Don’t sell the best – sell what they want

I don’t know about you, but when I’m at the supermarket buying everyday things I will choose quality depending on how I use the product. For example, if I am buying vegetables or meat I want fresh and hopefully tasty food. If I am buying flour or sugar I go for generic products – they are commodity products for most uses after all.

As consumers we all have a strong sense of where quality makes a difference and where you are willing to pay extra for the quality.

Now flip this on its head and look at what you are selling.

Will anybody care if you sell the highest quality product? Are people willing to pay for it? Can they see the difference in outcomes that make it worth paying extra for?  Are you obsessing about differences that your customers simply do not care about?

If your product or service doesn’t break through this threshold of indifference then you have two main choices.

For the mass market you should sell what the consumers want  (i.e. what they are already buying. )

The other alternative is to focus only on those who are willing to pay for the better service – in other words make the difference in quality so big that richer customers are willing to buy.