TAGS: #beijing
My Psychoanalysis of the Chinese Pearl Industry and Their Highly Effective Selling Methods
"What is a free gift? Are not all gifts free?"
– Anon
From the Hotel Room of: Raymond Fong; Beijing, China.
Sellucation – it works 🙂
While traveling in Beijing, my girlfriend and I got chauffeured to a huge pearl outlet and were greeted at the front door by several nicely dressed ladies, one of who led us inside. She then proceeded to guide us to a stand with a nice sized aquarium on top of it.
Inside the aquarium were a bunch of oysters the size of my hands. She handed my girlfriend the net and had her fish one out. (So ​​yes …. oyster fishing really is a sport in China, sort of ….) During this whole time the lady was giving us a lesson on oysters and pearls – the different colors, different types, different locations to get them, etc.
The Education Part of Sellucation Begins
It was nothing short of an education on oysters and pearls.
How fascinating. I never thought I'd care so much about oysters (most of the time I preoccupied with what sauce I want to pour over them before I devour them whole).
Once we got an oyster, the lady put it on the table, whipped out a knife and hacked into that poor lil 'oyster (it never had a chance) all the while asking us to take a guess as to how many pearls we can find inside.
She wrapped up the whole educational lesson of which if she had a killer headline it'd read something like this:
"Who Else Wants to Know the # 1 Way to Tell if That Pearl Jewelry is Fake and Save Yourself From Wasting Hundreds of Dollars?"
She showed us exactly how to tell if a pearl is real or not and showed us that test in action. We, on the spot, used the test on a fake and a real pearl. And lo-and-behold – the test works!
And before finally escorting us to their pearl warehouse, she gave us a free gift – the FRESH pearl from the oyster we just dug out.
The Result?
And at the warehouse ….? She was happily swiping our credit cards taking our orders. We felt GREAT making our purchase since we made sure that the pearls we were purchasing were REAL (just like that lady taught us).
Now that I've had time to dissect what happened, I realize that was one heck of a sales / marketing system harnessing the awesome power of sellucation. Let me explain.
The Enlightenment
Sellucation is the process of selling through education.
It is not so much about the selling as it is about educating your prospect such that they'd want to BUY from you.
You see, people hate to be sold to but they do LOVE to BUY. Sellucation is providing them with so much useful information that it's only natural that they perceive you as the expert and their advocate and want to buy from you.
Let's examine the pearl sales process in more details.
Breaking it Down …
First, she taught us about oysters and pearls, thereby encouraging us to invest some sort of interest in the subject at hand – oysters and pearls.
Then she had us actively fish for one inside the tank – we now have a sense of emotional attachment to that oyster and the treasures contained within. After all, it became our oyster since it was brought out through the fruits of our effort (never mind how little our efforts were, that's near the point; the point is we invested effort and great a sense of attachment).
She busted open the oyster and showed us the treasures within, all the while asking us an engaging question of " how many pearls do you think there are inside this (your) oyster? "
So beside the fact that it was " our " oyster she was cutting which meant the pearls inside were "ours" by default, we invested even more of our emotions because now we were subconsciously expecting our guess was correct.
We were actually looking forward to the actual solution and theby, completing that mystery / train of thought in our head.
By now, she definitely had us interested and also invested in this whole market of oysters and pearls – a market that I've never in my life ever expressed interest in.
The challenge is …. how do you transition this interest from JUST oysters and pearls to THEIR oysters and pearls?
The "Selling" Part of Sellucation
Easy. By conveying the message that they are a legit company selling REAL pearls and by gaining our trust.
Remember the part where they taught us how to spot fake pearls?
Well, by showing us how to spot fakes, they are basically saying "Look, we would try to sell you fakes immediately after showing you how to SPOT fakes? Of course not that and that's why you should trust and buy from us!"
And of course, the gift, who can forget about the free gift? Surely it's just the lady's nice gesture right? Surely she thought we were the cutest couple ever and wanted to reward us for being so good looking?
NOT! (I mean, we DO make a cute couple but that's not the reason for the gift.)
See, our human minds function in a manner that we are inclined to reciprocate. When someone does a nice thing for us, we have a tendency to want to do a nice thing back – not all the time and certainly not all of us, but a fair amount.
That gift subconsciously makes us feel somewhat indebted, that we should return that nice gesture. And what better way to do so than spending lots of money buying lots of pearls that which lady obviously gets a cut of?
Now you see?
At the End
All of this was a game of charades to get us to buy.
But do not get me wrong, we are happy with our purchases and we'd do it again. We as consumers felt we were properly treated, felt safe, and felt that we were not getting cheated with fake pearls. We were happy to buy with that peace of mind that was afforded to us.
THIS, my friend, is the power of sellucation – selling through educating.
This is a lesson you must keep in mind as you write you newsletters, reports, boot camp, articles, salespages, etc. This is the same method we teach in our Attraction Marketing Formula course – how to establish yourself not only as the expert, but also someone your reader trusts, advocates, confides in, and connects with.
By doing so, you'll be taking yourself to the top and adding much $$$ into your banking account.
To Affinity and Beyond,
Raymond Fong