A sales person knows that anyone and everyone can be a potential customer–including the penny-pincher. What a lot of sales people may not realize is that the penny pincher really is willing to buy something from you, but it’s just hard figuring out what that something is, isn’t it?!
From my experience as a sales person, I have found that many of my penny pincher customers are not usually low on cash. They are just severely cautious about what they are going to spend their money on. So it is going to take a little more work on your part to make them feel comfortable with buying things from you. But if you practice these steps, you can get a sale from the penny pinchers instead of just giving up on them altogether. Let’s get started…
1. Start with what’s on sale. A good ice breaker is to introduce any sales or promotional deals you have going on. Even if a sale is still on the pricey side, a penny pincher would feel a bit more comfortable with the fact that the item is now cheaper than usual. Again, penny pinchers aren’t usually low on cash, they just aren’t too fond of the idea of wasting their money. But an item that is marked down seems like more of a deal to them, so always start with whatever is on sale.
2. Move on to popular products. When you introduce products to penny pinchers that many of your other customers love, you will make them feel more comfortable with it. Penny pinchers don’t like to take too many risks with their money, but trying to sell them a product that many of your customers have shows them that the item must be of good quality. Introduce it by saying, “Here’s a product that is very popular with our customers”. That is enough to at least get them interested.
3. Give them samples & demonstrate products. Samples and demonstrations are a great way for penny pinchers to see that the product actually works. Let them touch the product themselves so they can get the feel of it. This strategy actually works with all customers. Once a customer gets the opportunity to experience the product for themselves, they are more likely to purchase it–if the experience was a good one, that is.
4. Talk about quality. When you have an item that you truly believe in, it shouldn’t be hard for you to tell your customer why the product works. Penny pinchers are not the only ones that want to make sure they are buying a product of value, but they are more cautious about spending money, so you must lay out all the reasons why they should buy the item you are selling. Once an item is seen as having high quality, the customer may feel as if it is worth the money.
A penny pincher is nothing more than a cautious buyer. They may be difficult to deal with, but they are still just as valuable as all your other customers so do your best to satisfy them. I personally have found that they sometimes make larger purchases than the other customers, but they must feel that the item is worth it. And it is your job as the sales person to prove that to them. Good luck.