MAKE PAYMENT DEPENDENT ON RESULTS – Best Sales and Marketing Ideas #18

101 Best Sales and Marketing Ideas

IDEA 18:

MAKE PAYMENT DEPENDENT ON RESULTS

Buying anything entails some risk. Customers wonder, will it be good, will it work, and will it last? And will I regret buying it? Understandably, if something is seen as expensive these sorts of feeling are intensified. People tend to worry less if they see something as good value, or are offered a special deal. But there is another way to reduce their perception of risk.

Idea

This idea comes from m62 visual presentation (and others)…

One sure way to change the perception of both risk and price is to offer a price linked to result or satisfaction. I mentioned this company on page 25: it specializes in creating high-powered persuasive presentations for organization involved in big-ticket selling. Some would say its services are expensive, although its results are impressive. With certain kinds of client situation it offers a result-based price: if the presentation it creates is designed to win a specific piece of business or contract, there is a reduction in price if the bid is unsuccessful. So in a sense, it asks for a higher price if all goes well or a lower one if it does not.

Clearly a supplier doing this has to be confident in the satisfaction it delivers, and there is often an element of risk too. In this example m62 cannot control the circumstance in which its client makes their pitch, or exactly how they do it. But the sales person able to offer this certainly creates both novelty and differentiation.

This technique is used by many businesses. I have seen it in circumstance as different as a restaurant (you pay what you think the meal was worth, which is actually what most customers do with regard to a tip), consultative services, and a motivational speaker.

In practice

  • One caveat: there needs to be a considered and organized policy here. Precedents can be set. The deal for one customer may upset another (and yes, others will get to know), so an individual sales person should check before initiating such an offer in isolation.

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