Do you spend $ .50 or $5.00 on coffee? You do know that some people think their coffee is only worth paying $.50 with a senior discount at a fast food restaurant. Then there are others who consider their $5.00 coffee and coffeehouse experience well worth the price. What’s the price of coffee have to do with selling? It shows you how you should sell.
Are they willing to pay for value?
Do you know which type of customer you are selling to? Is it the $.50 cup coffee drinker or the $5.00 coffee drinker? One customer is very different from the other. Someone who won’t pay more than $.50 for his coffee doesn’t need a trendy coffee cup logo on his coffee cup. He doesn’t make a distinction between different grades of coffee or at least he isn’t willing to pay more for it.
Do you know where your customer drinks his coffee? If it’s take out so he doesn’t waste time, the customer experience is the same while he sips and drives. He doesn’t perceive a difference in either establishment if he’s not willing to pay more for the ambience of a coffee house versus the din of a fast food restaurant.
How should you sell?
Some customers are willing to pay for value. Just like coffee, they might pay more for your product or service if they perceive there’s value. An upscale coffee drinker might understand and appreciate the taste of different coffee qualities. As part of your selling strategy, how do you educate your customers so they can appreciate your product quality differences?
First, you have to realize that you must educate your customer. There has to be a reason to pay more for your product or service. Politics aside, you can do what Trump properties salespeople did. A marketing expert who worked for Donald Trump knew they had work to do years ago when there was a non-Trump building opposite a Trump building. She said, “We were going to prove that the Trump building was worth $1,000-a-square-foot more.” They showed the quality of the fine marble along with other luxury amenities. Meanwhile, Trump focused on building his lifestyle image of luxury and wealth. Make no mistake. There are people who will pay for an image. They buy $5.00 coffee because of the logo on the cup.
Your job is to show your customers what they are paying more for and why it’s worth it to them.
How are they using your product?
A coffee-drinking customer driving through the take-out line has a different customer experience than the customer sitting down for a meeting inside. You would sell differently knowing that. How is your customer going to experience your product? Is he going to be the one using it?
I remember selling a grease product to the engineer at the plant. He wasn’t the one applying the grease on the equipment. The grease contained molybdenum, a black substance that easily stains clothes if it gets on them. The product was an excellent, but more expensive lubricant. The lubricators hated staining and ruining their clothes. The customer didn’t want to buy the product any more.
How your customer thinks and acts will show you how they are going to buy. Start learning more about your customer’s thinking so you can sell the way that helps him to buy and pay more for your products and services.
Best wishes for your sales success!
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