Did you know you may be eligible for a free comic book?
If not, be sure to mark the first Saturday in May on your calendar as “Free Comic Book Day”, at your local participating comic book store.
Why do I mention this?
Here’s why: With so many businesses offering “free”, you might be wondering how anybody stays in business…
You might also be tempted to think winning is all about the money.
And you would, in most cases, be very wrong.
Do yourself a favor – don’t go there, even if all your competitors do.
It’s been said that 80% of marketers behave as if price is the most important factor in a buying decision when in reality, price more commonly accounts for only 20% of a buying decision.
According to Dan Kennedy, for instance, “90% of the reason people buy from a particular provider is because they feel understood. Conversation about the deliverables accounts for only about 10% of the reasons they buy.”
So… Can you just demand a higher price and hope to have any success?
Well, probably not…
Okay, so what’s the key to making price a non-issue?
One thing you must do is to get yourself out of the commodity game and mindset.
You can find a great example of how this can be done in Robert Ringer’s book To Be Or Not To Be Intimidated (See page 103). His calling card caused his prospects to sit up and pay attention before he even met them.
The trick is to identify all the little and not so little things that put your offering in a special light or “category of one” in a way that benefits your target customer.
Simple? Yes. Easy, maybe not. Possible? Definitely.
Check the following list to see how many unique aspects of yourself, your business or your offer you can list:
- Associations or organizations you belong to
- Manufacturing processes
- The way your market your product or service
- Your reputation
- Your core values, as demonstrated by behavior
- People who refer or endorse you
- Celebrities you are associated with
- Your personality
- Causes you champion
- Case studies
- Testimonials
The secret here is to put yourself in your customer’s corner.
Position your special benefits against the people, companies, practices, trends… whatever that annoy your prospect.
Like unethical competitors, obnoxious sales reps, inept employees, difficult customers, mean-spirited, short-sighted people of all sorts, politicians, bean counters, teens, you name it, whatever bugs them is fair game.
Be a hero – align with your prospect and their cause!
Get this right and sales at your chosen price are far easier.
