Working in a store where we sell products from 10 cents to 1,000 dollars, it can be difficult to find what pricing customers are looking for. A few months ago, there was a man in the remote control car section of our store, looking at all of the models we had to offer. Being somewhat unfamiliar with the R/C department, I naturally assumed that he would want a cheaper car because I certainly would not be willing to spend anything more than 300 dollars on a remote controlled car. After talking to the man for a few minutes, just hearing about his backstory in R/C, I recommended a few cars that I thought would be a good fit for him. After a bit of telling him what the specs on the car was, he looked really dissatisfied so I recommended a car that was a bit more expensive. Yet again, he was dissatisfied and then he saw one car that was by far the fastest and most expensive, pricing at 1,000 dollars. He was a bit frustrated as to why I didn’t tell him about that one first and he immediately bought it without a second thought.
That day I learned a lesson that my budget is not my customer’s budget, whether it be higher or lower. So, from that day on, when customers ask me what I would recommend, I always ask what price range they are thinking and go from there. I have found this to be extremely helpful and it has given me many satisfied customers!
I can relate to this in so many ways. It is incredible how people think and more importantly just how differently people think. I often find myself trying to put myself in someone else’s shoes in a situation only to realize that what I am thinking is not what they are thinking. So this too is a fact when it comes to pricing in the business world. Having been into the RC car world for quite some time as a teen I can completely understand where the man was coming from, as far as being willing to drop a band on a remote control car.