Thursday, October 29, 2009

Tired of Getting Price Shoppers and "Tire Kickers" when Marketing Your Business?


Marketing Feature: How you market and advertise your business dictates the quality of customers you attract.

Are price shoppers driving you crazy?

Is their first question to you: "How much is it?"

You want to provide quality, but you might feel that it is difficult to find consumers willing to pay for it. This is a challenge for many companies.

Price shoppers make up only a small percentage of consumers. Some companies manage to attract more than their share of these. Are you attracting price shoppers instead of quality-oriented consumers?

Is your marketing and advertising encouraging price shoppers to think you provide the service and price they are looking for, while at the same time you are discouraging quality consumers from calling?

Marketing decisions are commonly made by the owner. The problem is that they often project their personal perceptions onto their target market. The consumers you want to attract probably do not think the same as you.

Price Shopper or Quality Consumer?

There's nothing wrong with being a price shopper. But you must adjust your message to speak to the consumers you want to reach.

A big mistake is to assume quality consumers find their service providers the same way you do. Often, people ask themselves: "If I needed a (fill in the blank), where would I look?" Answers such as Yellow Pages, ValPak, Google searches or postcards come to mind.

Quality consumers find what they want primarily through referrals from other satisfied customers. They check with their friends, interior designers, home furnishings retailers and people they know from groups in which they belong.

Little Know Dirty Secret: Quality consumers turn to advertising only as a last resort. Referrals and networking are ways you get introduced to quality consumers. Traditional advertising usually draws price shoppers.

Another big mistake is assuming that quality consumers want the same things a price shopper does. You might think speedy service, low prices and impressive guarantees are important. These are exactly the features price shoppers are looking for. The guarantee tag line of "The best product / service ever …" is code for "I'm looking for price shoppers."

What They Want

Quality consumers plan ahead for valued services; they are not in a rush. The thought that they might have to rely on a guarantee brings to mind all sorts of bad memories. These consumers are not looking for the lowest price. They are looking for good value. They know that you get the quality of service you pay for.

Change Your Focus

As an example, I am intrigued and entertained by the Apple Computer television ads that show "Mac" talking to "PC." (Even though I am an avid PC user) These ads don't try to convince consumers to buy a computer. Instead, they point out how much nicer your life will be if you switch from a personal computer's irritations to the advantages of using a Mac.

If you want better quality consumers, make your company available to them where they are looking. This is much easier and you will have a lot less competition. Spending a lot of money on traditional advertising may get your phone to ring, but are you getting the customers you want?

If your marketing message is that you provide the most service for the least money, you frighten off the consumers willing to pay for quality. It takes discipline to view the world from other people's perspectives. Everyone knows that good products and service are hard to find.

If you convey that you provide: "The best professional and most pleasant service experience ever, no matter what," you will be flooded with customers willing to pay top dollar.

- Daniel Sweet is an expert in small business marketing, business leadership, and the creator of the Power of Leadership Training University.


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