“Always Give ‘Em Something to Reject.”
“Oh no, these definitely won’t do.”
She gingerly placed the scissors down on the counter with the smugness of one who had just proven the Mona Lisa a counterfeit. Charlie tried a different brand on the next visit, but those too couldn’t cut it.
The third time was a charm, as they say. Charlie unzipped a brand-new, Corinthian leather case with twenty pairs of gleaming grooming scissors in dazzling display on a black, crushed velvet field.
“These are exactly what I was looking for,” she proudly proclaimed, grasping the very same pair of brushed-satin scissors deemed unacceptable just two weeks prior.
Now that’s what you call “shear delight.”
And it’s freedom of choice in action.
The ability to select from an array of alternatives empowers us. We have weighed the daunting options, deployed our agile intellect and deft discernment, applied our personal criteria, and exercised our preference. The wheat has been duly sifted from the chaff.
We feel good about the decision -and about ourselves.
Charlie’s experience reminded me of designing movie 1-Sheets, you know, the posters plastered on theatre walls hawking some upcoming blockbuster that you just gotta see. The majority of 1-Sheets are designed by smaller “boutique” advertising and design firms that specialize in entertainment marketing. My dad owned one of those companies.
When developing a campaign for marketing a movie, he would present multiple ideas or concepts to the studio decision-makers. Why? Not only because there usually is more than one way to market a movie, or even because the film might have a variety of potential audiences.
“You always have to give them something to reject,” declared dad.
No matter that he had adeptly performed the “Vulcan Mind Meld” with the studio executives and produced a marvelous masterpiece of marketing that was exactly what they had envisioned.
He would still accompany that presentation with several less satisfactory, alternative directions, thereby making his preferred concept stand even taller. Otherwise, human nature and executive prerogative being what they are, he would have risked having his superb solution blasted out of the creative universe by the studio’s photon torpedoes.
Just like those brushed-satin scissors on the first go-around.
Now, every salesman worth his salt knows that you never offer a customer the choice of “do you want this or not,” but “do you want this or that.” Even better, perceptive retailers position product or service choices in threes: Good, Better, and Best.
(Obviously, good is not as good as it gets.)
Think car wash. There’s the Basic Wash Package and the Deluxe Wash Package. Then there’s the Super-Duper, Bells-a-Ringin’, Lights-a-Flashin’, Hand Wash, Spray Wax and Spit-Shine Package. Good, Better and Best in operation; something to select and something to reject.
Of course, Good, Better and Best are also reflected in the price.
Thus, the upside of giving customers something to reject is that you are also allowing them to upsell themselves, maximizing your potential profits with minimal additional effort.
Most grooming shops I’ve seen post their prices “ala cart,” if they publish them at all. True, such affords the discerning dog owner the freedom to choose, with plenty to reject. But that doesn’t necessarily result in more robust revenues for the groomer.
Enter Good, Better and Best.
A few savvy shop stewards have discovered that when grooming services are “bundled,” as retailers refer to such consolidation, they see an up tick in profits.
Take for example, Muttropolitan, in Los Angeles, a “sophisticated, modern salon for chic downtown pets,” according to their web site. While they do post many of their services “ala carte,” they also offer full-service grooming packages, uniquely designated “Refresh,” Touch-Up,” and “Make Over.”
Of course, we naturally expect that a “package” results in a savings over the combined cost of the individual elements therein. However, when your customers purchase more of your services more often you’re truly volumizing your profits.
In the process, the precious pooch’s “mommy” has been duly empowered to exercise her prerogative to pamper the pup with special “spa” type treatments. And, she usually will even feel better about having spent more in the process.
Everybody wins, including the dog.
And Charlie? You’d best believe that the brand-new, Corinthian leather case with twenty pairs of gleaming grooming scissors in dazzling display on a black, crushed velvet field has become another appendage.
The only problem now is keeping it stocked.
About the Author: Randy Pate, Marketing Director of WAGS, may not be a marketing maven, but he does know a lot about rejection.
