Attend marketing seminars for struggling business owners, and you won’t be able to walk ten steps without hearing the lament, “They just don’t get it!” That is, buyers don’t feel the need for what they’re selling or don’t appreciate the higher value experts offer, compared to lower-priced competitors.

It requires courage and psychological savvy to get beyond this communication barrier. But once you understand how to connect with buyers on the question of value, you possess the key to charging more than others – and getting it.

Sometimes the disconnect occurs because owners are much too close to their creation and lack the perspective to spotlight their offering so it appeals to the needs and motivators of clients. Dialogue with outsiders to your product development and plans can help you figure out and put into words the attractiveness of what you’ve put together.

Other times, the disconnect occurs because owners are trying to sell to an audience that lacks the psychological, economic or lifestyle foundation to appreciate the value, for example by trying to sell bicycles with ultra-light high-tech frames to weekend cyclists rather than racers.

Smart ways businesses can establish value include:

* Highlight the problem a product or service solves instead of its descriptive features. For example, an upstart broadband company uses new W2T3 wireless technology. That’s a fact that probably means little to the local community of potential users. But when you say you now can provide high-speed Internet to even the most remotely located homes without any investment needed in cables or satellite dishes, the service’s most likeliest customers will perfectly understand.

* Ask a focus group what the item reminds them of, which sometimes surfaces an appealing metaphor that gets buyers-to-be reaching for their wallets. Suppose you offer Feng Shui consulting in an area that hasn’t yet warmed up to this ancient Chinese art of improving the energy feel of an environment. After you explain the concept at length, someone might suggest it’s like injecting your home or office with vitamins – everything becomes more vibrantly alive. Potential customers easily relate to such an everyday idea.

* Concentrate on reaching the subset of customers who already understand your value – not those who must be educated on why they need you. When you’re trying to sell a fresh new fragrance, for instance, target the market of those who are already in the habit of dabbing on scent after their morning shower, not those who are satisfied with the afterglow of soap.

* Ask prospective customers what they hope hiring you will enable them to accomplish, then quote their phrases in your proposal. Let’s say you’re in discussions with a software company about bringing you in to train their marketing team on better writing. Simply ask them what they see they’d be able to accomplish with more skillful writing and sprinkle their exact wording here and there in the proposal. This technique often connects and sells without their conscious understanding of the way you’ve echoed their thinking.

Once you learn to put marketing psychology into practice, potential buyers get it, and you get hired.

Author Bio: Marcia Yudkin is the author of more than a dozen books, including 6 Steps to Free Publicity and Persuading People to Buy, from which this article is adapted. Learn about her Marketing Insight Guides series on turning strangers into long-time customers: http://www.yudkin.com/guides/index.htm .

Category: Marketing
Keywords: marketing psychology,persuasion,principles,value,perceived,needs,wants,appreciation,desire