When you have successfully undertaken a sensitive and in-depth Personal Needs Analysis Survey, and presented a compelling reason why your option is the most suitable for your prospect, avoiding “sticker shock” (the negative reaction to a surprising price quote), it is essential to close the sale.
Here are 7 ways to overcome the likelihood of “sticker shock” occurring.
1. Anchor And Contrast
Just by showing your selected price next to a much higher cost premium option can have the effect of making the lower one look better value.
“Here’s our £350 per annum Gold package and this is the premium option including regular PT, protein supplements and a full facility pass at £1500 for the year. Which do you prefer?”
2. Drop In The Bucket Justification
“When you look at the enormous benefits of exercise that you are going to get and feel from almost minute one of joining, the monthly membership price is simply irrelevant. This is the most important investment you are ever going to make.”
This option relies on you building a plausible argument for your value proposition. The scale of the benefits received from the option will completely dwarf the price charged. It’s the no brainer option.
3. Instalment Pricing
Where you are retailing services with a high premium cost and a single transaction frequency such as a joining fee, or a 12-week £500 transformation programme, it may be worthwhile creating an option where the premium is available on an instalment pricing basis.
A joining fee spread over 3 or 6 monthly payments. A transformation programme paid over 6 or 12 months. Making payments more manageable albeit over a longer term can make the transaction more attractive.
4. Granular Pricing
This option relies on you breaking the price down to a daily budget. It’s the equivalent of a “pound a day” transaction.
“Is this option worth a pound a day for the benefits we have discussed?”
Most people are spending money on regular items with higher or similar prices and you need to get them to re-evaluate their spending priorities.
Daily coffee consumption, lunches or TV subscriptions may well dwarf the spend level of what you are asking and all you need to do is to get your prospect to relate the contrast of their current habits to the daily fees for your new offer.
5. Use A Comparison Table
Most people learn through a combination of visual cues and auditory commands. That’s why producing a comparison table with your “Good Better Best” options displayed in tabular form can help your prospect make a buying decision. It becomes then, not a case of Yes or No, but rather which YES option do I choose.
6. Combine With Charity
A prospects perception of value can be positively influenced by involving a charitable contribution in the price proposition. It moves the buying decision from being just a selfish act to a more altruistic one and can make the difference when selling to prospects unsure about the cost/value benefit of the purpose.
“This is charity fortnight at the club. We donate 10% of all fees from everyone who joins this time of year to one of 3 local charities of your choice. Our members have suggested them as worthy of fundraising.”
7. Lose The Pound Sign
MIT University studies in America have discovered considerable support that for some reason, leaving the pound sign (In the USA research it was the dollar sign) can really affect customer choice in trials on price selection.
We advocate a price presentation sheet (See points 3 & 5) to present the 2 or 3 pricing options you are recommending, and this is where you can show the price points to potential members as a number only.
Try out these pricing methods with your potential new members and let me know how you get on!
