Groucho was right. Everyone loves to feel chosen for a club that is exclusive. We want to be on the inside, knowing that while not everyone will make the cut, we did.
As solopreneurs, it is tempting to try to sell to everyone. It means we will make more sales and get more income, right? Actually, this is not always the case.
One of my sales bosses used to have a great way of putting it. When a client asked for a quote too early on in the sales process, my boss would say, “Hold on, mister client! We are still on the first date. Let’s talk a bit more and get to know each other first. This will allow us to see if we are a good fit to get married to each other”. He was implying that we didn’t sell to all clients, and Mr client would have to convince us that he was the right client for us.
It’s a great reverse psychology strategy to get genuine clients more interested in your product, and also, it does allow you to weed out the clients who are time wasters or would be bad for your business.
I took a client through this strategy a while ago, and although it goes against logic, we added an extra step to his buying process on the web. Potential clients had to call him to go through a short interview process to decide whether they would be the correct fit to become clients. And wouldn`t you know it, he got more sales with fewer chargebacks and what he felt was better customer quality.
I do this in my business for my high-ticket items, and I genuinely only take those customers whom I think could get the right results from me.
What exclusive club can you create for your potential clients? I do so hope you can let me join. Oh, please let me join! Pleeaase!?!