Once I was working my way through a narrow alley in Hong Kong filled with vendors offering clothes, leather purses, copy watches, souvenirs, and what not. Any Westerner coming through can forget about a relaxed stroll taking in the sights. Everybody wants to sell you everything. One man in particular followed me persistently, shouting "Only twenty Hong Kong dollar, only twenty Hong Kong dollar!"

What was he selling? I have no idea and I will never know. That man broke an important rule of marketing. Price is the last P in marketing, not the first P. Good marketing stays away from mentioning the price of a product as long as possible. Price is a negative in your relationship with the customer.

Our man in Xi An knew this principle of not starting with price. He didn't start by saying "500 RMB per day." He started by asking us where we were from. He started by telling us to read his notebook. He started by offering to drive us to our hotel for free. Then he educated us about the value of the product he was really selling. Then he got down to price and neatly ended up with sort of reversing that free offer anyway.

The Rainbow vacuum cleaner company in the United States also knows. The company manages to sell its vacuum cleaners at a price of around $1,000. They sell these vacuum cleaners door to door. All their potential customers naturally already have vacuum cleaners. And, anyway, vacuum cleaners should only cost $50 to maybe $300. Not $1000. So how can they possibly sell to anybody?

The product does have a unique difference: the dirt does not go into a paper bag. The air is vacuumed through a container with water, and the water captures the dirt. After vacuuming, the dirty water is disposed off. Presumably this way you catch more dirt. The salespeople demonstrate how the air from a regular vacuum cleaner still holds a lot of dirt. This dirt will hang in the air, affecting your lungs, aggravating breathing problems, worsening asthma, giving you allergies and what not.

Interested customers naturally inquire about the price. Salespeople know that the sales conversation will be over as soon as they mention price. "I don't want to tell you the price," they respond, "I don't want you to buy this product because of the price, but because you really need it." They offer a dramatic demonstration of how a pillow can be put in a plastic bag and sucked to a very small hard shape with the Rainbow vacuum cleaner. Presumably, mites are thus removed from the pillow.

Customers may again ask about the price. The salespeople will respond that if they and the customer together decide that the customer does need this vacuum cleaner that they personally will make sure the customer can buy one. The salespeople demonstrate the full value of the product, the money saved on not having to buy paper bags for the vacuum cleaner, the money saved in doctor prescriptions, the money saved in days not taken off of work, the money saved in not having to replace carpets that wear out sooner when regular vacuum cleaners leave grinding dirt behind. So much in savings that customers may wonder why the government does not make these vacuum cleaners mandatory. Only after some two or three hours, after the customer practically begs on knees for the price, will the price be revealed.

One good thing though: a discount is available if the customer finds three friends or family who are willing to let the salesperson give a demonstration. They don't have to buy, just allow a demonstration in their home. You might think it is impossible to sell a vacuum cleaner for $1000 or more to people who already have a vacuum cleaner? Think again. If the salesperson crosses the threshold, a sale results one out of three times.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and so is value. And it won't be in the eye of the beholder if you don't put it there. So be an expert on the value of your product. Do R&D on the value of your product. Then invest to put that value in the eye, the mind, of the customer, then talk price. Then the seemingly impossible becomes possible.