SALES - Boosting the Sale and Soft Selling

SALES – Boosting the Sale and Soft Selling

By Nikki Viljoen – Viljoen Consulting CC November 2009.

I don’t know about you guys, but I am a real fan of the South African Lotto (AKA the lottery). Granted most of us win far less than we pay to play, but for me, as long as it is fun and not an addiction – where’s the problem?

I used to grab a couple of ‘quick picks’ each week leaving the thrill of the win up to the Universe as the machine picks the numbers that you end up playing, on a random basis. I was fairly successful and used to feel the same sense of elation and well being, whether I won R7.00 (my smallest and most frequent win) to a few thousand Rand (my largest win), and since each ticket was R2.50 the R20.00 or so I spent a week was really not a train smash at all.

Then they upped the cost to R3.50 a ticket and now they have introduced another component called “Power Ball”.

Powerball forces you to choose your own numbers and that has changed the whole ‘feel’ of the experience because now I have to choose the numbers which means that I am also looking at statistics to see which numbers come up more than others and ‘my win’ is no longer left entirely up to chance. The draw is also done on two entirely different days to the normal lotto draws.

Thing is though that whilst I was quite happy to accept the R1.00 increase, I doubt very much that I would have been enamored with, say a R2.50 or R3.00 increase.

The R1.00 increase, together with the introduction of the “Power Ball” game gives the perception that I am getting more value for my money.

But what if the lotto ticket was, say R100.00 a ticket? Would I be willing to spend that amount of money twice a week? I doubt it very much – in fact knowing the kind of person that I am – I probably would not play anymore at all.

So what does this all tell me? Well, generally speaking it evidences that the more the item costs the more reluctant people are to spend the money in the first place. Put that together with the risk involved and people become even more reluctant to spend the money.

In the grand scheme of things, there are a relatively small number of individuals who are willing to take financial risks.

So therefore to make the ‘sale’ more attractive, it is in your own best interests to ensure that the perception is that the risk is kept to a minimum.

That’s why referrals work so well. You see, because the product and/or service arrives tried, tested and trusted, the perception is that there is very little risk.

So for me, the biggest and easiest way to reduce risk is by being recommended by an existing client and/or contact.

It’s the easiest way to increase my database and the easiest way to boost my sales and most definitely the easiest way for me to get new business.

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za