Are Your Spending Limits Limiting You?

One of the exercises we often do at our speaking engagements is to ask the audience how much they think is "a lot" of money to spend on a particular item and to share their number with the person sitting next to them. When people hear each other's numbers, they often start laughing for one of two reasons: because to them, the other person's number is laughably high or laughably low.

My husband and business partner Richard and I are considered, “foodies.” What this means is, we will spend a lot of money on a great meal. You could say, when it comes to food, we’ve been known to spend like millionaires. We are legendary steakhouse fans (even though we are finally cutting way back!) But, one of the more expensive dinners for the two of us was at Strip Steak in Las Vegas which passed $500. There is a sushi place we love that is just a few miles from where we live. If we get all of our favorites, and drink wine, we come close to $300. (If you are ever in Orlando, Florida and you love sushi, go to Kabooki Sushi!)

So, when we ask the audience what "a lot" of money is to spend on dinner for two, for special occasion with everything they could possibly want, we get answers across the board. As much as we thought we were on the high end, we spoke for a company a couple years ago and the president and her husband have outdone us by a mile, having meals with bills of $1000. Yes, just for the two of them.

People's spending habits and decisions on what to spend their money on is as varied as there are people. There is no predicting it. And we know it's often based on emotion. Again, no way to predict. So, what to do?

This understanding of human nature has got to be something that all salespeople, no matter what you sell, take to heart. (Even if the prospect is not the one actually writing the check, this is still an issue.) And so we have two things to concern ourselves with when selling.

#1: Don't sell from your wallet. The key is we can’t let our preconceived notions of what people normally buy, usually choose, or typically spend on our products and services. (Reports with metrics do a great job at reinforce what's our "average" sale!) The only thing that matters when it comes to cost involved is, what the customer thinks and is interested in doing and spending. Don't let your "selling history" dictate the customer's "purchasing future."

#2: Have the courage to sell. Can you create and demonstrate enough value that even someone who might not have been willing to invest as much, sees the benefit in doing so. This requires that you not buy into a fear that someone won't go with the option you recommend because they can't afford it or simply won't do it. Often times (and studies have shown this) when people invest in the higher value purchases they are far more satisfied in the long run that they choose the "best" that was available.

Pay attention and work on not allowing your own mental spending limits, limit you or your customer. Now, I'm going out for some expensive sushi.

Have you read Go for No! yet? Pick it up at Amazon if you prefer. If you like audio books, you can find all of our books including Go for No! and a fable about money mindset called, The Diamond Line on Audible.