Promote the 36 Strategies

Author: Zhang Yanjun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features: Using "Rising to Replace Falling, Transforming False into True" In sales tactics, the most common one is "breaking the bank sale." However, after seeing too many such events, most consumers are no longer easily swayed, whether the merchant is genuinely "losing money" or just "pretending to liquidate." Below, we look at a unique sales story where the protagonist uses the clever strategy of "deceiving the heavens" to promote goods.
On the bustling Nanjing Road in Shanghai, a private entrepreneur named Wang set up a clothing dealership. The storefront was not large, and business was not thriving. To break this sluggish situation, Wang hired a senior designer and launched a newly designed, world-leading fashion denim jacket for sale. He placed great hope in this product, expecting it to turn around his struggling business. For this, he invested tens of thousands of yuan, producing the first batch of 1,000 jackets, each costing 56 yuan. To open the market, he adopted a low-price strategy, setting the price at 80 yuan per jacket, which was relatively low in the clothing industry. Wang thought that with its novel design and low price, he would surely see a "breakout success." He personally took charge of the promotion, making a big fuss for half a month, but buyers were few and far between.
Desperate, Wang decided to lower the price by 10 yuan per jacket and called out even more desperately for another half month, but the number of buyers still did not increase. Could people still find it too expensive? Wang lowered the price by another 10 yuan, bringing it close to a "fire sale" price, but sales remained unchanged. Unwilling to give up, Wang decided to go all out with a "breaking the bank sale." Otherwise, the capital would be tied up, hindering normal turnover, and he would miss the prime season. So, he posted a notice: "Selling world-leading fashion denim jackets at 50 yuan per jacket, no labor costs—loss leader clearance." Yet, apart from a few onlookers, even the few customers who had previously come were gone.
Utterly discouraged, Wang resigned himself to his fate and stopped lowering the price or calling out. He had a signboard hung in front of the store: "Selling world-leading fashion denim jackets at 40 yuan per jacket." He could only leave it to fate whether they would sell.
On the bustling Nanjing Road, such a low price was rare, and he hoped customers would have some pity. After the signboard was posted, a steady stream of buyers came, eager to pick through the jackets. Wang was taken aback, standing there frozen like a statue. It turned out that his staff had been careless, adding an extra zero after 40, turning the price from 40 yuan to 400 yuan—ten times higher than intended. Yet, buyers flocked to the store, and within no time, he sold seven or eight jackets. Subsequently, sales only got better and better, like "peas growing taller with each step," and business flourished like never before.
A month later, all 1,000 of Wang's denim jackets were sold out. Wang, who had nearly lost everything, suddenly struck it rich. When the low-price strategy left Wang in a bind, why did the unexpected high price turn the situation around, earning him profits ten times higher than his original expectations? The reason lies in consumer psychology. Wang's world-leading denim jackets were primarily aimed at fashion-conscious young people, who value high-end, high-quality, and trendy products. Their purchasing psychology emphasizes the status, quality, and novelty of clothing. They not only seek fashionable styles but also demand a certain flair to satisfy their vanity and desire for beauty.
Although Wang's denim jackets were stylish, the initially low price made them seem of poor quality, and wearing them would be a matter of shame. When the price was later raised tenfold, it perfectly matched their consumer psychology—high price equals high quality. As a result, they bought eagerly. This clever "deceiving the heavens" strategy fully catered to customer psychology, using "rising to replace falling" to sell even better. The wisdom passed down through generations is truly astonishing.