Price is, of course, always an issue so what do you do when someone thinks your ‘fair price’ is too much?
What does ‘too expensive’ even mean?
Even when they are applied to a pool, a spa or a sauna, the words ‘cheap’ and ‘expensive’ mean different things to different people.
The words get their meaning from what people are expecting to pay, from how much value they think the product will have to them and from what research they might have done into the cost of that spa, sauna or pool.
Taking the last of those first, you might think that you can find the cost of anything on-line, but that isn’t really true.
What you can find quite easily is the budget price, the lowest price, the bottom price. That is because people who are selling these items on price alone are very keen for everyone to know what that ‘rock bottom’ price is.
For dealers who are working in the middle and at the top of the market, they are much less keen to share their price up-front.
That’s fair enough. They might want to keep the price quiet so that they have room to negotiate when they are closing the sale, they might not want their competitors to know what they are selling at, there might be other reasons.
But the end result is that it’s quite difficult for customers to get any idea of what a top of the range pool, spa or sauna might cost until they walk into a showroom and ask. Of course, what they might have seen advertised or on the web, is the price of a ‘cheap’ alternative.
Now, as you can imagine, the difference in those two prices might come as a bit of a shock.
They might say, ‘that’s too expensive’.
What are people actually buying?
Sometimes ‘old sayings’ have quite a lot of truth to them.
‘Sell the sizzle, not the steak’ was probably being said back in Roman times, and it’s still worth saying.
What does it mean? Well, if a customer says your spa is too expensive then do you point out the quality of the pipework, the number of jets, the poly-bonded rigid shell or the efficiency of the pump?
Or do you get them to imagine how much healthier they will feel when they can treat themselves to hydrotherapy every day?
Do you get them to envisage the enjoyment and fun they will have with family and friends?
Do you point out how envious the neighbours will be?
Perhaps a combination of both, because purchase decisions are made with the head and the heart. It’s just that the heart isn’t so careful with money.
Stop being called ‘too expensive’, without dropping your price.
If you simply drop the price to make the sale, you shrink your margin and you lower your profit.
So, what else can you do?
• Increase the value that the customer puts on that spa by pointing out the benefits to his or her life style as much as the product’s features.
• Make sure that your marketing attracts the right sort of customers. If you are top-end, then make that clear.
• Show some idea of your price range in your marketing; it still gives you room to manoeuvre but at least the customer has some idea of what to expect.
• Add value in terms of free chemicals, a reduced price service contract or something similar rather than dropping your price.
We hope this article has been useful to you.
If you would like to comment on or add to this article then please use the reply box below to start a discussion or feel free to email me.
