75 things big brands do to sell, and how you’d try each one in your own shop.
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None of these is there by accident. The biggest brands have whole teams working out what makes people buy. You have a price list and a Tuesday evening.
The reasons behind moves like these sit in research papers, company filings and business books written for people who do marketing all day. So most of what you put in front of a customer, the price, the sign, the sentence, is still a guess. This book goes through 75 of those moves, says how far the proof goes, and rewrites each one for a shop, a studio or a service.
Every lesson is four pages. This is the first one in the book, on the first price a customer sees.
Open the part you need today and leave the rest for later. Each lesson starts with something you’ve met as a customer. It ends with a rule for your business, an example worked through with the sums, three things to do this week, and a box on where the move stops working.
The same price can feel high or low. Where it goes on the list, how many digits it shows, how it’s written, and what the buyer measures it against. Start here if you’re about to print a price list, a menu or a quote.
Tesla’s price list, the price that ends in 9, the Red Bull can, a BIC and a Montblanc
Most buyers pick from a few options. The ones you show, the one you mark and the one you leave off can change what gets picked more than the prices do. For any page with tiers, sizes, plans or add-ons.
The Economist’s subscriptions, Starbucks’ cup sizes, a table of jams, Gucci’s bags
The hardest sale is the first one. How to make that step smaller without lowering the price of what comes after it: a cheap first buy, a head start, a deposit, a free part good enough to pass on.
The Costco hot dog, a loyalty card with two stamps on it, Zappos returns, Dropbox’s free plan
A shop, a table, a delivery, a box on the doorstep. Where things sit, what people smell and hear, what they’re handed, and what happens last.
The Apple box, the mint with the bill, ice cream at IKEA’s exit, the pizza tracker
Two true sentences can sell very differently. Counting what’s left, naming the crowd, owning a flaw, and showing the test instead of describing it. Every one works only when the claim is true.
A jar of cookies, the card on a hotel towel, Avis, Patagonia’s Black Friday ad
Before the price or the wording matters, a buyer has to notice you and remember you. A shape, a colour, a name, a day of the year, a partner nobody expected.
The Coke bottle, Pringles in court, KFC at Christmas in Japan, KFC Crocs
The customer you already have. The changes that can lose them, like a price rise, a smaller pack or a new recipe, and the plans that bring them back on purpose.
The Toblerone bar, New Coke, JCPenney’s prices, the Costco card
The book tells you what to change. The bonuses are the pages you print and fill in to change it in your own business.
Print them on Letter or A4 and write on them. None of them is sold on its own.
Find out what to fix first.
One checklist for each place customers see your business. Answer the questions, and every “no” points you to the lesson that fixes it.
Apply the book to your own business, one page at a time.
Each worksheet has short steps, a worked example for one kind of business, and blank pages for yours.
Put one lesson to work each week, and see what it changed.
Reading 75 lessons won’t change anything on its own. The Workbook turns them into one change a week for twelve weeks.
All 75 rules in one place.
What each lesson means, its rule, and where you’ll see it as a customer, so the next time you’re in a shop you’ll spot the move.
Check a move is fair before you use it.
16 yes-or-no questions, each from a lesson in the book. If any answer is no, don’t use the move.
One payment. All 12 PDFs download as soon as you pay.
Read the part for the job you’re doing this week. If you don’t find one thing to change, or the book isn’t for you, email us within 3 days and we’ll refund you. You don’t have to give a reason.
You can find the moves. A sale sign here, a “most popular” badge there. What’s harder to find is what happened when a brand tried it, with the number and its source, and the rule rewritten for a business your size, with the sums done and three steps for this week. Here that’s all in one place, 75 times.
That’s what every lesson is about. Apple and Costco are where the move is easy to see. The rule is rewritten for a small business, with an example for a bakery, a plumber or a florist. Where a move needs a big brand’s money, the last box in the lesson says so.
No. Before the first lesson there’s a page called The rule under every rule: every move here works because customers notice something real. A count of what’s left only helps if it’s the true count. Each lesson ends with a box called Where it stops, and the Honest Selling Checklist is there to check a move before you use it.
It’s written for people who’ve never read a marketing book. Short sentences, and every term is explained where it first comes up. If you can write a price list, you can use it.
You can check it. Every number comes from the study, the company’s own filing or page, or a named news outlet, and each lesson lists them. Each lesson also says how far the proof goes, so you can tell a lab result from one well-reported case.
You don’t have to read it in order. A lesson takes a few minutes. Open the part for the job you’re doing this week, read one lesson and do its three steps. Or start with the Sales Checklists and read only the lessons they send you to.
Then skip that half. A plumber can live in Write the price and Say it so it lands. A shop owner can start with Design the visit. You need the few lessons that fit, and the Start here pages tell you which ones to read first.
It’s 20 cents a lesson, and the bonuses come with it. If one lesson moves one price on your list by a dollar, it’s paid for itself after 15 sales. If not, ask for your money back within three days.
12 PDFs. The book is 356 pages at 6 × 9 in, the size of a paperback. It reads well on a tablet or a computer and prints on Letter or A4. The 11 bonuses are on US Letter pages: the Sales Checklists, the Workbook, seven worksheets, the Cheat Sheet and the Honest Selling Checklist. They all download as soon as you pay.
For the bonuses, yes, or a print shop. You can read the book on a screen. On A4 paper, choose “fit to page”. You don’t need to print it all at once: start with the Sales Checklists and the worksheet for the job in front of you.
By card, through the secure checkout at the bottom of this page. The download links appear as soon as you pay.
No. Some lessons touch on rules about pricing claims, and say so. Check the rules where you trade before you change a price claim.
Email support@explainedmarketing.com within 3 days of buying and we’ll refund you.
Read the part for the job in front of you tonight, print the checklist that goes with it, and change one thing this week.
