My mum and I LOVE a sneaky showhome snoop.
We can’t get enough of those bling-tastic showhouses, with their gaudy twelve-foot chandeliers, unnecessary gadgets (‘touch this button to reveal the sunken bidet’) and enormous pouffy curtains.
And the more expensive the better. We relish the challenge of bluffing our way past Cassandra the posh-but-dim salesperson: ‘Yes we’re searching for a pied-a-terre to house our collection of prize-winning Shih Tzus.’
And despite the bling overload, we have to admit that these showhomes are pretty seductive. Because those property developers know a thing or two about selling.
The Showhome Secret To Selling
Everything about a showhome is designed to make you imagine your oh-so-perfect life in that house. To make you mentally pack your suitcases and move right in.
Every perfectly plumped cushion, every colour-coordinated piece of fruit paints a picture of your potential aspirational lifestyle. ‘If only you bought this house’ they seem to whisper, ‘you’d be the kind of person who:
- perches on a designer bar stool sipping espresso every morning (no more Cheerios and Nescafe for you my friend)
- hosts intimate dinner parties serving beetroot discs with kale foam and microherbs
- colour coordinates their underpants in neat little rows (no more ‘floordrobe’)’
Developers pour huge resources into depicting this magical lifestyle – hiring interior designers, top-of-the-range furniture and lifestyle gurus.
Because they know that buyers don’t always have great imagination. So, if we want them to buy, we have to paint every vivid detail of the new and improved future that our products or services will bring.
And it’s the same for your business too.
Buyers may recognise, in theory, that what you’re offering is great. But to get them reaching for their credit cards you need to show them two things:
- How they’ll FEEL after buying what you’re offering. More organised? Less stressed? More intelligent? Cash or time richer? Tap in to their underlying emotions – remember buyers rarely make decisions solely on logic.
- How exactly their day-to-day life will be improved. Will they have more time to walk their dog? Get that promotion they’ve been wanting (and the new BMW)? Turn their clients into total zealots? Finally get a good night’s sleep? The secret here is adding colour and detail to bring it all alive.
So think about what your showhome equivalent might be – can you paint a picture in words? Offer a demo of your product or services? How can you help your clients imagine their breathtakingly brilliant future with you?
Sunken bidet optional, of course.
