Does your client know?
Frank White Creative Content, Biz Development
Decades of working in the integration channel. Growing faster, find your voice, vision, and velocity.
The Real Question: Do You Know What “Good” Is?
By Barry Scovel, Weld Founding Partner
When you look at the toolbox of products you offer to your potential customers, do they fall into the “contractor” grade, pretty good to adequate, and what we call “high-end”? If we try to analyze say, something like an in-ceiling speaker, they range anywhere in our world from $199 a pair to north of $1000.
BY THE WAY….If your customer lets their fingers Google "best in ceiling speakers" they will likely find a well known national brand sold at Amazon at $189 the pair! Watch out!!
First, all speakers do pretty much the same thing. When a fluctuating electric current flows through the coil, it becomes a temporary electromagnet, attracted and repelled by the permanent magnet. As the coil moves, it moves the cone back and forth, pumping sound waves into the air. Yeah right!! Enough with the tech...
When brick and mortar thrived, a customer could listen and in many, if not all times, compare the sound, choosing the sound, and ultimately price point. You old retail dogs out there know, you NEVER A-B speakers at the same price. At this point I have told you NOTHING that you didn’t already know. Sorry; stay tuned.
The main benefit of quality sound is emotion. It is that a customer could hear what GOOD or GREAT sounds like. It can't be described; must be experienced. If you've no way to do that, you already see the problem here (hear?).
We all know, or should, that the benefit of buying good. You buy cheap, you buy twice. Even if you don't, maybe you should have. Point is, once a customer hears something great, even though they may not buy today, you do have the ability to get to a price point that at least pays for your installer for that day.
Everyone has their "great." The best they've ever experienced is it. YOU set the bar here. They can decide how high up that bar they want to reach. It's a process you can be an intimate part of. How high do you set it?
There are all kinds of schemes. Speaker manufacturers will send you speakers in a huge wall to demo to your customers, offer incredible demo deals, and make sure their reps and distributors have product in stock to loan. If you've a distributor close by they may have a demo facility you can use. Admirable as this is, it takes extra WORK on your part. You will decide if you want to do that work. It may very well line your pockets with more profit in 2016. Any ideas??
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If your customer trusts you, they will accept your recommendation, provided it does not exceed the point of diminishing returns. Look at a client's home, watch, or automobile. Could they have bought something cheaper? Of course. Always suggest a good product, and explain why. High-end customers love spending money. They just want to know they bought something good and they didn't get ripped.