Page 203 - 101 Ways to Market Your Business

101 WAYS TO MARKET YOUR BUSINESS

95 Offer a second opinion for free

I recently came across an advertisement for a mechanical
repair shop in the local newspaper. The advertisement
had a big heading (which I love) that said, ‘Are you sick
of being ripped off by your mechanic?’ This caught my
eye and I read on to discover that this clever mechanic
was offering a second opinion for free. If you had a quote
from another mechanic you could take it to them and they
would quote the job to make sure you weren’t getting
ripped off.

Imagine if the advertising mechanic’s quote is cheaper
than the one in your hand (which I am sure it always would
be). Who is going to get the work? This is a great way to
generate interest from customers in a very non-threatening
way. The clever mechanic is inviting people to come to
them to save money. I would get a second price on a big
mechanical job—would you?

Just about any business that offers higher priced prod-
ucts or services can make this offer. Most consumers are
aware that it pays to shop around. By putting the offer in
black and white you are reminding the customer to shop
around and hopefully your price will be better. Even if your
price isn’t better you get the customer into your business
where hopefully they will be impressed enough to use your
services anyway.

Another variation on this theme is that when a cus-
tomer rings for a price it pays to always give them a good
price but also to leave the inquiry open. Suggest that you
may be able to do better if they want to buy it today or
offer a discount if paying cash or perhaps if they intend to
buy more than one item.

I always find it interesting when I ring a business for
a price on something and they make no attempt to try and
close the deal or to offer an enticement to encourage me
to buy. A good way to help keep a person interested is to

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