Start at the Top and Work Down

Many people start their presentations and sales processes by offering the lowest priced items first. Try the following technique instead; it’s the butcher rule.

Some of you may not know that I was a meat cutter for many years.

When a customer asked me what to have for supper, it started a process. I asked what they were hungry for, trying to narrow down the types of meat. The three basic choices were beef, pork, or chicken. For the sake of this article, we will say beef was the answer.

My next question was “Are you hungry for a roast, steak, or ground beef?”

Once I had this information, I would recommend items in that category—and I would start with the higher priced items.

If the answer was ground beef, I didn’t start with the cheapest grind in a family pack. I would start with the 93% lean organic ground beef. If that didn’t work, I moved down to lower priced items until the customer accepted. I could make a case for every grind that we sold. My approach was significantly different from the way most sales people Operate; most offer the lowest priced items first and sell up.

Think how much easier it is to sell a $4.99 ground product after you have shown and talked about all the benefits of the $9.99 first. The customer feels the lower priced option is a deal, and it’s still more than the lowest priced $2.99 product that’s available.

This process gives customers what they want at a price that’s perceived as lower, and the shop makes a larger sale. Once you make the meat sale, it’s time to start selling other areas of the store. “Are you having hamburgers? You are. Do you need buns? How about tomatoes? And a nice bottle of pinot noir would be good with those, too.” The customers leave with all they needed, and we increase our sales.

This practice has been going on in all good meat markets for decades. But how can you use it in your business? What would it mean for your business if all of your customers purchased 25 percent more every time they came in, then left happy about spending the extra money? What would it take for you to develop a system like this in your business? How can you train your staff to implement it? Can you do this on your website? Answer these questions and see your sales explode!

To your success.

Have a great week.

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