If you feel your services or products have hit a wall and the demand has weakened, this blog post will give you insight into what it takes to make your offering more appealing. First, you must analyze your services or products in the marketplace. Determine if there is a strong demand and room to grow. Some marketplaces are saturated, leaving very little room to create genuine value, therefore; presenting only the option to compete on price. A great example is POD (print-on-demand) products such as t-shirts, mugs, and hats. Many businesses sell those products. Without a unique selling proposition (USP), it would be hard to convince a customer to buy from you versus your competitors. Competitively pricing your products is the only way to ensure consistent sales.
However, if you want to increase the perceived value of your product or services, you’ll need to take another route. If you desire to charge more for your services or products without increasing production costs or advertising and marketing, continue reading as I outline the three ways to persuade people to do business with you.
Three ways to persuade people to do business with you:
Money (make more money or save money): The vast majority of people are interested in making more money, but among the masses is a group of customers who prefer to save money or spend less of it. If you can help your customers make more or save money, they will pay more for your product/service. You will never have to compete on price again. However, you must be able to back up your claims. You need evidence to prove your worth in this area.
Status (appearance of): Louis Vuitton and Gucci do a great job selling their customers on status. Their buyers will pay $5,000 for a handbag without blinking an eye. A Gucci t-shirt can easily cost you $700, and customers think nothing of spending that much on an ordinary-looking shirt. The only difference is the slightly better quality of the material; the Gucci logo pressed or sewn on it. Here is where the value lies, in the logo and the brand. The logo/brand is a status symbol signaling you are a person who’s rich or has a higher social status, and people should want to know who you are. If you can help customers increase their status in the marketplace, on social media, in their industry, or even with their family and friends, you will have them throwing money at you. You’ll never have to compete on price again.
Ease of pain (reduce mental, physical, or emotional distress): Being able to reduce the pain points of your customers is the main reason you are in business. However, you can take this a step further to double down on this idea by pushing the narrative of being able to ease the pain in several areas of their lives. For example, a fitness trainer could say, “I can help you become healthier.” But, if you also added “and I can help you thrive in your love life. Giving you more opportunities to go on dates or perform better in the bedroom.” Or you can say, “My fitness training sessions can help increase your career options; having a better self-image causes you to be bolder, going after the things you once thought were unattainable.” Now you have increased your worth in the eyes of your clients, giving them other reasons to consider you outside of the normal way of thinking. If you can target every pain point your audience has and describe in great detail how you can eliminate it, they will choose you, provided you are a good fit, and you’ll never have to compete on price again.
Here is a tip. Never implement all three at the same time. It’s best to pick one to start first, but no more than two. You’ll need to focus on the strategy for six to twelve months to get the best results; this isn’t something you can change out quarterly. The marketing material should reflect the new direction you are going in. Inform past customers of the new approach to increase sales or win them back.
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