Last December, RadioINK carried an article by ENS Media's Rick Fink, entitled One, Two, or Three? The question was in regard to the number of package/contract/price options you offer clients in a presentation.
Rick notes that there are arguments favoring each of these options (1, 2, or 3 choices), adding that his personal preference has been to offer three options— and he explains why. Three has also been my practice for most of my sales career, though my reasoning is based on principles that I picked up from sales trainer Jim Williams decades ago. (Details here, if you're interested.)
In his RadioINK piece, Fink cites research published in the UK's Marketing Week on applying behavioral science to pricing. It, too, is worth reading.
So for our Friday Poll Question, we'd like to know:
What's the practice at your station? How many choices do you offer in a package or presentation, and what's your reason for that number?
Please share your reply below.
I have always followed what I was first taught: learn what they want to happen and the amount they want to spend. Then present a proposal that accomplishes this for the dollar amount they want.
I was taught two choices always results in the lowest price being chosen. While a different scenario, one station I was with offered packages for Graduation, Christmas and such. They offered two options on pricing. Every client I had chose the lowest price. I reworked the package the next year with each option as a different package and took to my customers according to what they could spend. I sold lots of the higher price packages to clients who could afford it.
I do see the argument for the 3 price option and I certainly want to try that out. This old dog like to learn a new trick or two.
From Diane Scarpelli:
Always 3 choices: Gold, Silver, Bronze. #1, #2, #3. Best, Better, Basic. Present top to bottom - never the other way around. Gold is what you recommend for a successful full-fledged campaign. Silver is your second choice for them - at or slightly over the budget they suggested to you. This is what you actually think they will go for. Bronze is a bare bones version. There has to be a distinct quality/quantity to each version or... they will always go for the bottom deal.
First design the Silver. Then add spots, digital, something sexy and worthwhile to the client to upgrade it for the Gold. Then go back to Silver and cut frequency, go from 30's to 10's, whatever for the Bronze.
There are elements to all packages: spot frequency, spot dayparting, bonus scheds outside the event on this or other stations in your group, 30s-15's-10s, inclusion in promos on-air, inclusion of logo in social media and website, inclusion in live mentions, inclusion in giveaways or being a registration point.
From Joseph Palmer:
Generally just two options based on what percentage of our cume audience they will reach and how many times they'll hear their spot in a given week. The two options are: the deluxe version that can work really well and the mid-range version one that runs enough spots to work reasonably well. If they balk at both I talk about cutting the campaign to reduce costs and reducing the number of listeners they reach and how much frequency they will lose in the process. Sometimes they take the deluxe version, and they reap the benefits! And sometimes they take the mid-range one that still gets the job done, and that's great too.
