I did a livestream on Instagram the other day, and someone asked me about how dealing with the possibility of selling an "overpriced" item could be “off-putting” to some prospective customers.
Let’s address that.
A brand new Smart Car can be had for about $12,000.
A Ferrari? $252,000.
Have you ever seen someone driving a Smart Car? I’m sure you have. Here in Miami, they've even been used as temporary rent-a-cars through some app.
Ever seen anyone driving a Ferrari? You probably have. They, too, are a normal sighting in Miami.
The simple point: there’s a market of people who will buy either vehicle.
There are also markets for Nissan, Mercedes, Lexus, Honda, Cadillac, public transportation, Uber and Lyft and all the rest that exists in between the extremes.
It’s the same with your offerings as a ______ (what you do for a living).
Your market is not “everyone.” Your market is the people who are looking for what you offer, priced in the neighborhood of your prices.
Realtors ask home buyers what type of home they’re looking for, along with a ballpark budget for what the home buyer wants to spend. If I were a realtor working with a married couple who has 3 young kids, that couple understands that they can't come to me with a studio apartment budget. I’d have to have a serious conversation with such a couple about the state of the housing market.
Some people are shopping for Smart Cars. Others, who have the budget to buy twenty Smart Cars, prefer to have one Ferrari.
Price is a story. A story that you, the salesperson, tells -- and looks for people who have a similar story. Then the sale happens.
There’s a buyer for every product, regardless of its price.
Your job is to decide who you want as a buyer, find them, and show them how the story of your product matches their story as a buyer. What's "overpriced" to one person is perfectly priced to another.
There are people who tell themselves the story of being price conscious and spending as little as possible for their vehicles. The Smart company (makers of the Smart Car) markets their cars to these people.
Smart expends zero resources on appealing to Ferrari buyers.
Other people tell themselves the story of being the talk of the neighborhood, the one that no one can miss when they're driving by, because of their pretty car and the attention the car commands. Farrari knows this, and hunts these people down, to sell them Ferraris.
Ferrari ignores Smart Car buyers.
Decide what ZIP code you wish to reside in as a salesperson (we are all salespeople), what story you want to tell about yourself and your offerings. People who are telling a similar story will identify that you're talking to them.
Then you can do business.
Also See:
The Game: Raise Your Value [Course]
#1102: Raising Your Prices: The Logical And Emotional Understanding Of Why
#835: Your Price Is Too Low
The Story Of Price
#WorkOnYourGame
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