Absolve Maximizers of Solely Absolutes

Consumer psychologists distinguish between “maximizers,” who want to choose the best possible alternative, and “satisficers,” who are pleased to settle for what’s good enough. Wise retailers also make this distinction, since it determines how to make the sale. Moreover, wise retailers realize the distinction isn’t always straightforward. Maximizers are usually willing to pay more money than satisficers and to spend more time deciding. But some maximizers are bargain hunters, searching for a deal on the very best. Other maximizers are happy to pay top dollar if they can depend on a trusted salesperson to quickly point them toward perfection.
     Researchers at Virginia Tech and University of Michigan showed that another complication arises from how maximizers define “the very best.” One group of shoppers were asked to express their degree of preference for an item rated 60 on a 100-point scale when all the available alternatives are rated at no higher than 50. For another group of shoppers, the focus item was rated at 80 and the alternatives topped out at a rating of 95.
     It might seem that the maximizers in the “80 versus 95” group would express a stronger preference for their focus item than did the maximizers in the “60 versus 50” group. But it turned out the other way around. Maximizers pay attention to relative ratings in addition to absolute ratings.
     Maximizers are perfectionist shoppers, and perfectionist shoppers are a nuisance for retailers. They can consume an abundance of your time to conclude a sale and then might return an item or resist paying for a service because their unrealistic expectations were not fulfilled.
     There’s a large genetic component in perfectionism. A person’s environment—the strictness of a parent’s standards, the reactions of bosses to errors on the job—do shape the personality trait. But a larger determination comes from what you’re born with. When considering a purchase, people will gather information until they reach a point where the effort to gather more information isn’t worth it to them because of the weight of evidence they’ve already gathered. For maximizers, this balance point is substantially higher than it is for satisficers. When you’re selling to a family of maximizers, be ready to keep feeding more information and to host a series of visits to the store.
     Because of the genetic component, perfectionism is challenging to change. Work around perfectionism by how you present comparison choices to maximizers.

For your profitability: Sell Well: What Really Moves Your Shoppers 

Click below for more: 
Perfect Your Salesmanship for Perfectionists 
Attend to Genetic Influences in Selling 
De-Stress from the Distress of Perfectionism