OK, I’m not too proud of some of what I’m going to share, but today, I’m going to talk about something you have to know if you want people to buy.
I heard this back when I had my brand agency, but to be honest, it may be even more important in a hot and crowded market like ours, as photographers.
Anyway, here’s the deal…
After a bad run of business, I was nursing some drinks with Steve, a mentor of mine. I was expecting a sympathetic ear, but instead, he burst out laughing.
“Spenz, man!” he chortled (I never knew why, but he always called me Spenz). “You’re doing business wrong!”
A tiny part of me wanted to smack him.
As my half-drunk self started to protest, he cut me off. He pointed at my watch.
“Why do you wear that?”
I was big into watches back then, and I started talking about the build and the quality. The Swiss tradition. I sounded like a bad TV commercial.
He rolled his eyes.
“No. Really. Why?”
I didn’t want to say.
He waited, arms crossed, legs kicked up on the table in front of him.
Finally, I gave in. I knew what he was after.
“Ummm…to look impressive?”
“To show off. Exactly.”
“Uhhh…yeah…that…”
He went on to explain that there’s what people say they want and what people really want. And if you want people to pay more and hire you, you have to figure out what they really want and deliver in spades.
And in that second, my mind flashed back to all of my useless indulgences and the real reasons I bought them.
My leather jacket from Barney’s? To look hot. (It didn’t work.)
My convertible? To pick up girls. (That didn’t work, either.)
And, of course, my watch. To look successful. (You guessed it. Still didn’t work.)
And like I said at the start, I’m not proud of these things.
But it’s how people are.
At some level, this is how people think, and I can guarantee that if you want people to pay more, this is a big part of it.
The first thought we always have as business owners is that it’s about price. That people don’t have the budget. But if I had a dollar for every person who said they didn’t have the budget, only to see them blow their money on something totally frivolous (chocolate fountain, anyone?), I’d be long retired.
There’s always the reason we say we buy and the real reason behind it.
Because the truth is, people never splurge on what they need. They splurge on what they want.
And to be clear, this doesn’t mean it’s always about ego.
For example, it might be convenience and ease. A parent might hire a tutor and say it’s for their child’s future, when what they’re really paying for is a little peace and finding someone to do the work for them.
There’s always something. There’s always some angle.
And when you find it, it’s makes your offer incredibly seductive.
Now, of course, there’s a little bit of work to make it happen and a few tricks involved.
But, the good news is that I’ll get into it in two weeks.
Save yourself a spot for my webinar on Tuesday, 5/22 at 1:00 PM Eastern time. I’ll show you how to handle the price-resistant market we’re dealing with right now and how to kill the price-shopping reflex.
Just click here to hold a spot >
—Spencer Lum