When you buy baked beans, do you choose any brand of beans, or will only Heinz do?

This question usually splits our seminar audiences in half.  For my family; only Heinz is good enough and I won’t buy any other brand of baked bean.  But why?  Especially when people (the other half of our audiences) tell me cheaper beans taste the same?

It’s because most of us don’t buy on price.  Emotions and perceptions are a very powerful tool – and that’s why blue-chip organisations spend a fortune building their brand.  Mr Heinz himself was famous for the acid test of branding – his vision was that any person entering a supermarket looking for a Heinz product but unable to find it would leave the store and shop for it somewhere else.  If all your customers did that, how powerful would it be?

So, if we don’t buy on price, what makes up our mind?

Risk is actually the major issue for most buyers.  Your product or service must represent the lowest risk (or the most safe and secure purchase decision).  People don’t like change and, buying from you for the first time represents change.  So they need some reassurance that your product won’t make them look foolish, or they won’t regret the purchase.  This is much more important than price or quality.

So, instead of labouring over the price of your product, think about how you can reassure customers and maybe shoulder some of the risk they’re taking.