Are You the Payless of the Wedding Business?

How much would you pay for a $20 pair of shoes?

Before you answer that question like a wise ass (Handsome Jeffrey!) check out this story.

Payless Shoes, famous for their cheap footware, recently did an experiment.

They rented out a former Armani storefront, stocked its shelves with $19.99 heels and $39.99 boots and set up shop as Palessi.

Palessi invited influencers to preview their new “designer” shoes and asked how much they would pay for them.

These influencers praised the merchandise and said they would pay hundreds of dollars for them. Palessi made $3,000 in sales within hours. You can read the whole sordid story here.

Of course, those people would have felt they’d been ripped off — Payless refunded every purchase — after learning the real value of the shoes.

But if they’d never been informed, they would have LOVED those shoes and praised them to the heavens.

Here’s the point…

Your value is NOT determined by the market price.

It’s not determined by how much your product or service cost you to create.

Value is determined by the EXPERIENCE the client has with you.

The more value experience you create, the more your client will happily (yes! happily) pay.

People find value in the strangest of places:

• The fancy wrapping paper.
• The endorsement of someone they admire.
• The quirky story on the label.
• The secret handshake required to get in.

“People do not buy goods and services. They buy relations, stories and magic.” – Seth Godin

If you want to sell your wedding products and services at luxury prices, you need to create an experience your clients will pay more to get.

That means speaking to their WORLDVIEW.

What do you believe in?

Some couples will pay more to support a cause or way of looking at the world: an environmentally friendly photographer, a planner who specializes in “rebel” weddings.

What specialized experience can you provide?

Some couples will pay more to be treated like royalty. Others will pay more to hire someone they’d hang out and grab a beer with.

What inspiring story can you tell?

Some couples will pay more simply because it makes them FEEL GOOD to be a part of the mission and the story of your company.

The key is that you must know what YOUR couples find valuable.

Who is the couple that values the unique experience you provide?

If you don’t provide a unique experience, forget about it. You’re a commodity.

You have to go DEEP to answer these questions.

And you can’t do it by being vanilla, ordinary and safe.

You must think differently and be remarkable.

What would you have to do, say, be and have to give your ideal clients an experience they’d joyfully pay more to get?

(This article was inspired by the legendary Jim Eppes. May your remarkableness be branded across the universe.)

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