That was so amazingly spot on target that I couldn’t believe that neither I nor any of my cohorts had ever voiced such a statement before. The conversation was about what people will and won’t pay for, something that is always a pertinent question when dealing with businessmen. From where some folks sit, the buying public is very fickle and yet only has a certain amount of money, yet they will often use all of that they can, to purchase what they need. Alternatively there were others in the conversation who felt that there is no limitation of funds and people will find a way to buy anything that they feel (or can justify) that they want.
All of this, eventually wound its way around the conversational world to the upcoming election, after all what doesn’t? Which brought up the question of healthcare and who and how should that be paid for, which led to the question of socialist medicine or private healthcare, which led to… Do you see why some of my lunch conversations are longer than maybe they ought to be? So, since this is NOT a political blog, nor o sot really a place where I want to get into the privatization of healthcare, or not, let’s focus on what the core of the conversation was really all about, which is the concept of money and the consumers view of it.
Suddenly the conversation was brought to a screeching halt by the utterance (rather sarcastically I might add) of the following: “People would rather pay to fix stupid than learn how to stay smart!” I think what brought us all to a halt was the fact that not only was this simplistic description of the situation, but it was one that we all completely agreed with. For example, most folks would rather pay to learn how to lose weight than how to eat healthy! More people would pay to learn how to “get out of debt, than would pay to learn to manage their finances wisely.” Come on folks, it’s the same money. The difference is of course, that in learning you are typically being proactive, and “storing up for the winter.” Where as in ‘fixing stupid’ you can honestly say that you are in crisis mode with your back against the wall ready for action.
So what does all this mean, in marketing or in business or in the life of us folks who are doing our darndest not to use excuses and instead get results? Well first of all it means that we will continually be bombarded with what we see as “foolishness” from the left right and every direction. We all have that one friend who has at least one of every gaming console manufactured, some the ‘custom’ cases created for a specific game, and yet seem to be shocked and dismayed when school starts in late august and they need to buy new clothing for their kids. These are not always the same folks who will complain about having to take ‘so many damned pills’ while chasing them down with a quart of Hagan das.
Unfortunately these types of conversations almost always degrade into ‘welfare’ and other unfortunately oriented subjects, but if we focus on the idea at hand, what options are open to us? The good news is that many of the options are the same as those that you have available now; unfortunately some of those are the same options that are available to us now. Ah Ha! Some of you caught on to that one didn’t you! But the truth is the only way that this will affect YOUR bottom line is if your market is made up of these types of people. After all if you’re not marketing to these types than you can just ignore them. The bad news is that unless you are ONLY appealing to the members of the “Diamond of the month club” you will be marketing to members of this crowd at some point or another.
Why? Because in today’s business world the number one rule in everyone’s plan should always be when your customer is in pain how can your product or service relive that pain in the most painless way available? So, when are your customers going to be IN the most amount of pain? Why when they have just realized that their back is up against the wall, and nothing that they can do, or know how to do, or have access to, will get them out of it. But guaranteed, 30 days AFTER you have resolved their situation, they will be back on that hamster wheel just churning away, looking for that next new gaming system.
We have identified, the who, the what and even to some extent the why, your only question left really is, how are you going to deal with it? Unfortunately this too boil’s itself down to a rather self liquidating question. Are these folks part of your customer base? YES. Can what you have to offer these folks fix their situation or at the very least lesson their pain? YES (now comes the hard part). Is your solution at a price point that these folks can afford it? Or Justify it? Remember people will pay for what they can justify and the human animal can justify a GREAT many things!
If not, then what can you do? Well you can either get into a bidding war, from which NO ONE emerges unscathed, or you can try some new ideas. Have you considered ascension? There are numerous financing options available, bonuses to sweeten the pot, and several other items that we haven’t touched on yet. So where can you learn more about these options? Well it just so happens I have a Kit for sale that will… NO, I wouldn’t do that to you. Not now, anyway, it’s the wrong time, no not in the economy, but in our relationship. SO instead come on back next time ad I’ll show you a couple ideas that we haven’t touched on yet.
But whatever you do, don’t sit around and make excuses.
If you are going to, choose one you can live with you just very may well HAVE To!
