“When I shop I like to see the prices on everything, so I post my pricing on my website for everyone to see”
“…I’m being ‘transparent’”
Most people shopping for something are not shopping with price as the leading motivator.
The only reason price enters the buyers mind is because you’ve tripped an alarm.
If your messaging instead speaks to positioning yourself as the guide on the journey they’re looking to go on they will think different and look to inquire further.
Psychologically they don’t know why, but they want to know more.
And the analogy of apparel is a good one because we can all relate, so let’s expand.
Ever walk into a Louis Vuitton?
No prices on anything.
You have to ask and before they tell you they go over the features of the bag and more importantly they have you hold it and feel it.
Because it’s well built. The leather they use in LV bags is almost indestructible.
But it’s also soft, and you can tell someone built it with their hands.
They don’t do sales, and they recycle, shred or burn all unsold goods from a line.
Despite the enormous margins they will not ever clearance a bag.
Why? Because they’re not selling you a purse or a wallet.
They’re selling you an identity.
Louis Vuitton opened his first store in 1854; he began making handbags after the 1892 World’s Fair.
LV bags are timeless.
If you buy an LV bag today, you will be able to use it for another 20 years, at the least.
They’re a perennial seller.
Returns at LV are almost non-existent.
And people pay a premium to show off where they got it.
They don’t display pricing because a tag simply cannot convey the value of the bag.
Not because it has anything to do with “transparency”.
They know they would be doing you a disservice by letting you see the price before experiencing the bag.
It’s different if you’re walking into a Forever 21.
Ugly tags everywhere.
Why? Because walking in you know their value is in being a low price leader.
Paying $50 for anything at Forever 21 is viewed as overpriced and you’ll probably throw it away after a few wears if it doesn’t fall apart first.
The pricing is everywhere but what they don’t tell you is that it will never fit or look the same after you wash it.
No transparency.
Also, all their styles are based on current fads and trend. They’re not timeless.
Because of this returns at Forever 21 are crazy high.
Forever 21 buyers are not loyal in any way to the brand. In fact, they’d rather not say where they bought it.
They did $4.4 billion dollars in revenue, yet it had to file for bankruptcy last year.
The point is… context matters.
So again, if you make your message about you and how you’re “best” or “better than” then you compell the prospect to challenge your worth because you have no basis for your claims.
In their head they say… “you think you’re so good huh? I’ll be the judge of your value! How much do you cost?”
Good luck with that. It’s not good positioning.
If you live in a world of seeking tactic and trends and don’t pick up the bigger principles it won’t matter what the price is.
To bring it home, whether you choose to list your pricing or not is up to you. There is no wrong answer, but let us not improperly justify the reasons why we do it.
Posting or not posting your pricing does not make you look anymore transparent to the prospect. It’s not my opinion, it’s psychology.
A price tag cannot convey the value of something. Just because a price is there doesn’t mean you’re going to over deliver on your promises.
Maybe in YOUR mind you feel it does because you yourself are a price conscious shopper, but when is the last time you purchased a premium membership service at full price?
For most box owners it’s been a long time or because they started as a coach somewhere else. As a result, they may not have ever paid the premiums they’re asking.
The old saying goes, ” the best buyers are the best sellers”. It’s simply a matter of perspective.
Some markets, usually less competitive ones, can give more information. If you’re the only guy in town you get ton’s of traffic, you can use listing prices as a means to qualify the buyer.
If you’re in a “> “> “> saturated market or if you know your business has a big separator in what it provides, or if you are a premium level offering compared to the market it’s best to spend time building value before delivering price simply because your competition won’t.
People don’t buy on price, they buy on value. It’s simple math. If the offering is $100 but they feel like they’re only going to get a $50 return in value they don’t buy.
If something is $200 but they feel like they’re going to get $2000 in return in value they will almost ALWAYS buy. It’s simply a matter of two things:
– Making the problem aware enough to emotionally make a decision to invest in what they need.
-Justify the purchasing decision with enough logic to where it’s an unarguably good decision to act now.
And as the marketer of your business, you actually DO get choose how people make decisions.
That’s the point of good marketing, to best position your gym and lead prospect down the path of buying in a way that serves them.
The opposite of that is HOPE based marketing and it’s not a good place to be. So level up.
What we do at Spark CrossFit that works really well, is we have Gymnetics linked up to a Pricing tab in the navigation bar. The prospect can click this, then there is a pop-up that offers to immediately text them the info.
We’ve been testing this for years and 9 out of 10 people who click this pop-up enter their info. We then add them to a proper follow up sequence in Gymnetics to get them the info they need and nurture them short and long term.
You would be surprised how effective of a lead generation tool this has become and we’ve implemented this with over 100 gyms with Big Little Gyms. Over 200 leads a year are generated from this form.
So the point is, know and leverage buyer behavior with a strategy that serves both you and them best.
