My phone is dead.
Long live my phone.
It was fine last week. Going about its business in its usual silicon way. Until…
It fell through the sofa, and got stuck in the recline mechanism.
Ke-runch!!
Mrs D wouldn’t let me look at it – “try to remember it how it was!”
And so, this week, I got me a shiny new handset. And all the trauma it brings.
See, for non-techy types like me, switching phones is a major ordeal. Because the “simple” steps never go to plan. Backing up, sucking data across, reinstalling apps…it feels like trying to land a space shuttle on the edge of a pebble.
In the dark.
While someone pokes you with a pointy stick.
If you’re not a techy spacker, you won’t understand the hassle. But I promise you, it’s real. And as well as stressing me out, it’s been a productivity suck – eating up my time and sanity for a couple of days.
And that’s crazy. Because there are boffins who could do it all for me in 5 minutes flat. Remotely, or here in the Daniel Hut, I’d have happily paid for that – if I’d had the option.
And there be the point of all this.
See, them gurus love to tell you, there’s a tiny percentage of your customers who’ll gladly pay 5, 10, 20…even 50…times more than your basic offering, to get their hands on a premium service. And they’re right, of course – whatever you sell, some folks’ll take the platinum option.
But then there’s the hidden level. The people like me.
We don’t own oil rigs. We don’t live in solid gold houses. We don’t eat caviar for breakfast off the nether quarters of high-class Russian hookers. But we’re not skint either – and we too will pay extra for convenience.
Maybe not 50 times the price. But extra, we will pay.
So – my question: Have you got an offer for the likes of me? And another for the Bransons and Zuckerbergs?
You should. Usually, that extra option is all about service – not product – so you should be able to keep it on standby without much expense.
Example: say you run a boarding kennels. Your basic option is “drop off and collect”. Your option for hasslephobes like me could be, “we’ll pick up and return”. And for the jet set, “we’ll send a limo with a doggy masseur, so Rover will be calm and relaxed on arrival”.
Let’s not do the Happy Ending joke – we’d be getting into a dark niche that I don’t want to explore…
Anyway. Point is, it costs you nothing to offer the extras, because you can buy in the premium service when you need it. Mark it up, and it’s free money – and happier customers too.
My mobile guys missed a trick there. But there’s nowt stopping you. Just ask your customers, where’s the hassle? And take it away.
Your competitors won’t be doing it – so the floor is yours…