Gold, platinum and diamond
Gold, platinum and diamond certainly sound better than bronze, silver and gold. But do impressive names always help sell more? I’ve noticed Americans like to remove the small size and the modest ticket from their vocabulary. I find that interesting, but there’s also something about it I don’t quite understand.
The thought came after a family dinner around Mother’s Day here in May 2010. Americans make an incredible fuss over Mother’s Day. I also look at all the flower sales with a rather commercial eye: It’s certainly a good excuse to sell a hell of a lot of flowers. They got me to buy one too.
Crab claws in medium, large and jumbo
We went out for dinner and ordered crab claws. The waiter came over and asked which size we wanted. There were three sizes, which I’d think of as small, medium and large.
But that wasn’t what they were called. They were medium, large and jumbo. So even the smallest portion had a name that sounded bigger than small.
It’s a bit like buying coffee at Starbucks. The small one is called Tall. Then there’s Grande and Venti. So even the smallest coffee has a name that sounds like something big. I joke about the grand names, but the point is that you don’t walk in and order something called small.
Gold, platinum and diamond as ticket names
I noticed it too when I went to see Anthony Robbins in London. There were programme or ticket tiers with names along the lines of Gold, Platinum and Diamond. I don’t necessarily remember every name precisely, but they started high.
So it wasn’t bronze, silver and gold, where you work your way up towards something good. Here, even the starting point was already gold, and it went up from there.
That’s the trend I think I’m seeing: Small gets removed, and the levels go from medium or large to enormous and exceptionally fantastic mega-large.
In a competitive market, names can give you an advantage
I can easily see the idea when there’s competition. Imagine two crab restaurants next to each other. One has small, medium and large crab claws. The other has medium, large and jumbo.
If the portions are actually the same size, the names might still make the customer think they get more at the second restaurant. That’s my thought on how language can influence the experience. I share my own experiences of running a business in Iværksætter til jeg dør.
I can understand it in the coffee market too. The customer doesn’t go in and buy a small coffee. He gets a large or a huge one. That can help create a feeling of good value for money.
But can gold also make the customer settle?
I’m less sure about Anthony Robbins. I’m thinking of an event where you can sit right at the front, in the middle or at the back. The seats aren’t necessarily equally attractive.
I can understand not calling them bad tickets. Who wants to buy a bad ticket? But what happens if the cheapest ticket is already called Gold?
Then I can imagine the customer thinking: Gold is actually bloody good enough for me. And stopping there.
Could you instead have persuaded more people to buy a better, more expensive ticket if the difference were clearer? If you said here’s the cheap ticket, here’s the more expensive one, and here’s the really nice, expensive one? That’s the question I’m pondering.
I’d like to hear what I’m missing
In a competitive market, I can see the advantage of impressive names. But I also think Anthony Robbins doesn’t have that many direct competitors. That’s why I don’t entirely understand why he uses that model.
Perhaps there’s a detail I’ve missed. I don’t have a definitive answer or sales figures proving anything. I simply have an observation from crab claws, coffee and an event in London that got me thinking.
So tell me what you think: Why does someone like Anthony Robbins do it that way? Do the names get more people to buy, or can the impressive name of the cheapest ticket also make some people settle for it?
Why sell silver when you can call it gold? Best wishes, Martin
Hej Martin,
Tak for din podcast.
Altså man kan vel nærmest ikke få mindre værdi end guld hos Anthony Robbins. Tror det er et signal omkring kvaliteten af hans indhold og det show han levere. Jeg har aldrig deltaget i et liveshow med ham, men er super stor fan. Manden er genial – og kan altså ikke levere ringere værdi end guld;-)