“Good price for you sir, very cheap” I hear dozens of times as I walk past the hundreds of street stalls selling the same identical products. It must hard to make a good living as a stall owner in Vietnam when your competitor is next door and he sells the same thing as you for the same price.  “What do the successful stall owners do to stand out?” I thought to myself as I was pitched another tacky product for a “good price” that was “just for me”.

Market stalls in Vietnam

Here are two sales techniques that worked on me during my trip to Vietnam and Malaysia.

The Non Sales / Educational Approach

In Hoi An, Vietnam there are over 300 tailors you can choose from to make you custom clothes that could fill a wardrobe many times over. Only one got my business, and as a result the business of my girlfriend Em and our two travelling buddies, Shannon and Josh.

Here’s what was different about the tailor I chose and why they got our business:

• They were the only tailor who displayed men’s shirt in the front (which initially drew me in)
• Offered a really good price from the outset and didn’t try to rip me off on the first purchase (Lifetime value of a customer is much higher if you treat them well and don’t go for the once off sale)
• Educated us on different products they offered instead of trying to force us into buying them (Educational based marketing instead of hype)
• Cross sold me on other products after they delivered on the first product (Didn’t try to make all the money up front, instead they gave good service at a good price and ended up getting repeat purchases)
• We recommended the place to our friends after we had a good experience with them

As a result of going for the lifetime customer approach they ended up generating over $800 in business from our group (more than a months wage for most Vietnamese).

The Infomercial Approach

At a stall in Penang, Malaysia, my girlfriend was looking at handbags. Most stalls had given the initial price of $40-60 per handbag. At this stall, all of the bags were marked at $50-70 each. When Em expressed interest in a bag that was marked as $70, the owner quickly ran over and typed into his calculator the numbers ’30′, indicating the bag wasn’t in fact $70 but $30. Em was really happy with the price and the owner told her about the different features of the bag.

Em wanted to leave the stall and look at other shops so she could hunt for a better deal, but knowing that when someone leaves the store they aren’t likely to come back, the owner quickly ran over and said “if you get two bags the price is much less!”.

“How much then?” she asked.

The owner typed into his calculator ’36′, indicating $36 for two bags.

“Ok, now it just depends which two I want!” Em said with excitement.

This is common selling technique that you will see in infomercials or pitches at seminars, where the seller will value the item high and then discount it heavily. The buyer is usually moved into action when another item is thrown in for free or for a small price.

How You Can Use It

The main things which both salesmen did were:

• Smiled often and seemed happier than other sellers
• Had a different sales pitch
• Helped us make the right decision based on our needs instead of trying to sell us on the highest profit item

Nha Trang beach in Vietnam

Both selling techniques work, and depending on your product or service one of these methods might suit you better. If your clients are likely to have repeat transactions with you (clothes/hairdresser/investments, etc) the non sales / educational approach works best. If you are a selling a once of product or service and competing on price the infomercial approach works great.

{ 2 comments }