The Art Of The Sell
There is one thing a lot of people often get wrong about marketing. They assume it is nothing more than a business that can be broken down into facts and figures. And this is an important part of successful marketing. But selling and marketing is as much an art as anything else. It requires creativity, imagination, and cunning. The key trick in marketing is making your customers believe you have what they need. Even if they don’t really need it.
This is especially true when it comes to expensive or “Luxury” products. More often than not expensive products are things that people don’t necessarily need. So you have to work twice as hard to convince a potential customer to part with their money.
I have been in this game for a long time. Most of my career has been focused on selling luxury products. And today I am going to impart to you all the tips and tricks you need to easily sell any expensive product.
Cold Reading
This is the mainstay of the sales persons toolkit. If you don’t know, cold reading is the art of learning about a person from nothing more than observation. When done correctly you can learn about a person’s wants, fears, personality, habits, mood, and so much more. The technique is often employed by fortune tellers and mentalists to make their acts seem more believable. But, for you, it will help you secure a sale.
If you can successfully cold read a customer you can easily sell them anything. Because you can start the conversation from a position of familiarity and security. If you can work out the type of person they are you can adjust your attitude and sales pitch to meet their needs. If they seem like they’re a no-nonsense person you can avoid the small talk and cut right to the chase. If you have them pegged as someone who appreciates comedy then crack a few jokes and keep the conversation light.
Cold reading will also help you figure out the exact reason why this particular person needs your product. Let’s imagine you’re trying to sell quality chandeliers. And the person you’re cold reading is a married suburban man. By his outfit you can tell he values appearances and enjoys quality products. From this you could play on his desire to stand out from the crowd. A quality chandelier would make his home the envy of his neighbors. Remind him that this is the sort of thing a luxurious person would buy. Play into his desire for the finer things in life.
Offering Appealing Deals
People love a deal. Studies have shown that people are more likely to buy products that are on sale. Even if they end up spending more money than they originally planned. And this is something you should be utilizing to make more sales.
When you are pricing your products you should do a lot of market research to determine what people are willing to pay and what the going rate is for similar products. Then, you will want to set a baseline price that, if possible, beats your competitors while still making you a profit.
But here is the important part. This isn’t the price you show to customers. You should inflate the label price of the product a bit. Then, while trying to make a sale, you can win over your potential clients by offering them a generous discount. Suddenly the customer will feel more inclined to make the purchase. Especially if you’ve used cold reading effectively to create a bond with them.
This is a popular tactic in supermarkets and car dealerships. They will hike the base price up a bit then slap on a sale sticker. More often than not customers end up paying the same price they would have. But they have been tricked into thinking they are saving money.
Endorsements
Customers have become extremely wary of marketing. With adverts being constantly bombarded at them through the internet and their phones. So your best tool to earn their trust is customer endorsements. To that end you need to be doing follow ups with customers to see how they are enjoying your product.
Keeping a good relationship with past customers will not only help you secure shining endorsements but also help you secure repeat sales. People are far more likely to recommend your business to their friends if you are following up with them.
Customer endorsements should feature on the front page of your website and on your social media accounts. You want to show them off. Let potential customers know you are offering a quality product and you know it.