in hard times, customers wont part with cash

(North QLD, Australia)

So.. recently the area in which our business is located is experiencing a quiet period.

We are a tourism destination and the numbers are down at the moment. The ones who are still coming here to our area are hesitant to part with their cash.

Our product is cheaper than our competitors, and of equal or better standard, and yet we are still having problems closing the sale.

People are keen on the product but we are hitting the same brick wall constantly.. 'We'll think about it.'

We have reduced our prices, we are now offering free shipping & still we get this objection,. 'We'll think about it.'

I know the standard forms of overcoming objections...

Focus on plus side of making the purchase right now ie. savings etc.

But it doesn't seem to have much success in changing their mind. Does anyone have any suggestions. We would love the feedback.

Thanks.




Comment from Stephen Craine:

I don't think reducing your price is the answer, I think you need some emotional impulse selling.

People going on vacation have an amount of money to spend. They will prioritise their spending using their emotions not their logic.

Think of it this way: Have you ever bought something that you couldn't afford.

If you have then you will have made the buying decision using emotion not logic. If you used logical thinking you would have told yourself that you could not afford the item and told the sales person that you would think about it.




Change your mind for a change

Vacations are full of emotion, so use your emotional half of your brain and sell benefits.

Make all your sales and marketing activity connect with your prospects emotions. Your aim is to trigger an impulse that leads to a sale.

The last time you saw an advert for a vacation did it tell you all the features: the journey times, number of rooms at a hotel, temperatures and weather specifics?

No! It gave you the throughts of romance, enjoyment, memories you will have forever, and hardly any detail or features.

Now you do the same. Grab a coffee, or a bottle of wine, get a big flip chart or whiteboard, and put your logic to one side as you blast out a list of emotions that your customers will feel as a results of using what you sell.

Take yourself through the experience of using your product or service and note what you would see, hear, and feel throughout the experience and afterwards.

What are the highlights from different perspectives. Parent seeing child, partners talking, relationships developing. How about amazement, fear, excitement, keep it going and look for intensity.

What will your customers tell their friends. What will they talk about when they see the photographs months later.



Now create a short presentation that is pure emotion and try it out on people. Take out anything that doesn't work towards creating an emoyional response that will influence prospects to buy now.

The result is a presentation that you can use for sales and marketing that is concentrated with emotional triggers.



...There are huge numbers of families in the UK that put themselves into debt by going on vacation to Disneyland...

Here's some examples of why they do it:

There kids have the same vacation as their friends. It's like having the latest trainers.

The kids are only young once, let's spoil em.

Every child should see Disneyland.

The experience, not just the visit but the expectation and build up.

A magical kingdom.

Emotional blackmail by the kids.

Not a mention of detail, features, or even dear old Mickey and Donald.



Click to see more on Emotional Impulse Selling...