ABSTRACT

The concept of purchasing and selling has always been associated with the idea of an exchange of a Product for Money. Nevertheless, from the customer’s perspective, what he is looking for is not merely a product, but a Solution, and what is willing to given up is more than money: its Efforts.
This prompts us to reconsider the concept of buying and selling: abandon the idea of selling simple items in order to sell what the product represents for the customers. An exercise of empathy and segmentation based on the expected solutions or on the burdening efforts is a great way to sell more.

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Almost right behind Valencia’s Town Hall there is a shop called “Herboristería Navarro”, a family saga, that now managed by Paula Navarro, an aromatherapy specialist, has grown turning into a 2,000 m2; and moreover, it has opened an outstanding SPA next door where they give massages that take you directly to heaven.

Herboristería Navarro is the type of store that everybody recommends in social websites (Lycos, vogue, salir.com,…). You can also find a great assortment of highly appreciated natural beauty products.

A notary, a person whose profession focuses on witnessing what really takes place, could say that in any sale transaction an exchange occurs: Product for Money.

At foros.vogue.es a person, “Mandarina”, said November 23rd 2007 that her boyfriend buys natural soap (or mud) with Dead Sea’s salts, and he seemed very pleased.

According to what “Mandarina” tells us, it is certain that a notary would certify that this girl’s boyfriend obtained a fantastic soap in exchange for a certain amount of money.

Nevertheless, in the same forum another person, “Lenor79″, wrote the following in the same conversation about the above-mentioned cosmetic products:

“Lenor79″ reveals says that the soap is what matters the less… the important think is that it is a “Mind-Blowing” experience. Definitively, the product is not what the item claims to be, but rather the meaning that it has for who buys it.

In order to achieve what is desired, a client has to do many things apart from paying:  to know if the product works, what is the exact name, where it can be obtained, how to get there (in the case of “Lenor79″, she mentions that she lives in Madrid), search for it on the shelves, pick it, queuing at the check out and then, finally, pay for it.

What a sales transaction really is

FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF THE CUSTOMER:
ALL PURCHASES ARE AN EXCHANGE: A SOLUTION
THAT I GET IN RETURN FOR THE EFFORTS THAT
I DON’T LIKE DOING, BUT THAT I ACCEPT TO MAKE.

The practical consequences

The first one is that if I want to sell more, I have to see things as they are: the way that the customer perceives them. This means stop selling molecules (or services) in order to sell what the product really represents for the customers.

Once this emphatic perspective is adopted, I have to be aware that the sales could increase in two ways: by improving the Solution that I offer or by diminishing the Efforts that bother the most to my customers.

I would recommend not starting by reducing the price, especially if for my preferred target customers of customers there are other Efforts, which are more of an issue.

What happens then with the famous Supply and Demand curves? –That theory that we have learned based on the idea that if price drops, demand rises–. The problem is not that the theory is false, it is worse: it is half-true. It reflects price sensitivity, but not other types of sensitivity: the hassle of getting the shop, the shopping time, the lines, the aesthetics, etc. If it were true, there would only be discounters.

However, we have to apply the method well

“People” do not exist. There are “peoples”. I mean there are segments. Therefore the expected Solution, just like the Efforts that each person is willing to make, are different for each type of customer.

Moreover, the customers’ expectations are different based, not only according to the nature of the product, but also according to their current situation or context.

To segment according to the expected solution or according to the efforts that bothers customers is a recommended exercise that could be very profitable, especially if innovation is aspired.

Lluis Martinez-Ribes
Source: Distribución Actualidad, the spanish magazine of retail
(nº 385, January 2008)