercial that incorporated a sales technique called pattern interrupt and used a psychological concept called cognitive dissonance.
The ad went like this, “our sales training is expensive and difficult. It is only for people who have guts. So, if you have the guts to go to the next level, give us a call”.
Didn’t get a lot of calls, but the ones I got were extremely profitable and converted well.
Saying upfront that our training is difficult and it is expensive and it is only for those who have guts offended some and attracted others. Probably offended more than it attracted. But the ones it attracted were my ideal clients.
It became a point of differentiation.
If you own a business or sell for a living, you need to understand there is no value in you being anything other than either the most expensive in your industry or the cheapest.
There is no advantage to being anywhere in between. If you are the cheapest, you can promote yourself like Wal-Mart and play that game. If you are the most expensive, you can promote yourself like Neiman Marcus and play that game and let people know that is the business you are in.
Most sellers I teach this sales technique to cringe when they hear this. They mistaken believe that this sales technique will repel potential customers.
The opposite is actually true.
Affluent buyers want the best.
People with money don’t shop at Walmart.
They don’t eat at fast food joints.
They don’t buy Kias.
They buy the good stuff because they can and because buying the best communicates to the world that they are ultra-successful. Their thought process goes along the lines of, “after all what’s the use of being successful if you can strut around a bit and let the common folk know that you have gained membership into the upper reaches of the economic pyramid”.
This is not bad. It is just one-way people receive external validation of self and prove to themselves that yes, they are important. Everyone on earth wants to feel important and special.
One way of doing this is buying expensive stuff.
Telling buyers upfront that you are expensive has the effect of communicating that you are not selling to the masses and it communicates that what you have is unique and geared to the affluent.
The people with money respond to sales and marketing messages that they know are created just for them.
If you are still trying to compete on price or are pricing yourself anywhere except the upper end of your industry or market, you are communicating the message that you are “fair to middling” in what you have to offer.
That’s not a very smart thing to do if you want to make money and join the ranks of the financially elite.