Climb the Buyer Ladder

Climb the Buyer Ladder
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Ed_Wills]Ed Wills

Where does your product or service fit on the buyer ladder? Could moving your product or service up a rung on the ladder increase sales and improve your core business? Absolutely.

First, let's take a look at the ladder.

High Emotion - Significant Uniqueness

Low Emotion - Significant Uniqueness

High Emotion - Little Uniqueness

Low Emotion - Little Uniqueness

Luxury products such as Harley Davidson motorcycles, fine wines and diamond jewelry tend to fit on the top rung of the ladder. These products tend to carry a good deal of status and a high price tag. Purchasers will spend a good deal of time considering the purchase and making sure they are buying pleased with it. Everyday "brandless" products tend to fall on the bottom rung of the ladder. For example, what brand of paper clips are in your desk? Purchasers tend to spend little time considering the purchase and will probably just buy the cheapest one or the most convenient.

The key to a marketer is to raise your product or service up a rung on the ladder. Major corporations do this all the time. Look at the high emotional content of a Charmin toilet tissue ad. Do we really need an emotional attachment to our toilet paper? Marketers also attempt to increase uniqueness. Kleenex and Puffs go head to head with designer packaging, added lotions and pastel colors. That's a lot of hype for something you are going to blow your nose with and throw away. So whatever your product or service, there is probably a way to increase its emotional involvement or perceived uniqueness.

Automotive repair shops can email digital photos of customer's cars during the day to show progress of the repair. This will increase consumer involvement in the process and elevate emotional attachment as well as provide a unique attribute of your shop compared to other shops that do not provide that service. Customer surveys are great tools for increasing a consumer's "ownership" in your business. Community involvement including sponsoring juvenile sports, high school drama clubs, and public charitable assistance are great ways to increase a community's sense that your shop belongs to the community and not some absentee corporate entity. There is no greater coup for a marketer than to get customers to refer to a shop or service provider as "my coffee shop", "my book store" or "my mechanic".

If you are part of a franchise, your franchisor's marketing support has probably already done the leg work for you, developing ad campaigns that involve emotional attachment and create a sense of uniqueness. If you are an independent entrepreneur, the cost of bringing in a marketing consultant might seem daunting, but could be worth the expense. Another option is to spend some time surveying your existing customers. Find out their likes and dislikes. Why do they do business with you? Find their emotional attachment and use it to market to others.

So invest some time and effort in finding ways to increase emotional attachment or perceived uniqueness of your product or service. You will be pleased with the long term benefits.

Ed Wills is a franchise and small business startup consultant with WFA Franchise Consultants. He specializes in helping people identify business opportunities that will help them reach their personal and financial goals. He writes, speaks and coaches on a variety of business and success topics. You can learn more about his services or request a free consultation at [http://www.WFAFranchiseConsultants.com]http://www.WFAFranchiseConsultants.com.

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