“How To Use "Scarcity" To Start
Selling More:  Real-Life Examples
Of A 300% Boost!”

by Craig Garber

Two weeks ago I talked about the how to use "scarcity" to make your product "sexier" and more "alluring"... and why this increases its perceived value to your prospects.

The specific example I showed you revolved around how to use scarcity to sell your car (and by the way, if you're selling your house, you can use the exact same technique).

If you didn't read this tip, or if you just want a refresher, check out what I'm talking about over here, at: “How To Dramatically Boost The Demand For Your Goods And Services!” (Hint: The Secret’s In Your Offer!).

Anyway, today I want to share some of the feedback I got on that article.  You never know, you might be able to benefit from listening to some of the ideas a few of my subscribers had.

In fact, I've found sharing ideas, or... as Napoleon Hill called it, "Masterminding" with other like-minded people, is one of the most beneficial business-boosting things you can do, and it's also a major turn-on, if you're the kind of person who enjoys getting your brain cells stirred up.

The key thing here, of course, is making sure you're "Masterminding" with sharp people, and not with...

Insipid Mindless Dolts!

Now the truth is, finding bright people in today's day-and-age -- is definitely a bit of a challenge -- but hey, whoever said ANY aspect of success was easy?

Anyhow... let's move onward.  Alan Saltz had this to say:

“A similar but slightly different scarcity tactic than the ones you mentioned, relates to raising your price.  Whether it's after a particular number sold or after a deadline, is up to the marketer.  I decided to set a deadline. I sell a course and had decided it was time to start charging more.  Of course, I wanted to use the occassion to encourage people on my list to take action.  So I sent out a notification about 7 days before the increase took effect, and again the day before it went into effect.  The 2 things I highlighted were 1) the fact that the same exact information they were considering today would cost significantly more in just a few days, and 2) the course was guaranteed for a year anyway.  The price was going from $47 to $69.95 -- an increase of over 48%. Sales were way up that week (300% or more) -- many from my list in response to the notifications, and also from first time visitors to my site (who were also notified that the price would be going up). If someone is considering an offer - the thought of paying more if they wait is pretty distasteful.  Even if the perceived value you create is more than the "soon-to-be" price, it doesn't sit well with us to pay the higher price, and it motivates us to act.  It's human nature. So... for anyone considering raising their price, I always suggest a promotion to that effect. It gets the people who are interested, but putting it off for some reason, to happily and excitedly take action.”

Alan's technique is a good one -- I know this first-hand because I've used it myself with similar results.

Let's take a closer look at some of the things he said, though... because they're important.

Remember, most often it's these little (seemingly insignificant, but actually highly effective) details that separate merely mediocre results...

From incredibly successful and astounding results!

First things first:

1.  Kudos to Alan for having the balls to raise his prices!  (And after seeing the value you're getting, I think his prices are still w-a-a-y too low!) 

"Raising your prices" is almost a universal recommendation I make to all my consulting clients.

And what usually happens?

Well, the answer is simple:  The one's who raise them, make more money, and the one's who are afraid to raise them, don't.

There are a number of ways to "get over" the fear of raising your prices, and a number of ways to "justify" doing this, but that's another lesson for another day.

2.  Letting your prospects know what they're going to be losing, by NOT acting now, is another very smart "psychological" move!

See, people always feel much more compelled to take action because of what they're going to lose out on (fear of loss), rather than what they have to gain.

Why?

Easy -- the same reason "scarcity" in general, works:  The more you "can't" have something, the more appealing it becomes to you.

The smooth move here, was in letting not just his existing prospects know about the upcoming price-hike, but letting his new prospects (people just landing on his website for the first time) know about the upcoming price boost as well.

3.  And lastly, sending out multiple reminders (Alan sent 2) about the upcoming price-hike, is also a very smart move.

And I'm willing to bet, both of these promotions counted strongly for the increase in sales.

Your prospects aren't necessarily going to listen to you the first time you tell them about something, any more than your kids listen to you the first time you tell them to take out the trash.

They Need Multiple Reminders, And Multiple Contacts!

And in this case, just like your kids... your prospects also need to know there's a consequence of NOT taking action.

Andy Gartner, from www.onealaskaweb.com, had this to say:

“I read your article on scarcity and was really getting into it until you started with the order by this date and receive a free bonus. The problem with your example of the car and the order by this date is that you did only have one car, but I would say that 99% of the time when I see order by midnight of this date if I go back to the site the day after, guess what? It still says order by midnight of next week. If you are selling an e-book as an example, there is no limit, there is no scarcity, people could download thousands of copies of the book and still never run out. I really liked your car example and hopefully we could use that in our business, but I think trying to create false scarcity will back fire in the end.”

Andy's got some good points here, but... he's also forgetting a couple of cardinal rules about direct-response, nearly all entrepreneurs lose sight of, because they're "too close" to their own businesses.

And they are...firstly,

You Are NOT Your Own Customer!

See, your prospects aren't direct-response marketers?

They're not familiar with "upselling"... using "scarcity"... "USP's"... "risk-reversal"... or any of your other selling techniques.

They take things at face value -- they're not "reading into" your promotion.

And you know what?

It doesn't matter, because secondly...

Who Cares About The People Who "Don't" Buy From You?

You're only focused on the ones who want your product badly enough to buy it, right?

Seeing a deadline on a website over-and-over again, is no different than seeing a deadline on a display ad in the newspaper -- maybe you'll buy... and maybe... you won't.

Depends on how much you want what the ad is selling, and how sweet the offer is.

But one thing's for sure:  NOT using a dealine or a scarcity technique GUARANTEES you'll make a LOT less sales, no matter what any one or two of your customers may think about it.

I have a whole slew of other thoughts about e-books in general, but again, this isn't something we can talk about here and now.

And finally, copywriter Michael Silk, from the UK, uses this scarcity technique:

He's selling a coaching program for a client of his, and he's limiting the amount of participants the program can accept.

But that's really not the "enticing" part.  The real "meat" of this promotion is that he's making the participants self-qualify by filling out some kind of questionairre.

Well, that's it for this week.  Talk to you later.

P.S.  I'm swamped with work and I haven't had the time to check these out, but one of my subscribers, called "Nick The Geek", offered me this, to pass on to you:

Craig, “Here's some software your subscribers can use to achieve a similar rush of sales ... http://www.salespagemaster.com (not an affiliate link) It's free and "Dynamic Deadlines" is one of its features.  There's also a paid version for $97 which gives you more features for the money: http://www.salespagemasterpro.com/ (not an affiliate link) The free version will get people up and running.  I hope that's helpful for you and your subscribers.”

I hope so too, Nick.

Have a great week.

Any comments?

Send them to me by scooting over to the contact form on my "Here's How To Contact Craig" page, and maybe I'll publish them -- I appreciate your feedback!

You can reprint, or link to this article, or to any article on this web site, as long as you include the following text-box:

“Craig Garber is America's top direct-response copywriter.  Join the ranks of Garber's swelling list of global VIP's who subscribe to his unconventional weekly marketing moments, and discover how to dramatically boost your sales and improve the response to your sales copy, on his website at http://www.kingofcopy.com. Copyright © Craig Garber.  All rights reserved.”

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