Issue #53 How to be the $1000 bargain meal
I went to the Olive Garden the other day.
It was going through the sales wringer – every five minutes, they offered me more wine or tried to upsell me on something. Did you know they sell cheese graters?
I turned my head, and my plate, with the last couple of saucy bites, had been replaced by the bill.
This is how most MSP owners treat their customers, sell, sell, sell, and get them out the door.
There is a better way, taught to me by a 300-pound chef in Antwerp, Belgium, and available to you in template form.
First, some updates:
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💰 How do you know who is your most valuable customer? Calculate their Lifetime Value. How do you calculate Lifetime Value (LTV)? So glad you asked (read more).
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One of my all-time favorite restaurants was in Antwerp, Belgium.
It was spectacular.
Like we’d just stepped into the glossy centerfold of Europe’s Most Enchanting Restaurants monthly.
There were no menus.
Instead, the chef, 300 pounds if an ounce, came to our table to discuss meal options.
He waxed poetic about the fresh ingredients he had bought earlier and asked us about our preferences.
He mentioned particularly delicious sweetbreads; I told him I was tempted but would pass. Sweetbreads are not in my standard dining repertoire, so I preferred something else as the main course.
“I’ll see what I can do,” he said as he turned back toward the kitchen.
After he left, food, drinks, and wine began arriving, paired and timed, leading up to the main course, then topped off with dessert.
I don’t remember my meal, but I was blown away by the sweetbreads he served as an accent just because I suggested I’d like them that way.
The price was exorbitant compared to the Olive Garden, but we left happy and not feeling at all ripped off.
So why can an Antwerpian charge hundreds of dollars per person, and everybody leaves happy, while the Olive Garden struggles to squeeze out another $11.99?
I have talked about competing on price before, and whether you know it or not, you are not competing on price.
Competition is always on value, trust, and relevance.
The price depends on alternatives; if you ignore value, trust, and relevance, there are many comparable options, and you can’t charge a high price.
The Antwerp restaurant set the stage before we walked in.
The Michalean stars by the entrance helped establish trust. But, we also met the chef whose size alone let us know that he knew food!
He listened, and he used his expertise to give us the impression of a tailored experience. He didn’t convince or cajole, he prescribed.
Note, though, that he didn’t reinvent anything.
As “tailored” an experience as it was, the menu was much more limited than Olive Garden. But he knew his stuff and could adjust what he had to make it perfect for all of us at the table.
The Olive Garden had everything available and pushed it all on us – constantly. It felt like one long, bad sales pitch.
In Antwerp, we paid happily. At the Olive Garden, the money felt squeezed out.
I want you to sell like the Antwerpian chef, and am providing you with the template to help you do just that.
Our Irresistible Value Statement template takes you through the process of creating a value statement so engaging that your prospects clamor to do business with you.
Use it to focus your conversation on value, build trust and establish relevance.
This way, your prospects look forward to what you have to offer, and you don’t have to twist their arm to see what falls out.
They might even thank you for the sweetbreads you were probably trying to get rid of…
How do you know if your value statement resonates?
Ask your team.
Don’t have a team?
Well, that is why we created Thrivers360, first two meetings are free…
Bye-bye blue light special – how Kmart became irrelevant
Kmart, the once-ubiquitous discount chain, is down to three stores in the US. But they did not close because people stopped buying the products that Kmart sells; they closed because their value proposition was off.
Target and Walmart siphoned off their customers with a more compelling value proposition, leaving Kmart with the right inventory but no customers to buy it.
How to avoid being a Kmart in a sea of Walmarts and Targets? Well, first, start with your Value Statement.
But also think about your strategic advantage; if you are in Thrivers or Platinum, go to the strategy section of the compass training. And I will talk more about strategic advantage n two weeks.
Great stuff from around the web
- 🧐 You’ve played Wordle, but do you know the story of how a pet project became worth a seven-figure buy-out? Interesting… read more.
- 💸 Tax season is almost over! Want to procrastinate while feeling that you are also doing something about taxes? Take this quiz.
- 😐 Sometimes, people fear that their niche is too small, fear not, dear MSP owner, if there is a fashion show for ducks and people pay $22 for dehydrated water, somebody will buy what you offer.
