4 Tactics to Sell Expensive Products Once you learn to approach each sale from using these strategies, you can increase your close rate and your profits.

By Brian Ainsley Horn Edited by Dan Bova

Opinions expressed by BIZ Experiences contributors are their own.

Shutterstock

While the high-margin items are the ones that keep your company in the green, a lot of people in sales lack confidence selling the most expensive items on the list.

To win these sales, you need to approach them a different way.

A few things to keep in mind:

1. Be open-minded about your prospects

Never write off a prospect or assume they are not going to open their wallets and spend.

Even the most frugal people treat themselves now and then. And just because you've dealt with someone like this prospect before does not mean your future experiences will be the same.

Also never phone it in, no matter how unlikely you think the sale is. Any prospect, approached in the right way, can turn into a profitable sale.

Related: Features Tell But Benefits Sell

2. People will pay to have their problems solved

Even those who are usually loathe to spend money will happily part with large amounts to solve their biggest problems. Your job is to find out what they need and to explain how your product can help.

People tend to spend their money in the areas that give them the most value, so don't get too caught up focusing on your product's great features. Instead, talk in terms of the benefits that your product or service offers.

For instance, if you sell cars, find out why your prospect is in your lot looking for a new vehicle. Usually, there is a life event that has triggered the desire to pick out a new ride. They may have a new child on the way. They may have an older car that is getting to the limits of its useful life. Or, they've taken up a hobby like jet skiing and need something that can tow their toys to the water every weekend.

Once you know why they need a new vehicle, you can start suggesting the models that will address their problem the best.

Related: 5 Reasons Why Many Schools Don't Offer Degrees in Sales

3. Use positioning to nudge customers in the right direction

Say you walk into a sporting goods store and there are three home-exercise machines on display.

One is $3,200. It's a sturdy elliptical machine with programmable workouts, a heart monitor, an LCD TV with video games on it and a few other bells and whistles. There's also a really light weight barebones one for $300. The third has the heart monitor, the programmable workouts, a bookstand and seems to be pretty solidly built, all for $1,800.

Chances are, you will gravitate toward the middle option. Often, the highest end option is not the one that the seller wants you to buy. But, by first offering an option at an extremely high price, the slightly less expensive one seems that much more appealing and reasonable.

You can do the same in your own business by creating super premium offerings and putting them up for sale at super premium prices. This creates a psychological push toward the item you really want to sell.

4. Don't forget those upsells

Even when selling a mid-range product, you can easily increase the total sale by offering a number of add-on options.

Accessories are a no brainer. Related products are another area that can yield additional profits.

If you are selling a high-end grill, a grilling tool kit with a spatula, tongs, a meat fork and a couple other items is an easy one to add on. Then, start taking about the pizza oven attachment, smoker and the zero-delay instant read thermometer. Once someone has the grill of their dreams on the way, convincing them to enhance the experience further is not difficult at all.

Selling is not an adversarial game where either you or your prospect get one over on the other. Rather, it is a cooperative endeavor where you help them find the solution that will solve their problems and make them happy. Once you learn to approach each sale from this angle, you can increase your close rate and your profits.

Related: 5 Ways to Sell Smarter, Not Harder

Brian Ainsley Horn

Author and Co-founder of Authority Alchemy

Brian Horn is an author and co-founder of branding firm, Authority Alchemy. He transforms business owners using the process of “authority marketing.”

Want to be an BIZ Experiences Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Growing a Business

What Top Founders Know About Domains That Most BIZ Experiencess Miss

Top founders and VCs secure premium domains early to signal credibility, build trust and boost long-term brand equity and investor confidence.

Business Ideas

70 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2025

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for BIZ Experiencess to pursue in 2025.

Starting a Business

I Built a $20 Million Company by Age 22 While Still in College. Here's How I Did It and What I Learned Along the Way.

Wealth-building in your early twenties isn't about playing it safe; it's about exploiting the one time in life when having nothing to lose gives you everything to gain.

Business News

Here's How Much Palantir Pays Its Top Tech Talent, From Software Engineers to AI Researchers

With stock up nearly 500% in a year, Palantir is booming. Here's how that translates into pay for its employees.

Business News

75-Year-Old Billionaire Ray Dalio Just Sold His Last Shares in the Hedge-Fund Firm He Founded. Here's Why He's 'Thrilled About It.'

Dalio served in a variety of positions at Bridgewater Associates, including CEO, CIO and chairman, over decades.