I Missed My Flight (3 Ways You’ll Make Money As a Result)
I'm supposed to be on a plane right now over the Pacific Ocean, but I'm not.
Why? What other reason is there? I was late to the airport! I'm "used" to arriving at an airport for a domestic flight two hours early -- 90 minutes if there's traffic. Never had a problem before.
But this time... I didn't realize that I had to arrive three hours early for international flights (this is only my third time leaving the country). The airport is a two hour drive away. I planned on leaving the house four hours before my flight. I was a little late getting going... a train crossed the tracks adding a delay, there was construction and traffic all up the freeway to the airport. I didn't factor the 15 minute shuttle ride from parking to the terminal since this isn't the airport I usually fly out of.
I was at that ticket counter 90 minutes before the flight. I was the last passenger to check in. By the time the ticket agent created a visa for me to travel, looked up my information, tried to figure out the computer to add me to the flight, I had an hour till takeoff. Too late.
No available flights to Australia tomorrow. I'd have to wait two days. That means my trip had been cut from four days in Australia into two days. I'm going to spend the same amount of time on the plane and at the airport, as I will be on the ground in Australia!
No way to cancel the flight and rebook with a different airline, no easy way to extend my trip either, especially since I have lots of things scheduled for when I get back.
I'm sure you've been in a similar situation at one point, so what can we learn from this?
Habit #1: "Paranoid" Scheduling
First of all, you better believe that I'm showing up at the airport very very early from now on. As in, even earlier than 2 hours for a domestic flight, even earlier than 3 hours for international.
Think about it... how many times have you stressed out about being late, how many times have you showed up somewhere 5 minutes late and felt bad... how many times have you missed out on something special just because you missed a different deadline?
Imagine how different your life would be if you rolled out of bed one hour earlier and jogged on the treadmill at the gym, or took a walk around your neighborhood, took a drive around town or went for a swim just to wake yourself up.
How different would things be if you had everything ready to go for your next product launch long before you needed it, before you even announced it, in fact?
Habit #2: Launch Scarcity
Speaking of product launches, Lance and I recently relaunched "Membership Cube 2.0." Here's what we did:
- We presented a "VIP webinar" to students who had completed the 1.0 course (some of them several years ago), already owned the membership license, and probably had a membership site, and sold many many people $197 for this updated training, until 11:59pm Eastern time that night
- For the next 24 hours, the price to upgrade for alumni students only was $297
- Then $397 for the next 24 hours
- Then $497 for the next 24 hours
- The following week, we opened up the brand new course to the public to join at $697, once again, only until 11:59pm Eastern time
- The next day, the price was $997 to join
- The day after that, we offered a 5-payment plan so people could choose to join either by paying the $997 in full, or subscribing to 5 payments of $225 (one every 30 days for 5 total payments)
- The day after that, we offered a choice between paying $997 upfront or choosing a 3-payment option (3 payments of $375)
- On the final day the price was simply $997, and can I tell you a secret?
We sold seats into Membership Cube 2.0 every single day of that launch, at every single price point above. What's also interesting is that the majority of our sales occurred within 1 hour of every deadline. In other words, if we announced the price was increasing from $697 to $997 at 11:59pm Eastern that night, a bulk of our sales came in between 11:00pm and 11:59pm Eastern.
But it makes sense, after all... how many times did you wait until the very very last minute in high school and college? When you had a boss? In your business now?
It's just human nature to wait until the pain is so great (I'm about to miss my flight or the product is about to become more expensive) to actually take some kind of action (something you take for granted like being able to travel to the opposite end of the world in a day or creating a website that takes payments).
Habit #3: Training Your List
I'm not saying that having scarcity will make or break your product launch, but if you have something good to sell, it's an easy tool to pull out of your arsenal to give you a nice little boost in your sales.
We used to cap the number of seats in a class. Only 30 available! What's the problem there? If we say 30 are available, 25 are remaining, it looks like no one wants the product. No social proof. If we sell all 30 seats in a day, we think... maybe we should have opened 50 or 60 slots?
The price increase strategy works great because the potential income is unlimited but it really pays off when we TRAIN OUR LIST.
Here's what I mean. Many, many people contacted us -- sometimes an hour after the price increased -- saying that the price was $997 but can I join at $497 or even $197?
Our response was "no" and the reason was usually because someone had already bought at $697 or $997 at that point. Why should we let someone else pay full price when you contacted us and asked for a favor?
I'm sorry if that sounds harsh. But in the same way I'll be sure not to miss another flight, I don't want you to miss another launch or a price increase!
At the end of the day, there's no point in getting angry or upset about paying more today simply because you don't have to buy. You missed a sale, and that's it.
Normally (what you see in the retail world) is something like this: this computer normally costs $1000, today only it's $500. If someone bought that computer for $1000 yesterday, they're screwed. If you miss today's sale at $500, you have to pay $1000 tomorrow.
It might feel weird for you to turn away customers, or be strict about your deadlines, but the way I see it, you have two choices:
Either train your list that your sales, deadlines, and scarcity means nothing, and that anyone can get around it with a quick email...
Or that you're serious about your business and your customers should be too. 11:59pm means 11:59pm and $997 means $997.
You can train your subscribers to have a sense of entitlement (they should get everything under the sun for 10 bucks) or that buying is a choice and that the price they pay is STILL much lower than the value they get.
And, whether you're a buyer or a seller, or both, the best thing to do is to make the best out of any situation.
- I missed my flight, is there anything I can do to change that? No, it's done.
- Did this event possibly prevent me from being late or making other mistakes in the future? Probably!
- Am I going to be a victim, feel sorry for myself, and mope around until my flight in two days? I think you know the answer to that question... time to get some coding done and get to the airport early tomorrow so I'm not in a rush
That's how you can profit from my mistake: change your habits to that you're early to everything. Product launches. Webinars. Meetings. Personal life events. Freelance jobs. Underpromise and overdeliver.
The next time you're launching a product or getting paid to provide a done-for-you service, think about what kind of scarcity you can add in to improve an already great offer and make that event "special."
And finally, keep in mind that you're always training your list. You're training your list to get used to how often you send emails, what price you charge (they get accustomed to high or low for sure), what kind of offers, whether you send out videos or perform live webinars... so what kind of subscribers do you want? It's up to you.
Go ahead in the comment box below and tell me what you think.
Filed in: Archive 1: 2012-2016 • Mindset • Travel
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I do this all too often. Even tho I’ve been traveling on planes several times a month for upteen years. Last night I flew from Denver to Washington DC. Made it to the gate 5 minutes before boarding. I resolve over and over again to get to the airports early. There’s so much for a dull man like me to enjoy at the airports, e.g., watch the luggage faorusels: http://www.dullmensclub.com/airport-luggage-carousels.html
Enjoy Australia [I’d use an exclmation point at this point except for the fact that members of the Dull Men’s Club are ot allowed to use them]
I agree. Get ready early and be prepared.
What a great habit and mindset to develop. Always make/finish every project, assignment, deadline, goal a top quality, better than planned, ahead of schedule completion in all areas of life. How would that transform our lives in every way?
Easier said than done
“The road to hell is paved with good intentions”
Robert,
Hmm…well I completely agree with you about the importance of preparation. But I think that you got picked on at the airport or airlines. I fly international eery single month for the last 18-20 years. I have never shown up 3 hours (not even 2) ever. If I am at the checkin counter 30 mins before the flight, i am on.
But as for the scarcity and training your list sections, i take issue with that. It seems more of a marketing head game than I am comfortable with. Even as I read it, it bothered me when recieveing the many emails about price going up. TO be honest I was dying to get into the MC 2.0 but could not for the silliest of reasons (sux having money in acct and not able to spend it on two continents at the same time)
THere are many different marketing techniques that are used and the “Must buy now or lose the offer” is the ones that I usually feel are too great of risk.
Just a opinion
Carl
I remember missing a flight many years ago in New Orleans. It was Mardi Gras and a monsoon rain. Literally drove through water coming in the door of the car. But I HAD to go by the bakery to get that loaf of French bread to take home – and missed my flight. Now I always ask – is it that important? Can it wait?
As for training your list – I totally missed the relaunch of Membership Cube. You’ve relaunched it so many times – there’s a weekly launch – that I didn’t even recognize this was a new product. Obviously I’m in a minority. But it seems that daily emails become just that – the same old thing. Weekly launches become the same old thing. Have you considered NOT emailing for a couple of days so that when you do it’s a nice surprise?
And when you DO make to Australia – have a great time!
Very good advice! You must keep doing the right things to make them a habit.
Guess the roos are missing you…
Hi Robert,
Hi Robert,
Thanks for sharing your experience and insights.
Paranoid Scheduling is the only way I get anywhere. Other people in my family use the last minute scheduling plan. And as a result they are almost always late.
I put up with a lot of grief for getting people to the airport early, but we don’t miss flights.
Except that one time coming back from Paris. We arrived at the airport with over 3 hours. Checked in at the Air France lounge. And sat down to wait. But their was one thing I didn’t know. Unlike U.S. airline club lounges, Air France doesn’t announce flights. Oops!
We rescheduled for the next morning, and ended up spending a night in airport hotel.
Moral: There is no such thing as too much Paranoid Planing
Warren
Every experience no matter how small is a learning experience. You teach it Robert and you learn it.
I am sure for international flights Robert it will not happen again; now maybe a membesrhip site for people who are late is coming )::
Keep up the great work
I feel for you Robert. Missed my flight from the US back to UK some years ago. I did get the time muddled up, but then the taxi driver was almost an hour late to collect me and then wouldn’t release my luggage until I gave him a tip! He would not get that in the UK! Tipping is for providing a service … no service, no tip!
Hi Robert,
So sorry you missed your flight, it sure causes a lot of heartache when that happens. I like that you are a man of your word (training your list) because that way people know you mean business.
May your next flights be smooth & relaxed for you.
Personally, I like to be early any time it is important. My younger son often made fun of me until the time the airline had made the reservation for Christmas instead of Thanksgiving. Since I was early, I had time to call one of those last minute travel sites and got on the flight and to Thanksgiving on time. i could not have done that late.
As to the multiple launches, when I see all that going on, I just skip it altogether. It makes me wonder about the product itself. I want the best price and to be given enough time to decide if I want it. I appreciate the reminder that there is only 1 day or something to that effect…but not multiple price points.
So…enjoy your trip to Australia…and call it a lesson learned.
I use to do a lot of coast to coast (US) traveling. Never missed a flight but it was close a couple of time. I would always leave early but it is surprising how a series of delays can eat through the time. One time the ticket machine jammed with my boarding pass and it took like 20 minutes to clear the machine and get my boarding pass. In that time the security line went from practically empty to a good 30 minute wait.
I discovered by accident that by getting to the airport early I was able to get checked in, through security and near the gate in much less time. Then I had time for reading, get a bite to eat or getting some work done.
John
I travel quite a bit and am always at the airport way too early.
Dude
Even leaving 4 hours early to be there 2 hours early was cutting it close with the traffic going to SFO.
Next time I bet you will be there way early or take a shuttle and they will get you there when you need and no shuttle from parking.
Have fun in Australia.
well,hello,this is rafael,i’m from texas,u send me about robert plank,what talk about something or what qq let me know it. ok
Funny! That’s the kind of thing that might have made me stew in the past, even if it was my fault. I’d have been stewing about stupid airline policies, slow people at ticket counters and maybe even trains blocking the way.
Mind you, I wouldn’t have said anything aloud about it but it would have been eating at me, sucking my energy and draining me of enthusiasm for the rest of the day…week…month.
I just made a video about dumb reactions to disappointments, setbacks and unfairness in life today, as a matter of fact. So it was fun (though I sympathize!) to read your story and see the great lesson you pulled from it!
So much of the value we get and give in life comes from our responses to our own mistakes or the mistakes of others, or just the stuff of life.
Sorry you missed your flight. I fly to Japan but leave out of a small town airport. It is never an issue. I will remember your plight for my future well being should I use bigger airports.
That is a LONG way to travel for such a short visit. It takes me about 2-3 weeks to get through jet lag. That would be both ways.
I saw your approach to the membership launch. I have mixed feelings about that. It feels “shady” to me. I will have to think about it. Just a different opinion. And I am in a different service area.
You may find that even though this was irritating, there might me some reason you were held back.
Good luck with your trip. Have a great time and sleep on the plane.
Blessings,
Mary Pat
I used to joke that my ex-husband who traveled every week (& got there in the nick of time EVERY week) was like a person running for a ship that had just left port & he was making that final jump from the dock to the deck of the ship. Unfortunately your ship had sailed … ugh! That was awful …
Anyhoo, as a Membership Cube 1.0 member, I watched the Membership Cube 2.0 launch sequence all the way through. Appreciated you sharing the info that people bought at every price point. Very interesting & I will use that tidbit!
Jerzy Kosinski, the guy who wrote Being There (made into a Peter Sellers movie) missed a connecting flight to Los Angeles.
He was coming from Paris through New York to LA, but his his bags were lost in New York.
So he didn’t make it to LA when he planned to.
Which meant he didn’t attend the get-together at Sharon Tate’s house and wasn’t there when the Manson followers killed everyone.
(It’s not always terrible to miss a flight.)
Sean
p.s. Great post.
I rarely fly, so I can’t say that I relate to your specific experience. However, being an adult with ADD, one common trait of people with ADD is that they tend to be very last-minute, late people. Knowing this as I do, I have to design my schedule (sometimes with my wife’s assistance) to accomidate for this.
For instance, I plan ahead and work my schedule backwards. I work in retail, so my work schedule varies. If I am scheduled at 11:00am, I know I have to be up no later than 9:00am, which means I cannot stay up until all hours of the night the day before. And actually, 9:00am is even late if I want to get things done in the morning.
Conversely, an unethical person could use lateness to their advantage to get what they want. People are more flexible in their decision-making if the time is short. Someone who wants to exploit this to their advantage may show up late to an appointment and say that they only have 15 minutes before they have to leave for their next appointment, and that they need a decision from you by then. Be careful if someone is using this tactic on you, and don’t fall for it. Be ready and able to walk away if necessary so as not to fall into the other person’s convoluted time-pressure. I bet this has happened to everyone now and then. This could be construed as Paranoid Scheduling, but to me it is unethical and I can usually recognize it when someone uses it on me. I am certainly not suggesting that this is what Robert meant here, but it is a realistic variation of it.
As for Launch Scarcity and Training Your List, I wholeheartedly agree with you there, Robert.
~Tim Jensen
Great post, Robert. I have the best way to avoid those situations — a super efficient and organized wife. She always gets us where we have to be on time.
Sorry — too late. I got the last one. 🙂
Scheduling, Scarcity and Training Your List thanks for the free training!
I’m with Jeanette on this one mate. The. volume of emails means I flick through them every now and then and so only caught the “sale” at the $697 mark.
Not interested (and miffed) as I’d paid full price for MC1. I’d have considered the $197 refresher if I’d realised. Meh. Missed a sale.
Not sure my subscribers would be as understanding of these sales tactics as IM types are.
Bummer about having to cut your time short in BrisVegas. Bet you were miffed at the time!
Robert,
Through out life we hear proverbs or words of wisdom that if we understand and abide by them, they make our lives better or easier. I tried to think of some of those proverbs that would relate to the 3 habits you mentioned.
Some people may not agree with me or you but if they think about them, there is a lesson to learn. Here they are:
1) the early bird gets the worm
2) he who has the gold makes the rules
3) say what you mean and mean what you say
I think the if we take the Boy Scout Motto, “Be Prepared” to heart, it would cover everything we encounter on a daily basis and we would not find ourselves running late, having to use the multi-pay option or missing out completely.
David Young
Hi Robert,
I am really sorry you missed your flight yesterday, as I was one of the costumers that received help from you yesterday in membershipcube in a question I made in one blog post about wishlist plugin.
I think your experience yesterday is a valuable teaching for us all today.
Thank you very much for your help yesterday answering the question and also for sharing this post today.
Fernanda Estrada
Sorry you missed your flight, Robert.
I agree with Carl that it sounds strange that they wouldn’t let you on the flight. I’m guessing because you didn’t have your visa ahead of time. I’ve flown to Indonesia twice (and to Australia from Indonesia) once out of SFO and the other out of LAX. The first time I was there only 1 hour before the flight (due to my connecting flight being over an hour late!) and the security line was out the door of the terminal when I arrived! But the airline came and plucked me out of the security line so that I wouldn’t miss the flight (I was the last one on the plane). But I had my visas all set ahead of time.
As you say, live and learn.
As far as the idea of having everything done way ahead of time for your product / launch, I agree and have been thinking about that. I hate to be late for anything, and you’re right about the stress when you’re screaming to hit a webinar / launch deadline. It gets it done, but it takes a big toll, and I don’t think the end product is as high quality as it could be because of it. Anyway, just my thoughts lately of considering having a product 100% done before launching.
I also think there’s a balance (as Jeanette said) with how often you teach your list to expect email and doing the price increases. Appreciate you sharing the results of this launch though. Interesting results. Agree with the keeping your word, too. Even if it doesn’t go the way you expect. It goes to integrity and honesty.
I’m so glad that you turned out to be a human, I was starting to suspect that you were a machine! You have often said that people relate to other people better when they see them making mistakes and just being human.
Of course, I’m sorry that you missed out, but like you said, missing out this time will sharpen your focus so that you don’t miss out next time.
It’s great if you can refocus after one missed flight, and plenty of people end up making the same mistake over and over, and end up wondering why.
Your focusing on the positives in this situation will help crowd out the negatives, which is very healthy in my opinion 🙂
My guru (real guru, not IM guru lol) friends tell me that if I get a result, it’s because I wanted it, and if I didn’t, I didn’t want it. They used to infuriate me!!
I wonder if at some level you didn’t want to go to Australia right at that moment? Or you were more indifferent than wanting to go? Or you just didn’t make it important enough in your priorities?
Whichever way it turned out to be, it was a very interesting learning experience and thanks for sharing. When you were describing the events leading up to your missing the flight, I started tuning into how disorganized I allow myself to be…. interesting!
Hi Robert,
Sorry you missed your flight, but I am glad you shrugged off the negative thought associated with this situation, and instead DECIDED to take positive action to learn from it and to share it with others, so that many others could also gain from your experience.
Your insight into how people instinctively wait to the last minute to buy or make a decision was very instructive. It shows how product expiration dates add value by themselves.
Your insight into how we can also coach our audience into going along with our suggestions was pretty interesting.
Good job.
Ted
I almost missed a flight once. Never happened again! Lesson learned.
Your points about how we train customers are right on. Applies to offline, brick and mortar businesses, too.
Hey Robert,
We all make mistakes!
We see you and Lance proving your “humanness” in the webinars – everything doesn’t always go perfectly to plan.
But you decide to learn a lesson from your mistake (a big one this time) and also to teach your readers something at the same time. This really IS time management on crack…
It is a shame that you time in our great country is cut short. But even four days is not enough. For Sydney alone, you need at least a couple of weeks. I believe you are going to Brisbane – two days is enough there 😉
Next time, plan to spend more time here, look me up if you are coming to Sydney and I will be happy to show you around.
Enjoy your to days of travelling just to spend two days in Brisbane – pronounced Brizbn.
Regards,
Trevor
Robert:
I’m sorry to hear you missed your flight. It’s interesting you posted this today because you were on my mind for some reason — every strongly — and maybe this is why! I think the process is perfect (even in its imperfection) and that things are the way they are supposed to be.
Now you can finish up everything for your next upcoming project you mentioned to us the other day. Yay! 🙂
I know you’ll make these two days of waiting very productive and you can spend even more time with your loved ones — after all that’s what really counts in the big scheme of things.
See you next week. And a safe flight out when you leave in a few days. All the best!
Love,
TK
I find it hilarious that you just gave a good marketing lesson and most people are commenting on missing their flights too instead of your “golden” tip.
#1 I struggled with timeliness until I “got” that when I arrive late I have broken my own promise to be there when I said I would. Now, it’s easy to plan my travel time, even though I still make mistakes occasionally.
#2 As to scarcity, I agree with some of the other commenters that you have to know your audience to.
#3 Training my list (and anyone else) is the practical application of “you teach people how to treat you” and people learn fast when you don’t mean what you say.
What goes around, comes around. Maybe it’s just Australia’s way of repaying you. The timing of your webinars sucks. In Australia (East Coast) your webinars are at 4 AM. I often get up for Armand Morin’s training at 5 AM but won’t be up for a sales pitch at 4.
FYI, Australia & USA have a Visa waiver agreement. All you need to do is get on the website in advance and fill in the application and pay the fee for the service.
FYI 2, You must have been flying coach. Business class lets you on even 30 minutes before (and the queues are shorter. I once arrived at Gatwick (London) 5 minutes before departure (due to Brixton riots n the way) and they even got me on the Hong Kong flight, luggage and all. That was Cathay Pacific and of course by the time I got there, there was no queue.
FYI 3, I find your presentation style irritating on your webinars. You sound like a flea market salesman spruiking in a rush. Had I known that it was Lance presenting, I may have jumped on the replay earlier and bought.
FYI 4, After being around IM for so long now, I am immune to the special deal / bundling price / real value / special offer thing and like most people I know reckon that the lowest price offered is probably what the real value of the offer is, so if I missed the best price offer I’m not going to buy anyway.
FYI 5, Like some others have also said, the frequency of your emails means that I no longer think that you have something important to say, so I rarely open them unless the headline is different or of particular interest.
FYI 6, I am a customer of yours for more than 1 product. I still get emails from you for products that I have already purchased, and I don’t mean upgrade offers. That shows lack of concern for your customers.
Hey Robert,
I am in Melbourne. If you would like you can catch up with my future wife and myself if you have the time. Cheers mate!
Lawrence
Hey Robert and g’day from Australia,
I must say that sticking to your guns and not relenting regarding the timelines for your product price changes was very wise.
All too often websites have these limited offers and they really weren’t, killing their credibility instantly. It is so easy to check by deleting all the cookies and revisiting the page.
Very often you will find out if you are running late, then obstacles will get in your way to make you even later (like the trains!!!)
I must say your training with Lance is probably one of the best going around so my hats off to you – because you are doing your utmost best to ensure your students succeed. In the end the buck stops with everyone.
It’s good that Robert has the two extra days now. He’ll need the time to repsond to all of the comments this has spawned.
Huh?
I saw the promo emails coming in and like Jeanette Cates I didn’t realize this was a new product, I assumed this was just an upgrade MembershipCube members would get automatically. I would have purchased at $197, but as I paid the full amount for MC1 I am now:
1. None the wiser on what is included on the new release that’s missing from MC1
2. Bummed that I would have to pay $997 for this when I could’a got it for $197
Not happy.
Catherine
I’m so sorry to hear that you missed your flight, but damn you write good content when you’re upset, great post and thank you for sharing
I’m so sorry you missed your flight. I once missed a flight to Germany. The substitute flight was much better.
Hope the rest of your trip is good.
Just tried to send the following email to Josef Lele and it bounced back. The email address is on your website! So your credibility is gone and it seems you need more training on how to setup a website, from the very bloke your are criticizing.
===here is the email that failed due to the above====
Hey Josef cc Robert,
Just noticed your comments in Roberts blog.
I must say you are an absolute gibberer and I hope I never meet you.
I truly wish you all the best though, and note your comments in the blog what goes around comes around, which means your life must be full of complaining, whining and bitching at the moment. That is an absolute certainty. This email just adds to it.
Yours sincerely
David Ashton
Have YOU checked my website lately?
http://davidashton.biz
Sorry! That hurts but great how you use your time and share your gifts. Hope when you do arrive they will help to compensate some of the time lost. Shows the value of Internet too so at least that doesn’t happen.
Hi Robert,
I love how you turned your challenge into a transparent teaching moment for us. Have a great trip! And, for whatever reason, it’s all perfect anyway 🙂
Hi Robert,
I’m glad that I’m not the only one that has missed a flight. Your suggestions are valuable and as always your training is the tops. I believe that those who listen to you and Lance and apply your systems will make more money than those who disagree with you or use other programs.
Thank you for sharing.
Philip…
But Robert,
Think of all the alone time you’re having in the airport to let the creative juices flow. We expect great things! Of course, unless you can find a shower you’re going to be pretty ripe by the time you get down under.
Your assignment for our next session: Investigate whether in fact water whirlpools in the opposite direction in the southern hemisphere from its direction in the northern.
Enjoy Oz and us Aussies – we’re worth the time and trouble!
Robert, I feel you, you are now officially in the “OMG Missed my International Flight” Club. I have missed international flights three times, each by about 5 minutes, two for Canada and one for Mexico. You are right, it is so important to manage, not only time, but to also add time for the unexpected, time eater, like a car accident or broken down car.
Thanks for sharing how you used your time.
Interesting that so many of us did not realize that you were launching a new product.
Have a good time in Australia when you get there.
All the best,
Dr. Sarah
Hi Robert,
I cannot help but admire your sales letter writing skill. It is awesome, buddy!
This is very true that scarcity and deadlines are two powerful weapons to conquer other people’s lethargy and jack up demand at the same time. I am into textile marketing in India. Recently, I had developed a few new fabric qualities. Consciously I produced very limited quantities in each and offered those to only selected, regular customers in small quantities. If they demand more, asked them to wait for a month more. Next month, I increased the price by 10%. Result was – I got orders – in larger quantities from each, at my prices and – new customers started pouring in. In a cut throat market like apparel textiles, it is something difficult to achieve. I went a step ahead. I shared a part of the increased price with my supplier. Result – he is now offering me a monopoly of his all new products to me for the first six months! And I am enjoying the process without any stress to sale or worrying about profit for those qualities.
Yes, this strategy of scarcity definitely works and thanks for penning it down for the benefit of all marketers.