How to Increase Sales by Not Giving the Customer What They Asked For
The first thing here is that you need to be able to distinguish between two specific types of customers.
The first is the one that is specific about what he (or she) wants because he has envisioned something and that’s what he wants. He doesn’t want to listen to other ideas. He doesn’t want variation. He doesn’t want input. It doesn’t matter if his idea is bad, he wants what he wants and will be upset if you stray from that, even if it is presented as an alternative.
The second is the type that is specific what he (or she) wants because he couldn’t think of anything better or was selecting an option that was “good enough” as opposed to spending time or money trying to come up with something better.
Mind you, these are not the only types of customers, but these are the two that are applicable to this method.
With the first type of customer, there is really nothing you can do except to do things exactly as he wishes. The second type of customer is the one where you have an opportunity.
Here’s an example…
A recent customer wanted a certain product. He had sketched out what he wanted and it was a very basic thing. It was something that was good enough to do what he wanted to do.
So, I set it up that way. It looked fine. It looked professional. Still, it was very basic. But, I had another idea. So, I also set up my idea. In my opinion, I thought what I came up with looked better. But, it would cost 39% more to produce than the customer’s original request.
After both were set up, the customer was given a side by side comparison. The price for both options was also displayed. His eyes gravitated to my idea.
And, that’s what he went with. For him, the extra 39% was well worth it.
Note that both the customer’s request and my idea were implemented and shown to him. It was not a situation where the customer’s request was ignored and I went ahead and did what I thought would be best. No, here the customer received exactly what he requested plus an alternative, giving him the option to decide for himself which was the better of the two.
The thing is that sometimes people will ask for things, and ask for them to be done a certain way, but only because that was the only idea they had. Sometimes, they will ask for your creative input; other times they won’t, simply because they think their concept is “good enough” or because they think something else would be too expensive or take too long.
But, by giving them options, and not necessarily pushing them towards one but rather letting them see its value for itself, you can increase the value of the sale. They get something better than they original had in mind, and you earn more money than you would have if you had strictly implemented the customer’s original request.
So, it’s a win-win for both and that’s the best type of business deal.
This is a regular occurrence in web development. A person may think a basic website is good enough, they might even think an out of the box template would do- but show them a custom design tailored for them and unless they are a cheapskate they will probably go with the better, built custom website.
What’s this about vampires? You have vampires?