How to sell your most expensive products

I was visiting a mattress store recently. This one was indistinguishable among the dozens of other places I could get a bed, except they didn't have much on the floor besides mattress sets and bed frames.

So, what do you do when you appear unremarkable? You can get creative with your advertising and marketing. Unfortunately, so far these folks are playing copycat and their ads start with the lowest price, "starting at $119 and up".

Everyone advertises Cheap. Take the opposite approach. The most expensive set is $7499, so their advertising should say, "Starting at $7499 for a complete bed OR LESS!"

For more on talking price, here's some wisdom from an email I got from Art Sobczak:

How To Sell The Higher-Priced Option

I admit, I'm an eavesdropper.

On sales transactions mostly. When out shopping or
browsing, I will position myself in the vicinity of a
conversation between a salesperson and customer
to listen to the transaction.

I know. I should really get a life. But it provides
great sales lessons. Good and bad.

For example, at an electronics store, I observed
a customer asking the salesperson about a computer:
"What's the difference between the $400 model and the
$675 version?"

The sales rep said, "Well, it has a few more features,
but the $400 model does a pretty good job."

The customer agreed to get the $400 model, and
the rep went to retrieve one from the back.

While waiting, I overheard the customer say to his
wife, "I probably would have gone for the $675 version,
but I guess we don't need it."

And this happens all of the time.

When you hear questions about the differences between
lower and higher-priced versions of what you sell, what
they're really saying is:

"I could buy the higher-end product/service, I'm not yet
convinced of the value. So help me understand why I
should get it."

Understand your opportunity here!

First, the mistakes to avoid:

MISTAKE: GAGGING OUT A DATA-DUMP EXPLANATION
Just like at any point in the sales process, if you present
data without knowing what, specifically, they would or
could be interested in, it could cause their eyes to glaze
over. Worse, you might provide fodder for an objection.

MISTAKE: DOWNPLAYING THE HIGHER-PRICED OPTION
For fear of losing any type of sale, some reps play up the
lower-priced option while not knowing anything about the
prospect's situation. They make an assumption that the
person won't buy higher. This assumption takes money out
of your pocket.

Again, keep in mind that when they ask about the higher-
priced item they could be saying, "I can be sold on the
higher-priced version ... I just need to justify it."

Your first response should not be presenting. Instead,
question. Focus questions on uncovering reasons why the
top-of-the-line version delivers more value, to determine
if that's what they need or want.

For example, "Well, the Deluxe Option has a few nice
extras that might be a good fit for you. Let's find out.
Tell me, do you ever run into situations where you have
to manually extract the additional data you need from
your database? I see. Well this version does that for
you. And, how about situations where ..."

Or, "I'll be happy to explain. So I can make my comments
most relevant, please tell me, how do you plan on using
the system?"

There are many more sales reps who sell on low price than
there are buyers who buy strictly because of price. Find
out what they need, and everyone wins.

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