Author: admin

Black Friday. Cyber Monday. Boxing Day sales. Summer discounts. Clearance sales. Hmm…they all purport to offer us a great deal, so that we decide to make a purchase, instead of walking out of the shop, or clicking away to another website.

If we stop for a moment and consider the best way to sell a Rolls Royce jet engine (other engines are available, as we say in radio) then it’s obvious that simply publishing a price list and hawking our wares round the world’s airlines is a bit of a blunt instrument. When people are buying something as significant as an engine they want to know how it will be maintained and repaired, what our service provision is and if there is a bit of a discount if they choose to buy 100 engines in one go. Curiously, the airline buyers don’t get swayed by the marketing hype of Black Friday, they prefer to do their homework and hammer out a good deal for their organisation.

So it is for us and our sales work. People want to buy from us and price is but one factor in their purchasing decision. If all we do is sell on price then we run the risk of failing to connect at a more emotional level and that’s where the deal comes in. Cyber Monday convinces us we are getting a good deal and so we feel great …and who wants to feel bad when buying something?

A fixed price mentality may work against us, because people like to deal and if they can’t do that then they may walk away. When I started in business, over 12 years ago, I realised that people didn’t know what coaching was all about, making it hard for them to sign up to. To get round this I used to offer an introductory deal …3 hours of coaching for the price of 2 and a free Learning Styles profile booklet too. The booklet helped to make the intangible tangible and had a high face-value as it wasn’t the sort of thing you could easily buy yourself.

Some people asked if they could have 2 hours for the price of 1, or just have the Learning Styles profile with an extended validation and learning discussion. Yes and yes! If someone wants to buy then our job is to find a deal that works for them. It lowers the emotional decision making barrier and allows them to hop over it and spend money with us.

If I’m selling books to people I always say that if they buy it and don’t like it I will give them a 100% refund to include any P&P they have spent, so that for them there is no cost risk to their purchase. I also offer to not invoice at the end of a coaching session if someone says it had zero value for them. I’ve never had a client say it had no value, but neither of us could know that for certain at the start. Oh and my prices often include zero fees for mileage and no cost for unlimited email and telephone support 24/7 so that the client feels they have my support whenever they need it. People hate being charged for every last item, it can feel mean, so having a package deal makes life simpler and creates a higher sense of value for money.

Selling becomes much easier when we step away from a fixed price mindset and move to a deal making, value for money mindset. We can keep our rates high if we like, this isn’t about silly cyber-hyper-social-media influenced discounts (which are often fake anyway) …rather, it’s about involving our clients so that they make an emotional decision, based on them getting value for money.

This week have a think about your pricing policy and what you could do differently, or next time you buy a lunch-deal or take advantage of a 3-for-2 offer, ask yourself if you’re buying because it feels good, or if you’d rather just pay a fixed price for every item?

Next week: Sales Secret No.5

So there I was at a leading roadside burger and nugget establishment. Tired after a long drive, hungry and thirsty. I took a moment to peruse their menu from the comfort of my car, surely a neat touch that all restaurants should adopt, and chose a beef patty in a bun with skinny chips and a nutritiously challenging milkshake. I hoped it contained real strawberries, although we are out of season for soft fruit, so maybe I was being a little over-optimistic.

The maitre’d acknowledged my presence, bade me an excellent evening and passed me across to one of their waiting waiting staff. She was polite and courteous and solicitously enquired after my food and beverage requirements.

And then a curious thing happened: She asked me if I would like to go large. I think she meant either ‘make it larger’ or ‘increase my order size,’ but I’m not here to quibble about good diction.

Surprised and intrigued I immediately agreed and so large I went! Or maybe bigger, you can choose the option that fits more comfortably in your ears.

The food, when it came, was the same size as in the menu photos which was a shame …clearly large in this context didn’t mean bigger chips, just more of them. However, I was happy with my purchases and eschewing the offer of a delightful window seat inside the restaurant, preferred to dine en voiture, as we say at all the best French restaurants.

Later that same week I was still marvelling at how the restaurant had smoothly levered more money from me and so conducted a little research. It turns out that, according to commonly held wisdom, it is 7 times cheaper to sell more to an existing customer than to find and win a new one. It also seems to be the case that by offering existing customers new products, extensions to existing services, special deals for new projects and simply selling them 10 instead of 8 (insert word, e.g. doughnuts) we can all increase our total sales income by something in the region of 20%.

Going larger, bigger, wider, deeper or longer is sales secret No.3 this week.

Imagine I’ve just purchased your flagship product. Would that be the last time we speak, or would you contact me again to offer me something new and interesting?

Next week: Sales Secret No.4