Your best customers will buy your product any way you sell it. They'll even tolerate your minor flaws and are willing to give you a pass on any major mishaps.
But how can you "sell" new customers, more specifically, the large group of people who visit your business and leave without ever buying anything?
Here are seven oddball tactics that may actually help you convert your finicky audience into wildly enthusiastic users.
1. Sell higher
No one enjoys paying more money for things. Yet, plenty of people still opt for the "more expensive" item when shopping.
Truthfully, consumers use price as a barometer for quality. Generally speaking, people believe the higher a product's price, the higher its quality.
A price increase can easily boost a product's perceived value, as long as you are not selling snake oil. There is another catch though. Your product needs to be unique. Shoppers, today, price-compare specific products across different websites and will not opt for your offering if your price is higher than competitors for the same thing.
If your product actually is better than the alternatives, an appropriate price increase will help your customers appreciate its value even more.
2. Price tiers
Derek Halpern, founder of Social Triggers, knows, "Every business has three types of customers: customers who want discounts, regular customers, and customers who want the red carpet treatment."
Impressively, simple price tiers effectively cater to each customer segment.
Though your intuition may suggest singular pricing is the way to go, the issue with singular pricing is that it makes the decision making process for shoppers, arguably, too easy. If they have any qualms with the stated price, they won't buy. On the other hand, if there are different tiers of pricing, they can "ensure" they're getting the best product by walking away with the elite-package in hand or "play it safe" by opting for one of the value-packages.
3. ...or both
You can have your cake and eat it too.
In a blog post, author and entrepreneur Nathan Barry, revealed how he combined the two pricing approaches above and sold $100,000 worth of product.
4. Down-sell well
When you can't close a customer on a big sale, settle for a smaller "win." Amazon, for example, highlights cheaper options for the same product and similar items that may be worth exploring.
What this does is it enables the buyer to discover the right product for the right price. Aware of her options, the customer can complete the purchase satisfied, knowing she got exactly what she needed.
This tactic also helps you avoid leaving a sour taste in a shopper's mouth if you've oversold her on something.
5. Give up a sale
It's a scary thought to resolve to intentionally lose a sale. But smart business owners know a sale lost today can mean three more tomorrow.
How does this work?
Loyalty and trust are easily garnered when you commit selfless acts. And what's more selfless than referring your customer to a competitor when you trust the customer would be happier with the resulting purchase? For years, Zappos has done just that and has earned a hallowed reputation for otherworldly customer service.
People that have been touched by Zappos' generous service are more than likely to return to Zappos for their footwear needs, even after shopping elsewhere.
6. Feature negative reviews
There's something to be said about exposing your own flaws and being vulnerable in front of customers; it helps manage their expectations.
Regular people do not expect businesses to be perfect, and that's a good thing. Then again, the more cynical shoppers among us actively seek out an excuse not to buy from you. Don't give the detectives in the group the opportunity to best you and prepare to own up to your mistakes.
Admittedly, critical reviews can get ugly, but a well thought-out response and explanation on your part demonstrates your commitment to customer satisfaction. Of course, this means you'll need to have reacted responsibly towards angry users. In case you need help here, Yelp does a great job of coaching businesses through responding to reviews.
In the end, you develop healthier relationships with your customers who will gladly buy from a brand they feel is more "human" than the rest.
7. Put the ball in their court
The "name your own price" strategy is a risky one, which must be executed with caution.
While some may come and take advantage of you, many others will rush to pay fair value for your product or service. Just think about the success artists, comedians and, yes, travel agencies have had with flexible pricing.
Your customer attributes a specific dollar value to your product and buys it for that price. There's no more guessing on your part about the "optimal" price. Instead, your customers decide what they'll pay so they're perfectly satisfied with their purchases. Also, if you set parameters that prevent people from abusing the "pay as you wish" arrangement, you'll never go hungry either.
Final Thoughts
Although these tactics won't all work for you (perhaps, none of them will) they're absolutely worth testing if you care about driving more sales. The results are guaranteed to surprise you.
What have been some of your favorite sales strategies? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
This post originally appeared on the Coworks blog.