One of the easiest and most successful ways to make more money with your business is to develop high-priced products that will make you a profit even when you’re making a much smaller number of sales than you might make with a lower-priced product.
Many business owners understand that they need to offer more expensive products, but they don’t know how to get started. Here are a few tips that should help you come up with ideas for your next blockbuster product.
The main thing you will need to do is some thinking about what exactly your customers and potential customers need and how you can give them more value.
Start by asking yourself and your team some big questions about your prospects’ wants and needs, such as:
- How can I deliver 10x -100x value or more to my customers? (Meaning that when they use the product they’ll get back 10x -100x what they paid for it.)
- What could I offer my clients that would really amaze and astonish them?
- How can I get my customers to the ULTIMATE end result they really want? Is there a way I can I hand them everything they need on a silver platter?
- What realistic way can I create a reason for increased price and scarcity? (Limited edition, etc.)
- How can we create an “Advanced”, “Gold” or “Premium” version of what we’re already offering? (Think American Express Gold, Platinum, Centurion cards.)
I’m sure you can come up with more of these sorts of questions that will fuel your imagination. Sit down with a blank Word document or an empty notebook and begin brainstorming. Just in case it’s been awhile since you’ve had a brainstorm, here are the rules:
- No idea is too crazy – write it all down.
- Say or write down everything that comes to you, no self-censoring.
- Get wild and crazy, and don’t criticize your ideas (or anyone else’s, if you’re doing this with other people).
- Piggyback and “PLUS” ideas.
- Remember that quantity is really what you are going for without introducing your analytical side yet.
- Set a time limit of a half hour or so and keep going until time is up. If you’re still having ideas, keep going a little longer.
Once you’ve completed your brainstorm, take a break, have a snack or go for a walk. Think about something else for a while. You might even want to let the list sit for a couple of days. While you’re not consciously thinking about it, your mind will still be working on the issue, and when you come back to the list you’ll be able to easily pick out the jewels.
Refine your brainstorm by selecting the ideas that are actually feasible and that still sound good to you as ways to provide real value to your clients. If there are ideas you’d like to be able to do but you aren’t sure you can pull them off the way you described them in your brainstorm, take some time to think about how you might spin them in a way that would work for you and your customers.
The idea is to come up with a package or a program that will blow your prospects away. This is the product they always wanted, the thing they’ve been looking for that will drive them to success.
Once you have a firm idea of what you want this product or program to look like, get started implementing your plan. The universe likes speed, so take action as soon as you can. You don’t want to just throw something together, of course, but don’t let the idea fester too long. Get moving forward.
If you’re having doubts about charging higher prices, I’ve found the biggest barrier is in our own mind. We don’t think we know enough to make our product worth that much money, or we think that because everyone else in our marketplace has a product selling for “x” and we should do that, too.
There is no reason not to develop a higher priced product just because no one in your niche has done it before. In fact, that’s probably the best reason to do it, because you have no competition for those customers who want the high-end product. There are always going to be ‘Neiman Marcus’ customers and ‘K-Mart’ customers. Inside your customer base right now you have premium customers who are waiting for an offer from you that’s in their comfort zone of pricing.
I was amazed, for example, when I sold my high-priced MasterMind group at $20k that about 25% of the members who signed up had not purchased any of my other lower-priced products from me first. It sounds crazy, right? But that’s a perfect example of people willing to pay you handsomely ONLY if you create a premium offer.
There’s no reason you can’t start with a Basic and Premium version of your offering as a small step in the right direction.
