I’ve Hyped-Up the Ultimate (HOF), but They Can’t Afford it…Now How Do I Make Everything Else Look Good Too?
One of my staff member’s who has been to Hearts on Fire University is training the others on giving a 2 minute Hearts on Fire presentation (I want everyone ready and geared up for Valentine’s Day). While they were role playing—one staff associate asked, “If the customer flinches at the price and really says, this is not something for them….How do I make everything else look just as good when I’ve gone on to talk about how important cut is and that Hearts on Fire are The World’s Most Perfectly Cut Diamond?”
Damn good question…The sales associate doing the teaching said I would say, “Now my diamonds are just as beautiful, but without the pedigree and all (while being light and cute in tone.)”
How do you back down from what you’ve said is the best? You know you want to sure as hell sell them something—so what makes your non-serialized diamonds look just as good/sellable?
neil pennell commented:
Shanu, >Most of the time my associates start with HOF because
they can't get out of a customer what they are looking for<
I might start by asking the customer if they have heard of HOF. If
the answer is yes, they might be in your store looking specifically
for HOF, in which case dive right in with the HOF pitch. If the
answer is no I would show something midlevel and gauge their
reaction. You might say something like..."this stone represents a
nice balance of quality and price, but the HOF are unsurpassed for
maximum beauty". If they seem impressed move forward with the HOF
pitch. If they back off because of price you have already made the
midlevel stone look attractive.
Shanu S. Guliani commented:
It's hard to pre-qualify your customers all the time. I try never
ask a customer a range they would like to spend at the beginning of
the sale--I want to get to know them and find product they
like--they might think I'm out only for their money if I ask how
much do they want to spend too early into the sale. Most of the
time my associates start with HOF because they can't get out of a
customer what they are looking for--but at least with the HOF
presentation they have their attention because it's usually
something they haven't seen before. Sometimes this presentation
allows them to get the customer to open up and then the customer
says, "Well I'm looking for a one carat but not in that price
range." Great--but now how do you make everything look as good?
neil pennell commented:
Any good sales presentation starts off by listening. Listen to and
address your client's best interest and you can't go wrong. If they
don't give you an idea of where they want to be, start in the
middle and make adjustments based on feedback. If they sense you
just want to make a big sale rather than serve their needs, you may
lose them.
JACK800 commented:
Don’t put yourself in that situation. In a word: pre-qualify.
The HOF pitch is designed to create a HOF purchase. Not every
customer is a HOF prospect and as you've noted, once the pitch is
made, it's hard to put the genie back in the bottle. This is a
common problem with canned sales pitches. Unless the salesperson
understands that the sales process in more than a spiel and the
customer is more than a mark, your store's long term success will
be in jeopardy.
