How To Sell Expensive Items

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While the high-margin items are the ones that keep your company in the green, a lot of people in sales lack confidence selling the most expensive items on the list.

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To win these sales, you need to approach them a different way.

A few things to keep in mind:

1. Be open-minded about your prospects

Never write off a prospect or assume they are not going to open their wallets and spend.

Even the most frugal people treat themselves now and then. And just because you've dealt with someone like this prospect before does not mean your future experiences will be the same.

Also never phone it in, no matter how unlikely you think the sale is. Any prospect, approached in the right way, can turn into a profitable sale.

Related: Features Tell But Benefits Sell

2. People will pay to have their problems solved

Even those who are usually loathe to spend money will happily part with large amounts to solve their biggest problems. Your job is to find out what they need and to explain how your product can help.

People tend to spend their money in the areas that give them the most value, so don't get too caught up focusing on your product's great features. Instead, talk in terms of the benefits that your product or service offers.

For instance, if you sell cars, find out why your prospect is in your lot looking for a new vehicle. Usually, there is a life event that has triggered the desire to pick out a new ride. They may have a new child on the way. They may have an older car that is getting to the limits of its useful life. Or, they've taken up a hobby like jet skiing and need something that can tow their toys to the water every weekend.

Once you know why they need a new vehicle, you can start suggesting the models that will address their problem the best.

Related: 5 Reasons Why Many Schools Don't Offer Degrees in Sales

3. Use positioning to nudge customers in the right direction

Say you walk into a sporting goods store and there are three home-exercise machines on display.

One is $3,200. It's a sturdy elliptical machine with programmable workouts, a heart monitor, an LCD TV with video games on it and a few other bells and whistles. There's also a really light weight barebones one for $300. The third has the heart monitor, the programmable workouts, a bookstand and seems to be pretty solidly built, all for $1,800.

Chances are, you will gravitate toward the middle option. Often, the highest end option is not the one that the seller wants you to buy. But, by first offering an option at an extremely high price, the slightly less expensive one seems that much more appealing and reasonable.

You can do the same in your own business by creating super premium offerings and putting them up for sale at super premium prices. This creates a psychological push toward the item you really want to sell.

4. Don't forget those upsells

Even when selling a mid-range product, you can easily increase the total sale by offering a number of add-on options.

Accessories are a no brainer. Related products are another area that can yield additional profits.

If you are selling a high-end grill, a grilling tool kit with a spatula, tongs, a meat fork and a couple other items is an easy one to add on. Then, start taking about the pizza oven attachment, smoker and the zero-delay instant read thermometer. Once someone has the grill of their dreams on the way, convincing them to enhance the experience further is not difficult at all.

Selling is not an adversarial game where either you or your prospect get one over on the other. Rather, it is a cooperative endeavor where you help them find the solution that will solve their problems and make them happy. Once you learn to approach each sale from this angle, you can increase your close rate and your profits.

Related: 5 Ways to Sell Smarter, Not Harder