Market Forces – Sarong Confusion

Postcards from Rethink Central

Fancy chatting live? Scroll down for details (or to read the transcript)

Got a burning business question? Come to a live call

Next live call is October 10, 2023 - Noon Eastern / 6pm UK.
Come along to ask your questions about launches, strategies for marketing, Masterminds or whatever you're stuck on in your business.

Add your email below and I'll send you the zoom info for the calls. See you there!

Or come say hello on Instagram here.  I microblog daily. 

Prefer to read? Here’s the transcript:

I spent four years living in India. And one of those years was on a beautiful beach in Kerala. Sunsets over the Arabian Sea,nand beautiful weather most of the time.

But a great many people selling things on the beach.

One of the vendors was a sarong salesman that I never bought anything from.

But I always used to nod at him.

Right at the end of the season when it was getting very quiet and only those of us that really lived there were still hanging around he came over and told me ”Madam, you’ve never bought anything from me.”

Well, yes it’s a good point. Maybe I will. So I asked prices and

his prices were triple what they should have been.

Even with haggling, they were triple what they should have been. I looked a bit aghast at him and asked what he was thinking of.

He said “Madam, there are very few people here. I must make money for the winter. So I’ve increased the price.”

Now that doesn’t make much sense. When there are less buyers we must be more cost-effective.

We must have better reasons for people to buy from us.

Also, if you’re running a business you do need to understand basic market forces. When there are many people selling, as in most coaching and service businesses, you have to have a really good reason to buy. You don’t have to be the cheapest person but you don’t want to be in a position where people are thinking “That’s outrageous. And your reason for charging that is equally outrageous.”

If you are charging more you need to have a reason. If the sarong salesman had said to me, ”Well, this is more expensive but it’s a special type of silk. You’re only going to get it here. You’re only going to get it on this particular day.” I might have been interested. To be honest, I probably wouldn’t have believed him.

But, for your services, you need to have a really clear reason why people are going to buy from you.

And you need to have an even clearer reason why they’re going to pay that specific amount to you.

Have a think about how you’re looking at your business. How you’re charging for things. Most of us undercharge. But whatever you’re charging, you have to be very clear about why you’re charging that. What exact value are people getting? What are the benefits? What’s the emotional feeling that people are going to get?

You’ve heard people talk about “sell them benefits, not features” but it’s more than that. You need to be so clear on why people should buy from you and why people should buy this exact product that they’ll be throwing money at you. Because obviously, I never bought that sarong because it was such a ridiculous reason for charging that much.

My name is Liz Scully. Obviously, I’ve lived in India. But I’m also a business strategist.

Thanks for your time. I’ll see you soon.

Next live call is October 10, 2023 - Noon Eastern / 6pm UK.
Come along to ask your questions about launches, strategies for marketing, Masterminds or whatever you're stuck on in your business.

Add your email below and I'll send you the zoom info for the calls. See you there!

Or come say hello on Instagram here.  I microblog daily.