Avoiding the Pack Mentality

It's getting pricey out there, isn't it? I mean, all the way from the bottom to the top, grocery prices are up because gas prices are soaring because the gas companies need to make bigger profits as a result of war or scarcity or something. . . . really, it's all quite complicated and yet, what it boils down to, is that life is becoming really expensive.

Strangely, however, no one's telling us to reign in the spending and tighten our belts. SPEND!!! That's the message. Not only should we spend, we should spend like there's nothing to worry about as a patriotic duty. So people are still spending, but much more conservatively than before. They're looking for the best deal, comparing prices, bargain hunting, using coupons, and as a trainer of and former sale professional myself, I know many sales professionals are feeling the pinch. My clients are mainly geared toward an affluent clientle and are not necessarily feeling the same pressures as other folks (with the exception of real estate agents in Florida!) And because there aren't the same pressures in a tight economy, there's no need for us to gear our message (or prices) toward the bargain hunters.

Because we persuade an affluent clientle, we are working on a level where we must immediately set the frame that concepts such as bargain shopping and cutting corners is absolutely going to disappoint them with substandard and inferior products and service.

As persuaders and sales professionals who work with the affluent, we must frame our products and services as elite and practical, luxurious and patriotic. Our products and services are of a higher level and therefore we must market the experience of luxury along with what they can do to meet the criteria and values of our clientèle. We can also appeal to the notion of like causes like. My preference is not to operate within a framework of scarcity because I know in my life, that like attracts like.

In order to do this, maintain your prices. Don't haggle. You have premium pricing because you are premium. Your services are elite. Additionally, maintain your individuality (and as a persuader, you are quite unique). This comes naturally as a result of understanding what criteria has to do with sales.

Focusing on word of mouth and referrals as a result of the experience of working with us, is key. We have special knowledge as persuaders, and can most definitely deliver the emotional experience that people are craving in a business (or social or other) interaction. Keeping in mind that everyone, EVERYONE, rich, poor, in between, man, woman, child, EVERYONE wants to feel understood and everyone wants to feel special.

So it is my fervent hope that you will begin to understand that you are worth what you charge and once you believe it, your affluent clients will have no choice but to also fall in line.

Kenrick Cleveland teaches techniques to sell to affluent clients using persuasion strategies. He runs unique public and private seminars and offers home study courses, audio/visual learning tools, and coaching programs in persuasion techniques. Find more free articles at www.MAXpersuasion.com/blog. Be sure to sign up for his free report entitled "Yes! Persuasion."