Think you know your customers? 30 things to know...

[gripmarketing]

#1
People procrastinate over making any decision…

When you ask people to make decisions, it is going to take brain power, if you are going to get immediate response. You must give them a reason (or several) to buy now!

Delay is deadly to your business. There is a direct and immediate benefit to acting "now". You earn or make or save or enjoy today. And if you don’t act now, the offer goes away. Still, some procrastinate. That's just the way some people are.

How do you add urgency to your ads, in-store promotions, and sales pitch to eliminate procrastination?


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[ This Message was edited by: gripmarketing on 2004-06-08 14:24 ]

[ALOHATANCA]

Good through....act now to save.......regular price......today only.......can't keep it in stock....

[gripmarketing]

Very good! Anybody else? How do you alter your pitch?
[ This Message was edited by: gripmarketing on 2004-06-08 16:45 ]

[river_brat]

I will tell them specifically how many days they have to receive these great specials. I just did a promotion offering package specials for 4 DAYS only! and on the last day which was this past Sunday we made the most we have ever made in a single day. People were scrambling to get in the doors to purchase the packages available. People want the information as easily as possible, I know with myself I tend to not read the fine print in coupons so I put it out there and this promotion was our best yet!

[engfant]

Put up signs in the rooms advertising the benefits of the lotion. If they didn't buy your "sales pitch" something that is in writing seems more legit. I've been able to move EVERYTHING just by making a sign.

[Coppertone]

I give each new person that starts tanning in out salon a 2 page FYI on tanning. Everything from the differance in of lotions (accelerators, tingle, bronzer), importance of moisturizing, and other great info. I also spend some time going over them also, so that they understand and can ask any questions if they need. In each room of my rooms I have on a cork board bulletin board the follow. GOT LOTION? Works great as you would be surprised as to how many people forget and react to it after seeing it.

[gripmarketing]

#2
People are skeptical of anything new…
Anything new. New products. New services. A new offer. Your new idea or way to do something.

People are happy (or so they think) with things they way they are today. They like the status quo. They don’t want to change. They don’t want to think about learning or meeting or trying anything new. It’s different. It’s change. And a large group of people don’t like different and change.

As a marketer your job is to make the new sound familiar and the familiar sound new again.

Dan Humiston, President of the ITA, told me that he thought he erred during a newspaper interview. He was all prepared to discuss UV tanning and the reporter caught him offguard by asking about Sunless spray booths. To keep it short and get back on the track (the UV track or so he thought), he said about spray booths, "It's like a car wash". Dan said the minute the words left his lips, he knew he'd made a mistake. I informed Dan that his comment wasn't a mistake but rather was brilliant! Why? Because he'd made the new sound instantly familiar. After all, everyone knows how a car wash works.

If you want your market to buy from you, present your message with the most believable and powerful offer you can.

Know the most believable sales you can run? Store opens, store closes, and store celebrates another year in business (Grand Opening, Going Out Of Business, and Anniversary Sale). Why?

No one believes that “The owner lost her mind this weekend, we put her in an insane asylum, and everything is on sale!”

But they easily believe that your store just opened, is closing, or has celebrated another anniversary.

How do you make your ads most believable and people less skeptical?

[river_brat]

on your advertisement entice them to call. Spark intrest. Create some curiosity. When they call if it is your opportunity to educate and invite them in to see for themselves.

[gripmarketing]

Try this one:

"If you think our trial offer is just a gimmick, you’re dead wrong. We know there are people who want the ultra-premium equipment and superior service that (our company) offers. And we’re willing to risk a premium tanning session to find them. When we’re wrong, we absorb the loss and thank you for giving us the chance." copyright 2004 Grip Marketing (this language cannot be copied without our permission - it is provided for example)

Be persuasive in your pitch!

	Superior UV

[jamesmasonlv@juno.com]

Nice idea, but you gave up your copyright when you joined TanTalk, in case you didn't read the Terms of Service, and, once abandoned, you can't reclaim it, Gary. Besides that, you can't copyright language, only works, but you CAN trademark a saying. Maybe you need to get a better IP attorney. Better yet, just read Title 17, United States Code, Annotated, Sections 103-108, inclusive, plus the notes. I don't mind it so much when people talk out of their ***, it's the smell that bothers me.

Regarding the ideas, there's a ton of research on persuasion that pretty much disproves all the hoo-hah spouted above. Some people DO procrastinate, but that's because they need more information. Very often the NO is code for "I want to know more." And it isn't true that everyone is skeptical of anything new. In fact, about 12 percent of the population LOVES to try new stuff most of the time, and about 5 percent wants to be the VERY first to try EVERYTHING new (the EARLY ADOPTERS).

Most of the time, however, especially in the tanning world, the offer isn't good enough, or they don't see the benefits clearly enough. Our problem is that we don't sell what THEY want to buy. We either lowball the offer (i.e. a 10% discount, which is under the radar for about 80% of the population), or we offer an invisible benefit (in other words, WE know it's a great benefit, but we can't sell it well enough to the consumer. We're not selling what THEY want to buy.

How do we change this? Easy. Why don't you start by asking the customer what THEY would like to buy? You know, I almost never see anyone do consumer research in this industry, and it flat FLOORS me, given that we're supposed to be all consumer-driven and everything. If you want to sell to the customers you have, why not ask them what they'd like to buy? Seems pretty straightforward to me.

You: Uh, Mr. or Ms. Consumer, what kind of a package would appeal to you in such a way that you'd snap it up like a big dog if I offered it to you?

Ms. Consumer: Oh, it'd make me giddy as a kitty if you offered me a package which had this, and that, and that, and a liddle of that. It'd make me purr, and then I'd make YOU purr.

You: I'm on it!

DONE.

Folks, this isn't brain surgery, and I know this, becuz my mama just had brain surgery. It's selling. You. The Customer. Their money. The product. Done and done. It isn't always about the biggest, the quickest and the best.

First, if it was about the biggest, only porn stars would get dates. Second, if it was about the quickest, they'd only sell race cars. And third, if it was about the best, there'd only be one brand of tanning goop, and they sell about 40 gazillion, and we'd all know which one that is by now. It's about a whole package of needs, desires, impulses, concerns, and other stuff that's in consumers' heads and that we need to get out. And short of splitting them open and scooping the gunk out and, I don't know, reading it like tea leaves, it seems to me the easiest way is to just ASK them.

Or, I suppose, we could just, you know, continue to do like we're doing, wasting time, money, and energy, and mostly getting it wrong. I'm just saying.

Warm Regards,



James.