Even when liquid assets are limited, businesses can still thrive if they learn to understand how their customers’ mindsets change during hard economic times. During economic instability businesses often cause customers to become resistant to pressure, will cause them to become more selective, and can make them appear harder to please. This is the reality of tight budgets hitting home, but when businesses realize that mindsets change when stress is heightened, they can compensate by assuring their clientele that they are getting the most for their money.
In order to make a purchase, especially one that involves a large commitment in time or money, customers need to know that what you have to offer has value, more than that they may find elsewhere. The object is to convince them that what they’re purchasing is well worth the money, whether it be a product or a service.
Following are some tips that will help you adjust to the new mindset of customers who are on an economically-tight budget:
- Demonstrate the value of your product or service – Telling someone a product or service is worth the $50 price tag will no longer be sufficient to make the sale. You need to demonstrate that the product or service is worth more than the measly amount being requested. Through your conversation with your customer you can demonstrate the value either visually, by working with it, or by explaining the pros of purchasing your item over that of a competitor and why it would be to their benefit to purchase it now instead of later.
- Fight “buyer beware” syndrome – The ability to buy with credit it down, but that doesn’t mean that cash isn’t available; it just means that people are having to save before they buy. When someone walks in with cash to spend they’re much more cautious than if they’re whipping out their trusty credit card. Buying is as much a part of the American way-of-life as celebrating the 4th of July. What businesses have to do is to make their product or service so appealing that people will feel denied if they don’t purchase.
- Don’t succumb to the temptation to drop prices – Yes, people are looking for bargains for many things when they are on a tight budget. But for really important purchases, those that have value, customers will pay the price. Lower prices only increase sales, not profits, and are a short-term solution that could do more harm than good. If you remind your staff that you have a product or service that has value, and they belief it in their hearts, they will be able to convince others.
- Take a proactive stance – When people have a problem with the price they are not rejecting you they are objecting to the fact their money can’t do more these days. Do they keep the money in their pocket or spend it on your product or service? By handling the statement, “The price is too high,” as a complaint rather than a rejection, it will be easier to help customers understand that your product or service will help make their life easier, more comfortable, safer, or whatever. This relates back to the previous tip; the value of your product or service must exceed the price requested in order to make the sale.
Salesmanship is not a skill so much as an art. However, even those who are naturals must practice it in order to understand how to read and adjust to customer mindsets in different economies. If you begin with the realization that your product or service has value and that your customers need it, you are a long way toward surviving in tough economic times.
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Tags: business strategies business tips
