1/…

Sell to players with money!

The worst clients in the world are cheap clients. How cheap are they? Do they try to nickel and dime you, negotiate price every time? Does it take them forever to get back to you? If you send them a questionnaire and do they NOT reply. When you have to do everything on the cheap, its a bad experience for you, and since they are not paying you much, you cannot do much for client as well. Why would you want to still be in business selling to people who's got no money?

  1. Cheap customers –  Buys based on price. Needs no value. Very demanding and buy purely on price - they do not value "value" itself. Either want a T-bone steak at 99¢ price or don’t care because it’s all the same shit to them. Could literally be at the pearly gate with a welcome mat rolled out but wouldn’t tip the valet. Very demanding. Price Fox. Don't truly appreciate what you offer.
  2. Difficut customers –  Blanket Negativity. Full of cheap polity. Make your life worst. They are just difficult, generally very negative and downers. No matter how good your product/service, you have to "pass" this test in their eyes. A person who shares and understands their needs and concerns is truly a customer, and these lot are mostly neither. Love to ask illogical questions!
  3. Sophisticated customers – Have money. Know what they buy. They know exactly what they want. They are educated, they know what they want and they have the money, they just sometimes need more time, more education on what they are buying and when they make a decision. They stick to it. They "test" your product and industry knowledge. They ask logical questions, but simply need time. Tend to be very loyal when the do decide to buy from you, because they then trust you.
  4. Affluent customers – Buy based on feelings/emotional. Gen-Z spenders. If they can afford it, they will buy it. They do not want deals. Something is wrong to them if you offer them a deal and it cheapens it to them/makes them think something is wrong! Customers who value what we do, and appreciate that we like making a profit, and buy it more for the EXPERIENCE!

Select the winners, work with them, and sell to them. You can only be effective by being selective. In a world of transactional monotony, selling experience matters.

2/…

You attract the kind of client that you are.

Your life will be way, less stressful. It doesn't take 10 times more effort to sell $10,000 versus $1,000. In some cases, it takes less effort. This is not pleasant, but this is a fact. If you are cheap, your clients are cheap. If you are flakey, your clients are flakey. Do you do that in some other areas of your life?

If you want better clients, first you have to make few internal shifts & change a little bit of who you are because you attract the kind of clients that you are. A business is a reflection. If your life is disorganized. Your business is disorganized. You have cash flow problems, you're not good financially at home, you're not good with numbers in business. If you don't know how to deal with people at home, as a person, as a friend. You don't know how to deal with people in business.

3/…

Don't sell products/services, sell experience.

People would pay to be entertained for an good experience. People would pay more for a premium experience. So how can you create an exclusively premium experience? Not a lot entrepreneurs "deliver experience". In fact, they don't. Truly a good experience appeals to all senses. How to deliver that experience, and to whom? Don't sell services, sell an experience.

Here's an example. Cirque du Soleil, entertainment company and the largest theatrical producer in the world. It’s a circus without any animals. It is actually a combination of acrobatics, musical numbers and performing arts.

But, what's their strategy?

It's business that created its uniqueness and memorability, not by being a category-killer but by creating a "whole new category" between Circus and Broadway "art".

What made Cirque du Soleil so successful?

Identifying the "blue ocean". It realized that to win in the future, one must stop competing in "red oceans". Instead they should create uncontested market space and make the competition irrelevant. Now to the big question - What do these artists sell? They sell an experience! Puzzled? It's plain experience! – What is it?

You can buy the regular ticket. General admissions you can still select the seat, but you can pay more if you choose to and you experience much more! It appealed to a whole new group of customers: adults and corporate clients prepared to pay a price several times as great as traditional circuses for an unprecedented entertainment experience.

You want to brainstorm some ways you can "wow" your clients. What are some things you can do so that your clients feel that he/she gets more than they expected? Experience is a pyschological trigger.

Again, lot in sales talk about it, but they don't do it. Just sit down and plan with all your teams. How can we deliver that "wow" experience? It doesn't cost a lot more to deliver the "wow", and many still don't realize it takes less efforts to spice things up! It actually just takes some creativity and some thought, some thinking.

If only a small percentage: 5% - 10% of your customers upgraded to premium pricing, you are obviously making a lot more profit! This increases your level of perception, and service. That's the "wow" experience. And, people will more willingly ready to pay for a good experience.

Keep hustling!