Tweet

How to deal with bargain hunters and price shoppers

Written by: Lei Wang

Article Overview: Do you believe that the better your product or service, the more it will sell, and soon the world will beat a path to your door? Do you ever feel like pulling your hair out trying to convince people that your stuff is superior quality? Do you ever get so frustrated because no matter how you try to explain, some people are so thick headed, the only difference they can see is the price? If you answer “yes”, you have a marketing problem. And advertising is not going to be your magic solution. In fact, it will only make your problem worse, and that’s exactly why so many ads don’t work.

How to deal with bargain hunters and price shoppers

Do you believe that the better your product or service, the more it will sell, and soon the world will beat a path to your door?

Do you ever feel like pulling your hair out trying to convince people that your stuff is superior quality?

Do you ever get so frustrated because no matter how you try to explain, some people are so thick headed, the only difference they can see is the price?

If you answer “yes”, you have a marketing problem. And advertising is not going to be your magic solution. In fact, it will only make your problem worse, and that’s exactly why so many ads don’t work.

Anyone can make a better hamburger than McDonalds, but not many can sell as many burgers as they do.

Your customers usually can't judge the quality of your stuff. You are the expert, they're not. The best and worst often look just the same to them. Until they experience the difference in quality, all they see is the difference in price.

If you want to attract a better class of buyers who won’t haggle over the price, you need more than just buying advertising space or designing company brochure…

I’m going to let you in on a trade secret in the marketing profession…

The most generous buyers aren’t the ones with most money. They are the ones with the most desperate problem.

Having them stand up and identify themselves to you is the most difficult part, then it’s simply a matter of putting yourself on the same side of the table and position yourself as the expert adviser.

The formula of turning Bargain Hunters into Eager Buyers consists of three steps:

Step 1: Sell the problem before you sell the solution. And if you can emotionalize the problem and make them feel they own the problem, your solution will fell like a god-sent.

Step 2: Rule of thumb - hold yourself back and don’t scare them off. Take the time to educate them on the product or service before asking for their credit card details, then price will no longer be a problem.

Step 3: Aggressive pursuit – to see the process live in action, sign up for my *free* marketing lesson “How to Attract All the Business You Can Handle and End Cold Prospecting Forever Without Spending A Dime on Advertising”. Check out my bio section for the web link.

Step Three is the most vital stage in your sale process. And if you carry out the steps in the exact order, soon you will be able to generate a steady stream of eager customers lining up to do business with you.

You can apply the principle no matter what industry or profession you are in, whether you are a product developer, the owner of an eCommerce store, workshop trainer or tax attorney…

Let's examine the following advertisements from two different mortgage brokers.

====================================================
***YES HomeLoans***
Pty Ltd CAN 089 135 508

Consistently Better Home Loans (myBusiness Awards)
Home Loans
Lines of Credit
Investment Loans
Business Loans
CALL US ON 131 YES
====================================================

AND...

====================================================
How to buy your dream house at the best price
and best finance rate
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Buying a house is one of the largest and most important
investments you'll ever make. As with any big investment,
careful planning and organization are necessary to get
the best four walls and roof your money can buy.
Turn to this eFormKit -- it includes seven easy-to-use
forms that help you accomplish important tasks, such as:

1. Profiling your "dream" house
2. Prioritizing the features of each house you visit
3. Comparing the houses that you visit
4. Determining how much you can afford to pay
5. Shopping for a mortgage

ORDER YOUR COPY NOW!
====================================================

Take a guess, which ad will attract more and better quality responses?

“Call us on our toll free number and
we'll let loose a team of sale reps after you”

OR

“Order today and we'll teach you everything you need to know about buying your dream house at the best price and best finance rate”

Related Articles
  Do you mind being beaten on price?
  7 compelling reason to not compete to be the lowest price, always
  Mike Krause’s Sales Sense #14: Discount Doom! How much is enough?
  How Does the Salesperson Affect Price Shoppers and Negotiators?
  Disrupt-Then-Reframe Selling: How to Close a VC?

Article Tags: aggressive pursuit, bargain hunters, burgers, company brochure, credit card details, eager buyers, expert adviser, god, haggle, hamburger, magic solution, marketing, mcdonalds, money, profession, rule of thumb, step 1, step 2, step 3, three steps



Related Forum Posts
Rising Costs All Around - The rising price of everything else is affecting me - but wheat hasn't had an impact yet. Now when Dunkin Donuts and iced tea go up - things will be rough. The rising price of gas and shingles is enough to deal with at this time. Chris
Re: Seeking advice on working procedure of Convenience Store - Storeowners often have national and regional contracts with various suppliers. They always buy in bulk and enjoy the principle of getting the better deal as you buy more and more that too in quantity. For E.g. a small storeowner orders 100 cases of coke and fixes the deal at $5 per case but a big storeowner orders 4500 cases and fixes the deal at $3.5 per case. Here the difference lies and because of the big storeowner manages to sell the commodity at a lower price till having his share of profit.
Re: E-Commerce Spending Down? - Spending might be down, but there's still plenty of spending being done. Only a 2% decrease is hardly anything to worry about. As Kevin pointed out, I've noticed eBay sellers offering free shipping, but increasing the starting cost or Buy It Now price. So, in reality you're still paying for the shipping. I'm one who likes to buy online, mainly because it's a lot easier and I don't have to deal with the mad rush at malls and shopping centers. I'll shop around for the best price online, mainly looking at eBay or Amazon. However, if I happen to get into a crunch, then I'll just suck it up and go to the store and pay full price. Sometimes you just have to, but I try to avoid that situation. As Kevin also mentioned about shipping prices on eBay, I, too, have noticed that some sellers really inflate the price, even for US shipping. I avoid those sellers unless I can still get it cheaper through them than someone else, but most of the time you won't. It doesn't make any sense, and I would hate being out of the country and getting completely ripped off.
Never Neogtiate Price - I hate negotiating on price - like everyone else I'm sure. I'd rather find a part-time job to pay the bills than negotiate on price. When i did websites i made sure that I invested more time with the customer in the concept stage and in getting to know them a bit more. That investment in time in the early stages made them more comfortable to deal with me rather than another designer with cheaper prices because i gave them a sense of comfort that i knew exactly what they wanted and i would deliver. That comfort and trust i built was something you couldn't put a price on and it demonstrated higher value. I learnt this from a "Webdesign Business in a box" book I had purchased from Sitepoint. Aside from jumpstarting my Web business it also taught me some great interpersonal skills I still use today. Best investment I ever made.
eBay experience - [quote="ideasuniversity":39stsg0r]Okay, but somebody mentioned that you are an expert on ebay. If you do it more often then you might be an expert soon[/quote:39stsg0r] Hi ideasuniversity, Well I can tell you that becoming familiar with eBay is all about using it more frequently. It's like swimming in that respect. For example, you can watch all the instructional videos or articles on swimming you want, but unless you jump into the water, you won't learn anything. Personally, I favor eBay sellers who use "Buy It Now" or "Best Offer" because I can haggle them for a better price (even the "Buy It Now" sellers are very cooperative). Furthermore, I feel that placing your bid at the last second isn't a very good buyers' strategy unless you really want the item and are willing to pay a gross amount of money for it (or there's an excess supply of it). I've bought enough tennis racquets on eBay to know that auctions aren't very effective ways to find a bargain. For instance, I've seen a racquet's highest bid at about $50 and when I threw in 3 bids in the last minute to raise the price to $105... but the original highest bidder still won the auction (because he/she placed an enormous max bid. Probably more than $150). In addition, if you try bidding in the last second there's a good chance someone will have placed a higher bid and you won't even have the opportunity to make a another one. I'll be looking to begin selling things on eBay shortly.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Getting The Media Attention You Deserve

Working Across Borders

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.