The Tribune

By D’Arcy Rahming

I am reading Jeff Walker’s book ‘Launch’. The subtitle for the book is ‘An Internet Millionaire’s Secret Formula to Sell Almost Anything Online, Build a Business you Love, and Live the Life of Your Dreams’. I know this book sounds like some get rich quick scheme, but it is nott. It is actually a pretty clever book on marketing ,and I highly recommend it, particularly the part on mental triggers.

Mental triggers are the reasons why people buy. I have written on many of these in past articles, but it is a combination of these mental triggers that make them so effective. Jeff Walker has managed to combine them in a system to make them build upon each other and help businesses launch new products or services.

One very powerful mental trigger is scarcity. Scarcity always increases results, because people place more value on things when there are less of them.

There are several ways to create scarcity. One is a price change. The more drastic the change, the greater the reaction. That is provided that the value of the original item is known. This is why sales are so popular. ‘Sales’ triggers the idea that, for a limited time, only at a great deal is an item that you want available. So, for example, in launching my new book, I started off by charging one penny plus shipping and handling.

After a few days I am shifting the price to $19.95. Lo and behold, I predict that on the last day I will get the majority of my sales, provided that I notify prospects who have not acted. This is because of scarcity.

Another way of creating scarcity is to add bonuses, then take them away after a certain time. There are many people who really want the bonuses you are offering. For example, if I add the bonus of a free online video or a month on my membership site for early purchasers, there are some people who will want those bonuses as much as they want the book.

So, to take bonuses away is a great way to create scarcity and make people buy now. The final and best way, of course, is to take away the offer itself. This can be applied to products and services. By the way, you may be wondering why I would give away a very valuable book at one penny. One reason is to create scarcity, but there are other reasons that will be explained in my next column.

• NB: D’Arcy Rahming holds an MBA from the prestigious Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. A lecturer at the College of the Bahamas, Mr Rahming has clients in general insurance, retail, the health and medical fields, sports federations and financial services. He is also treasurer of the Bahamas Olympic Committee. To contact him he can be reached at DArcyRahmingsr@gmail.com.