Today, everyone's looking for an edge.
However, most businesses are looking for it in the wrong places. Lowering their prices might give them that edge. Adding all sorts of bells and whistles to their offers might make them more compelling, and so on.
But you know what?
Understanding the psychology of buying can make a difference, especially if you're a service provider. You can grasp what creates the right selling environment and use it to your advantage in your Before Unit.
And by "selling environment," I don't mean just the physical place, a brick-and-mortar store or office. It can mean anywhere that a person making a buying decision comes in contact with you before they make a purchase.
I'm sure you've heard about Robert Cialdini's latest book called Pre-suasion. It's a must-read for any marketer and business owner.
It's a textbook for learning how to create selling environments, how to pre-frame your prospects, and how to make them more accepting of whatever selling message you might have.
For example, One study described in the book showed that if you played Italian music in a wine store, sales of Italian wine went up. And if you played German music in the store, sales of German wine went up.
Another showed that when an online furniture store used fluffy clouds as their website background, a little tweak raised sales of the most expensive beds. And when they changed the background to pennies, the sales of the lowest-priced beds increased But how can all of this help you grow your business?
Say you're a painter, and your niche is car dealerships. You also understand the psychology of buying and how environments influence people to do certain things. Based on that, you've created a whole paint strategy to help car dealerships increase sales.
Now, here comes the good part. While your competitors bid painting jobs by racing to the bottom and offering the lowest quotes(virtually turning themselves into a commodity) You, on the other hand, bring a whole new conversation to the table. Because now it's not just about paint anymore. It's about paint that increases sales! Think about it: You're the only painter with the blueprint, the secret formula that "automatically" raises sales for any car dealership that hires you to do the painting.
How much could you charge for a service like that?
Probably a lot.
In fact, you could be the most expensive painter in your area and still be booked solid for a year in advance, because now you're not just a painter anymore. You're the secret weapon for increasing sales in car dealerships ;)