How to Sell to the Rich – Part 4

There are only two types of products in this world: need to have products, and want to have products.

Need to have products are the typical staples of life: food, clothing, a roof over one’s head, a car, a lover on the side (no, just kidding).

Want to have products are, by definition, products you don’t need to have:  caviar, an Armani wardrobe, a 24-room mansion, a Lamborghini in the garage, two or more lovers on the side. 

Now, for the most part, the rich really don’t need anything, but the list of what they want is nearly endless.

By the way, how you go about selling the staff of life (need to have products) versus how you go about selling the frills and adornments of the good-life (want to have products), from a tactical and strategic perspective, is distinctly different, and a subject for another post.

Nonetheless, how would you, as a marketer, go about selling to the rich… a pair of scissors made of 24kt gold?

Now scissors are, by and large, a need to have product. And your market research has already determined that there is a large and viable market for a pair of quality shears.

But you’re looking to sell to the rich – and you want to sell them shears made of 24kt gold – something they clearly don’t need, and probably don’t want. Yet, you’ve got a warehouse filled with enough gold to make Fort Knox look like a run down trailer park.

So how do you sell a pair of 24kt gold scissors to the rich?

Would your marketing efforts tout the quality of the scissor cut, the durability of the blades, its ease of use, etc. etc.?

No. Scissors are scissors. Okay, some are better than others, and some cost more than others.

But who the hell in their right mind needs a pair of scissors make of 24kt gold that cost more than a mortgage payment? The rich, who else!

But wait… do they need it? No, of course not. Do they want it… well, a lot of what the rich will buy are items that they don’t need or want – at least not at first.

Sure, it’s easy to sell the rich on a private Mediterranean cruise, dinner at 5-star restaurant, jewelry from Tiffany’s.

But what if they never heard of your product, or it has no immediate, intrinsic or universal cache…

So, how do you sell a pair of scissors made of 24kt gold – or anything for that matter – to the rich?

The answer is in the next and final post of this series… so stay tuned.

–Barry

www.WritingWithPersonality.com

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