Here in Silicon Valley we have an interesting group of car washes.  Maybe it’s the same all over the country, I have no idea, but some of our car wash spots here have themes.  There’s one called the Delta Queen which is built to a very realistic approximation of an old paddlewheel riverboat.  The one in my neighborhood is a reconstruction of the buildings that occupied the corner 40 years ago when it was mainly orchards, accurate right down to the live chickens in the coop.  Fun stuff.  I’ve been going there on an occasional basis for years.

Originally you pulled in and a kid with a clipboard talked you through the choices… just a wash or do you want wax too… what about the interior… want us to make the tires look black again?  Pretty simple and took just a second.  But as they became more popular the range of services got more extensive… too extensive for a quick chat with clipboard Bob.  Then they added a touch of product marketing and “productized” the service.  They grouped the services into a couple of different lists… one was called “The Classic” and another, “The Works.”  All together these days there’s about five of these, so nowdays the conversation with Bob goes along the lines of “I’ll take the works.”  OK.  Done.

Now notice what the operation did NOT do.

1. They did not name the offerings with numbers.  No one had to pull up and say, “I’ll take 9047LPDTL,” for instance. No, that would be what a chip company would do.  Instead they came up with simple, easy to remember names… what a breakthrough!

2. They put up a big sign with the prices… “The Works… $19.95.”  This set people’s expectations right up front, since they could see the sign and vector themselves into the level of wash they felt matched what they felt like spending.  Simple.

I frequently talk to companies/clients that want to hide the price from people until they have pretty much convinced them to do the deal… at least that’s what they think.  In my experience, people recognize this and resent it.  You can save everyone sooooo much time by just getting the price out up front.  If people have a real need, they’re not going to run.  Putting the prices out in a visible way also settles the question of upgrades.  If one product costs $19.95 but the premium version only costs $21.95 and PEOPLE SEE THAT AT THE BEGINING, a much higher percentage will want the premium.  This is much easier than trying to upsell them later.

By grouping the services this way, you’re sending a subtle message to people that these are the things other customers tend to choose.  That’s comforting and saves lots of explanations.  Now Bob never refuses to sell you something.  But it’s a lot easier for the customer to say, “I want the Classic but skip the phony new car deoderant… it makes me sneeze all the way home.”  Bob has only one response to anything you say… “Got it.”  I sometimes tell people that a good way to approach marketing is to find out what’s easiest to sell, and then find ways to make it easier yet.

Actually I hate being exposed to sales people that try to pretend they’re not in the sales mode.  This happens frequently on the phone when someone starts the conversation with, “Are you having a good day?”  What the heck does that have to do with anything?  This is a stranger talking… does he think I’m fooled by this opening?  What an idiot.  When I’m in the sales mode the “opening” I tend to use the most is just a casual, “I’m here to sell you something.”  That usually shocks people into a listening mode for a minute, and it’s so novel because it happens to be the truth.  Sometimes when I’m in a particularly expansive mood, I’ll make it, “I’m here to sell you something.  I like to get that out right up front so there’s no confusion about what I’m doing here.”

This has never — not once — resulted in the other person ordering me off the premises.  About half the time it provokes a chuckle.  For me it has always resulted in the other person giving me their attention and listening, but I don’t offer this to you with any sort of guarantee… just the opinion that trying to hide the sales intention is terminally stupid.

Tags: Big-M Marketing, Sales Channels

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008 at 10:47 am and is filed under Big-M Marketing, Sales Channels. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.