A new type of Bait and Switch

The bait and switch. A term that has been tossed around for years that implies negative marketing. You tell a customer you have some amazing deal only to find out the deal doesn't exist and they must instead buy something of higher monetary value. It's bad and it's illegal. So why do I want to talk about it?

Over the past week on two instances, I've thought about the bait and switch from an entirely different perspective. Let's start with my car buying experience over the weekend. I've been looking at buying a BMW (insert yuppie comment here) for quite some time. I found what appeared to be a great deal, and headed to my local dealership. When I got there, was the first car that I looked at the one that I was interested in? No, of course not. When I walked on, I wanted to look at the top of the line, state-of-the-art, best thing out there. Then I went and looked at my car.

The same type of thing happened a couple days later during a training session. One of the salespeople said something that really stuck in my head. "Everyone wants to talk about iCT." That's when it clicked. See, the iCT is a super sophisticated, high-end CT scanner. The technology is amazing and everyone wants to know about it. Can everyone afford it? Absolutely not. But does it mean something when they buy the powerful workhorse scanner from the company that makes the iCT? You bet it does.

Customers want to see companies put their best foot forward. They want to see what the top-of-the-line technology is. They want to see where the future might lie, where they aspire to get to someday. This is present in all buying decisions, and all sales whether it is B2B or B2C. There is something about saying you own this widget from a company that makes this amazing superwidget. It's the thought that you can some day be there.

Think about your own life. How often do you look at the high-end, but purchase a little more reasonably? We all want to drive a Mercedes, but then buy a Volkswagen. We want the 62", 2" thick superHD TV, but buy the "standard" 32" LCD.

As marketers, it's up to us to support those dreams. Show what our companies are capable of, show the places a customer can go. Yeah, they may not buy the latest whiz-bang gadget, but they will buy a gadget. And they'll keep wondering if and when they can get to the next level.

Tell a great story. Put your company's best foot forward. Help your customer dream.