Is Your Presentation and Your Positioning Right?

Presentation can not only help you convert exposure in to showings, but you’ll also need it to convert showings in to offers and to negotiate those offers. It’s not just about getting more people through the door, or getting them to make an offer; the positioning of the product will also impact how much they’re willing to pay.

Let's think about it this way

If you’re going to buy a really nice pair of jeans and you go to the mall. You go to Nordstroms, find the jeans, and look at the tag, you wouldn’t be surprised to see the price of $100 or even more. If you love jeans and can afford to pay that price then you’d probably buy them and be excited to wear them.

Now let’s say you go to Marshalls or TJ Maxx. You find that same pair of jeans (probably in a random part of the store you wouldn’t expect to find a pair of jeans lol) same price tag: $100. Would you expect to pay for that? Probably not. You’d look for the Marshalls sticker that says $59.99 or maybe even $49.99. 

If you’re a really thrifty shopper you might shop at the thrift store. You’re not looking for beat up worn-out jeans but you are looking for something nice, as rare as it may be. If you found that same pair of jeans; even if someone bought them, never wore them, and donated or sold them to that store with the $100 tag still on them; how much would you expect to pay? $25? Maybe less than that? 

How about you’re driving through the neighborhood and you see a garage sale, you stop by and start looking around, and you find a really nice pair of jeans on a table. OMG they still have the tag on them: $100. How much would you pay for it at a garage sale? $20? Any more than that and you probably don’t feel too excited about your find or your purchase. 

How do you want to present your product, and how are you positioning your product (your home)?

Like Nordstrom or Macys with bright lights and a clean look throughout the store, salespeople in suits, and clean-cut outfits? 

Like Marshalls? It’s not perfect, some days the store may be cleaner and better organized than others, however, buyers are there for the inventory not the aesthetic of the store anyway.

Like a thrift store? Buyers have to really work to find your product here. Most wouldn’t even think to look here. If they do shop here, they’re not expecting much help finding what they’re looking for. What’s in it for them? A drastically discounted price of course.

Garage sales can be hit or miss, a high-traffic area will help, other garage sales going on in the same neighborhood on the same day, and an approachable seller standing nearby and ready to help at the right time. Even with all of that in the sellers' favor, buyers are still looking for a great deal.

To sum it up

Presentation is more than pretty photos of the product, it’s the environment in which the product is sold. It's the positioning of the product. It’s not just important for attracting people to the product, it’s important to the perceived value of the product. 

There’s a famous marketing book from the ’80s called “Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind” here’s an excerpt from the book: 

“Blind taste testings of champagne have often ranked inexpensive California brands above

French ones. With the labels on, this is unlikely to happen. You taste what you expect to taste.

Were it not so, there would be no role for advertising at all. Were the average consumer rational instead of emotional, there would be no advertising. At least not as we know it today.”

 

The point they’re making relates back to my point: champagne buyers aren’t paying for the taste. They’re paying for the label. The label indicates where the champagne is from which creates an emotional connection and holds a position in the mind of the champagne drinker/buyer. 

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