It’s a simple rule of business- when making a purchase; a customer will always look for the cheaper option, right?
Wrong.
Here are 25 reasons how you can get your customer to pay you more for your service or product…
- Quality
You get what you pay for; highlight with examples the higher quality of your product/ service. Example:Burger King’s successful, “60% more beef than them,” campaign, pitching themselves head to head with McDonalds.
2. Speed of delivery
As the old saying goes “good, cheap, fast – pick two.” Need your product the next day? You’ll pay more. Deliver your product faster than your competitors, they’ll pay the extra.
3. Customer convenience
No one wants to waste a whole morning buying a pair of swim shorts. Make the process as easy as possible; save them a few clicks of a mouse, and the customer won’t baulk at paying a little more.
4. ‘Must-have’ features
If you highlight a feature that your competitors lack, you’ll have that edge over the competition. Example: The Apple iPhone6 comes with ‘Optical Image Stabilization.’ Nope, I don’t know what that is either, but it sounds cool and updated, so I was convinced I needed it on my new iPhone.
5. Personal relationships
If you’ve established a good relationship with your customer over time, they’ll more than likely stick with your service rather than seek a cheaper alternative. Example: “Herbert & Windsor has been our family tailor for generations.”
6. Ethical products
The more globally conscientious among us wouldn’t baulk at say, paying a dollar extra for a can of coffee with ‘Fair Trade’ stamped over the logo. Ethically sourced products and environmentally-friendly processes carry a lot of weight in today’s market.
7. Ease of use
You provide an easy, stress-free service for your customer. Why should they shop elsewhere?
8. Consumer laziness
Some customers simply lack the initiative to seek out cheaper alternatives. Cherish them.
9. Customer service
Friendly, helpful staff and efficient customer service will have customers choosing you over the cheap store down the road with the grumpy teenager behind the till.
10. Brand reputation
The discerning customer will pay the extra for a trusted brand over that of an unknown quality, or a brand with a poor reputation, or a brand dropping in reputation. Example: The decline of General Motors; after years of producing mediocre vehicles and eventually losing customer confidence, then sucking $50 billion of our tax dollars trying to save them as the hit the wall.
11. Strategic partnership
A customer will be willing to pay more if your company possesses a business asset that will help the customer’s own business strategy.
12. Brand name power
Man is often a superficial creature. A customer will pay extra for the prestigious brand name, over an identical or similar alternative.
13. Social media
Interacting with customers over social media will increase recognition, personal relationships and loyalty with customers. Be current, be visible. Example: Corporate Facebook pages, offering deals in return for a “like.”
14. Local produce
We live in a globalised world. If your business operates locally to your customer base, be sure to highlight this fact. The customer feels more comfortable with something a little closer to home over the unknown. Example: “100% British Beef”… “Locally sourced ingredients,” etc.
15. The power of celebrity
From Michael Jordan contracted to Nike, to Kim Kardashian being papped drinking a Coke, having a celebrity seen using your product is a guaranteed way of making the product have more “glamour factor” than a cheaper alternative.
16. Charity Involvement
An allegiance with a local charity, a well-regarded charity, or a humanitarian organization can, by association, have only a positive effect on the general public’s perception of your company. Example: Cathay Pacific’s corporate partnership with UNICEF won’t have done them any harm.
17. Event sponsorship
We all know where the local McDonalds is located, so they don’t need to tell us how to get there, and the McDonalds sponsorship of the Olympic Games may seem ridiculous on many levels, but you can be sure that the McDonalds sponsorship reminded us to get over there and get a Big Mac, especially if we had not had one in a while.
18. Prizes, competitions
Run a competition with your product – “Win a Holiday!” “Win $10,000!” it’s an instant lure for the hope – and the gambler in all of us.
19. Educate your customers
People will always go with the lower priced option if they can’t see any difference, so show them the differences! Seminars, tours, reports, demonstrations, articles in magazines — whatever it takes, get your information out there.
20. Label the competition
Without resorting to slander or untruths, point out the weak points of your competition. Example: T-Mobile “slamming” it’s competitors in a series of adverts in 2013.
21. Flock mentality
If you’re lucky, your product will suddenly become “cool” or “must have” among a more impressionable demographic. In this case, ride it out as long as you can! Example: One Direction’s unfathomable rise to fame, influence, and riches.
22. The customer seeks something else
The customer may be seeking an “in” with you, or trying to curry favor with you, possibly the customer may be seeking employment with you, or any manner of secret agendas…that’s okay, they are still your customer.
23. Make good on your promise!
It’s simple – live up to your sales pitch. Promise low, deliver high. If the customer has a good experience with you, more often than not they’ll be using your service again.
24. Adapt and Evolve
If a low cost competitor is putting the squeeze on your business, innovate, develop your product or service to offer something extra or more exclusive. Example: With the rise of the low-cost EasyCruise, P&O shifted its operations away from the lower end of the price market and focused on a more exclusive cruising experience.
25. Location
Situate yourself in a trendy part of town. I’d pay a premium rate to sit at a coffee shop in Soho, NY sipping latte, watching the world go buy. Not quite the same value or experience sipping that drink at the bus station in Queens.
