Zig Ziglar, world renowned sales trainer was faced with a dilemma early in his career. He wanted a bicycle for his son but the one he’d found at the bicycle shop was too expensive, at $64.95, which back in 1952 was a lot of money for Zig.
So off he went to the discount store and bought one for $39.95. After he gave the bicycle to his son, as he recounts, three weeks later he was back at the discount store to replace the handlebars, not a problem since it was still under warranty. Then four weeks later he went back for another set of handlebars for $6.95 now that it was out of warranty. Then two weeks later they replaced a stripped out sprocket for twelve dollars and it wasn’t even a month later that they were back for a new pedal at $3.95.
The next time the bicycle needed a new part, after only six months after the original purchase, Zig went back to the bicycle store and bought $64.95 bicycle.
Now his son rode that bicycle for six years, even after he outgrew it, making it into a trick bike the way teenager boys will do.
Why am I telling you all this?
Zig has probably employed this story countless times to close prospects who raise price as an objection, adding up the figures for his listener and pointing out the stark difference in this case between “price” and “cost” over the lifetime use of a product or service. That, along with using the story in his world famous training presentations means the story may well have netted him over a million dollars over the course of his life.
Your marketing messages are your sales people. What story could you tell in advance to overcome a typical objection your prospective buyers may raise? How much could your story be worth to you?
To your success
