“That’s the ugliest sunset I have ever seen!”

Now, that’s a line you don’t hear everyday! Yet there is no doubt that you have seen many sunsets in your lifetime. Sure, like most people, you have probably said, “That is the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen,” but you have most likely never said it was the “ugliest” one. You may even wonder why on earth anyone would ever find a sunset to be ugly in the first place! You simply can’t fathom the idea of an ugly sunset.

However, if you were a statistician or something similar, you may have uttered those words. Because in all reality, technically, one of the sunsets you have seen has to be the ugliest. So, the question becomes why you have never actually said it. Or, more importantly, why do your emotions always perceive it as being beautiful?

Limiting Access

What this all boils down to is an engrained behavior that we all have, referred to as exclusivity. For something to be exclusive, it needs to have limited access or be used on a limited basis. The more that something is perceived to be exclusive, giving us less access to it, we tend to appreciate it much more. We put more value on it and are less likely to ever find it undesirable, or to be the ugliest.

As we all know, the sun sets each day. And it is beautiful each time. But if you watched it set every day, your appreciation for it would probably wane. You would come to take it for granted, assuming that it would be there and be similar to the day before. No longer would you really hunger to see it and be grateful for it like you did when you only saw it occasionally, or on an exclusive basis.

Recreating Beauty in Your Business

Since you, like most people, probably only watch the sun set occasionally, and maybe even only on rare occasions, you tend to value it tremendously. You probably even feel it is the most beautiful thing you have ever seen. And perhaps you snap photos of it, lingering a little longer, trying to be in the moment and not let it pass.

In your business, you can also leverage this natural behavior of your clients, and help them to see your offerings as beautiful. The technique works in much the same way, by imposing exclusivity on certain products or services that you offer.

By making certain products or offerings exclusive, you will make them available only for special customers (perhaps the big spenders), or will only put them on display in a special section of your site for a certain time frame, or maybe only make them available for limited hours. Whatever you do, focus on making it limited, or requiring some serious effort to gain access.

Seeing the Value

When consumers know that something is a limited edition, or that there is limited access, they automatically place a higher value on it, no matter what that thing happens to be. When we have access to everything, at any time, we are essentially helping to devalue it to some extent.

While this works with sunsets, rainbows and shooting stars, it can work just as well in your business. It’s worked for everyone from Lamborghini to McDonald’s Shamrock Shake. And it can work for you, too! Even common things, such as sunsets, when displayed to users infrequently, automatically have more perceived value.

So your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to determine what you can make exclusive or in a limited edition. Once you do that, and put it into action, you will see the value of that product or service soar, and as those sales take off, you can spend your time looking for the ugliest sunset you have ever seen!