Welcome back to the Hard Working Words newsletter . . . monthly tips, tricks and bits of advice from Marketing Consultant and Direct Response Copywriter Chris “Mr. Moneyfingers” Haddad . . .
In today’s issue I’ll reveal a short but *powerful* method you can use to make even high prices seem reasonable . . . and to make lower prices seem like an absolute steal.
Ready?
Great.
Let’s dive in.
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How To Make Even High Prices Seem Like An Absolute Steal
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In a recent speech to the National Retail Federation, Walmart CEO Lee Scott noted that, in a focus group of young shoppers, “Every one of them had given something up, and they were talking about how *good* they felt about doing that.”
Which roughly translates into “People are spending less. . . and they’re ENJOYING spending less.”
Now, as a frugal guy myself (I can make on sweater last a lifetime), I actually like the idea that folks across the country are tightening the purse strings and saving their cash. Especially if it keeps them from falling into credit card debt or spending money on Miley Cyrus albums.
But if you’re a entrepreneur, business owner or marketer . . . well then this sudden explosion of financial responsibility can pose a bit of a . . . err . . . problem.
After all,*you* still need to make sales, pay your bills and (hopefully) grow your company.
But how can you do that when your customers LIKE holding on to their money?
Now, when I wear my consulting hat (it’s brown one and says “the North Face” on it. Bald men need warm hats) I help clients solve this problem in all sorts of ways . . . from reactivating dormant customers . . . to creating “ghost” competition . . . to finding hidden profit centers they never knew were there.
But today I’d like to focus on something simple that you can do *right* now to ratchet up the perceived value of what you’re selling and make your price seem not just reasonable . . . but actually kind of ridiculously cheap.
A trick I call . . .
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“The Apples To Oranges Comparison” . . . or “How To Justify Your Price In 2 Easy Steps”
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Here’s how it works . . .
Now, most business folk make the mistake of comparing“apples to apples. . . ”
They compare the price of their product (or whatever else they’re selling) against the same product or service being offered by their competition . . .
Or they don’t do any comparison at all and let the customer do all the mental math for them.
So a massage therapist might say “We charge $75 per one hour session . . .” and mentally their customer compares that against the “regular” price they’ve seen for massage and makes a decision on whether it’s worth the money.
And that works “alright” in a good economy. But in a bad economy? Well, you need to get a bit more creative.
You need to get your prospect to compare your product or service to other MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE product or service that accomplishes (more or less) the same thing.
For instance . . . let’s pretend that you’re selling a downloadable course on how to give deep tissue massage and that you’re aiming it at every day folks . . . folk who come home tired every day . . . have sore muscles and just want to be able to relax. (Let’s say it’s for couples, cuz that’s more fun.)
How would you justify the price?
How would you make this product (which is an ebook plus some downloadable videos) seem like a *screaming deal?*
Well, here’s what I would do. I would say . . .
“So, how much does The Complete Couples Massage Course cost?
That’s a really good question and I’m glad you asked it.
The cost of this course . . .complete with the illustrated couples massage workbook, 5 hours of professionally produced videos showing you the EXACT technique to release tight, tense muscles, the bonus relaxation CD and the Pilates for dummies super training is just $97.00.
Does that seem like a lot?
It really shouldn’t.
Just think about it for a moment.
Learning these powerful massage techniques at an accredited massage school would cost you several thousand dollars at least . . . you’d have to adjust your busy schedule to make sure you could make the class in the first place . . . and, depending on where you live . . . your instruction wouldn’t be anywhere near the quality of what you’ll receive from Jennifer and Bill.
And, of course, there’s another great cost savings . . .
Most professional massage therapists charge at least $75 per one hour session . . . plus tip. Even if you just receive one massage a week to help you unwind from your long day, that will quickly add up to almost $400 per month.
But with the Complete Couples Massage Course you’ll not only save money. You’ll build longer, deeper bond with your partner. You’ll give each other the gift of relaxation and will be able to set aside quiet time to build more intimacy in your relationship.
And I’m not really sure you can put a price on that.”
And then, of course, we’d move on to our guarantee where we made the deal seem even better.
But as you can see there, I didn’t compare the course to other online massage courses . . . and I didn’t compare it what my prospects might normally expect to pay for a booklet and a few videos.
Instead I compared the Apple (online couples massage course) to the Orange (professional massage training, getting massages.)
If I were writing a full sales letter for this I’d probably spend a bunch more copy talking about the intimacy aspect.
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OK, But How Can You Use This For Non-Info Products?
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Great question. And I’ve got good news, it’s actually pretty easy if you can be a little creative.
Just think about the RESULT you get for your clients and compare it to other, more expensive, options that get the same or similar result . . . or to the money your clients will lose if they try to go it alone.
If you’re a massage therapist . . . compare yourself to the cost of chiropractic, prescription pain pills, lost productivity and even surgery.
If you’re a drum instructor . . . . compare yourself to the cost of 4 years at Julliard . . . or the the many, many wasted hours of practicing the wrong way.
And if you’re selling a widget of some kind . . . compare your price to the price of higher end widgets that do the same thing.
I could go on, but you get the idea.
Got it?
Good.
I expect homework by morning.
If you’ve got any questions or comments, you can still reach me at chris@haddadink.com
If you want to read more of this kind of stuff, head on over to the HWW blog at http://www.haddadink.com/blog (gonna be moving to a new blog soon. So bear with the technical hiccups.)
If you want to know WAAAY too much about what I do all day, follow me on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/chrishaddad
And if you want to learn more about me and the voodoo that I do so well, well check out http://www.haddadink.com
P.S. After writing this, I’m totally interested in a couples massage course I can watch at home. Sheesh. Somebody make that!
