When it comes to cosmetic products, I’m the definition of an average guy: I have one stick of deodorant, one bottle of body wash, and one tube of hair gel.
In essence: I don’t really give a s*** about high-end cosmetics products because they’re not important to me.
So Imagine My Surprise When I Was Approached by a Cosmetics Saleswoman at the Mall Today
I thought she might have been confused: Why would she choose me, of all people, to approach?
Well, 20 minutes and $65 later, I realized how smart she was to approach me with the face cream offer.
Here are the five steps that she used to connect my wallet with her product that all marketers should incorporate into their tool bag.
1. Doing Your Homework
The saleswoman made a big assumption when she walked up to me: She assumed that I was a pretty regular guy and, as such, didn’t spend a ton of time or money on upscale cosmetic products.
She then framed the problem and gave a solution:
- Problem: Men don’t normally take care of themselves by purchasing high-quality cosmetics because they’re ‘lazy’ or ‘uninterested’
- Solution: Her product only takes an additional 30 seconds to use once a week
2. Setting the Buying Stage
Encourage customers to get into the habit of saying ‘yes’ early in the relationship, as it’s a contagious feeling that develops a sense of trust between both parties.
Also, by asking ‘yes’ questions you can walk customers into a mental corner where every answer became a ‘yes’.
Questions that this saleswoman asked me included:
- Do you have a lot of face time when you’re conducting business?
- Do you look at someone’s face the first time you meet them?
- If you could fix any redness or blemishes on your face, would you want to?
3. Ability to Purchase
When you’re taking the time to engage a potential customer, do you know if they actually are in the market for some version of your product / service AND can afford to buy it?
Even though I wasn’t in the market for face cream, she knew that I was in the market to buy something at the mall by asking one simple question:
What are you shopping for today?
When I answered that I was there for a couple new pairs of sneakers, she was able to do the math and realize that I was already in the mindset of spending about $100 (estimate $50 per pair of shoes x 2 pairs of shoes = $100) and that I definitely had the mindset of buying something in the general price range she was selling.
4. Why Buy Now?
I kept putting her off with the statement “If I want to buy this, I’ll come back in 3 days time and buy it from you.”
Her response was this: Why wait? Let’s try the product out now.
To prove her products worth, she applied the cream to my left arm and left my right arm untouched. The difference was actually pretty phenomenal — her product delivered!
By demo-ing her product and showing me how well it worked, the natural next question became: What are you waiting for?
5. Why Buy Instead of ‘XYZ’ …
When you’re connecting buyers and sellers, you have to prove that your product is the one consumers should be parting cash from their wallet for.
So how do you frame your product to look like the end-all-be-all of products?
Simple: Create an undeniably true statement that makes the customer realize that you are right.
A good example of the way she framed it was …
- Her: “Do you remember what color my shoes are?” (me: yes, they are black)
- Her: “Do you know what color my eyes are?” (me: yes, they are brown)
- Her: “Why do you remember my eye color quicker? That’s right, because people remember faces better than clothing.”
She completely disarmed me with that interaction because she was correct. I did remember her eye color because the entire time she was selling me, I was staring at her face. Anytime I sell someone on my own company, I look them in the face (specifically, the eyes) to establish a sense of trust.
At the End of the Day …
True entrepreneurship is about proving that your product deserves a buyer. How are you going about proving this on a daily basis?
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Aside from being the CEO at MKG Media Group, Mike is a dark beer aficionado with a healthy appetite for travel and pushing personal boundaries.
A proud graduate of Washington State University, Mike currently calls San Francisco home.