When airlines announce priority boarding or a shrimp bowl runs low at a party, people suddenly want in. Scarcity and exclusivity make things more desirable. One tactic: create a buyer's club that costs $100,000 to join, offering elite events and insider access to push customers to spend more.
I found there's two ways to move humanity en masse. One way is to announce there is a fire. If I said there's a fire in this room and we saw it, we would run. The second way is to simply say, "We'll be boarding the airplane in 5 minutes." People jump up out of their chairs, they elbow, they run, and people run to the gate and sit there. There's like a wall of humanity in front of the gate. Well, Newark, this one time I'm flying, uh, recent, uh, about a year ago, and they make the announcement, we'd like to start boarding in 5 minutes. People come running. I'm a little bit late, a little behind, so I'm sitting behind people trying to get in. The only way to get through this wall of people is when the next announcement happens. We'd like to welcome on anyone traveling with platinum status. Gold, bronze, semi-precious metals, plastic, you know, come on board. And people start filing in, filing in. And this one flight, there was one guy left. It was me. And it was a very funny moment. So the flight attendant, she was sitting here like this, and because I had run forward, she was here and I'm here. And she pulls her microphone over and she's like, we'd like to now announce general boarding. And I'm like, are you serious? And when I said that, I actually said it into the microphone. And she's like, "Yes, I'm serious." Very awkward moment. And I said, "Okay, I'm ready to board." She said, "Great." I take a step forward and she goes, "This is really awkward. You're not permitted to step on the blue mat." And she closed that zip line in front of me. She's like, "You have to walk around. That's general boarding over there." So I walked around and rubbed my foot all over that. Walked down to the plane. There's a behavioral tendency going on here. It's called the power of exclusivity or limitation. When something is exclusive, it becomes more desirous. We want it more. People go the extra mile to keep that platinum status. And perhaps someone like this is in the room, or perhaps you know someone like this. I have been to Newark Airport on December 31st when miles are about to roll over and you have to keep your status, and there are people at Newark Airport that are flying to Newark Airport. It's the most bizarre thing you've ever experienced. You go, hey, where are you flying to? Oh, I'm going to Newark. I'm like, we kind of are in Newark. Yes, I'm circumnavigating the world to come right back here tomorrow morning. So I can keep up my status. Now here's the most bizarre thing. We fly more because of these frequent flyer miles, and the benefit is You're allowed to board an airplane earlier. That means you're allowed to sit on that tin can longer. And we still go for it. The power of exclusivity. When something's limited in availability or has a sense of prestige, we move toward it. If you don't believe me with people doing that with airplanes, you'll probably believe the shrimp bowl effect I'm about to share. You go to cocktail party, fill up with your Cabernet or Merlot, you're sitting there sipping. "Good, how was your day?" You're talking. Watch for the shrimp bowl to come out. Whoever's hosting the party puts the shrimp bowl out. Just watch people's eyes at first. Just kind of gauging that. The second thing that happens when the shrimp bowl comes out is what I call the shrimp shuffle. People are drinking their Cabernet, it's like, "Oh, it was a fabulous time. It was great seeing you there." And they're moving toward the shrimp bowl. Then as the shrimp gets consumed, The consumption as it depletes increases. So first there's a couple like, oh, this is delicious shrimp. Oh, this is wonderful, that horseradish. And all of a sudden it's like, oh my God, there's not much left. People start like chipmunks putting it in there. They stick it in the knee pits. I don't even know there was such a thing. Storing stuff here, purses. Oh my God, the shrimp goes away like this. There's always one left because if you eat that one, you're a pig, right? There's always that one left. The lesson here though is that something is limited in its availability, we consume it and desire it more. So in your business, limit your availability. How I do it in my business, by the way, I've started a buyer's club. And by the way, anyone's welcome to join the buyer's club at my company, but you have to spend $100,000 with us. And when you spend $100,000 with us or more, you get invited to an exclusive event where once a year where all our significant clients come together and we network, we share some of the latest marketing techniques and behavioral tendencies. We do a lot of stuff on the web, monitoring people's use and behavior on the web. And we share all the latest greatest stuff. But you have to spend $100,000 to get with us. We have clients that have spent $80,000 and right on December 31st, they're saying, "Mike, I just got to spend another $20,000 with you. What can I do?" Behavioral tendency. Limited availability becomes more desirous. I encourage all of us to start our own variant of a club, the exclusive few, the frequent flyers, if you will, and people will move toward it. Thank you very much. Thank you.
