Secrets to Success Deborah Cole Micek and John-Paul Micek

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How to sell $200 ladies’ jeans

Recently, while at Ala Moana Center, my partner, Deb, was trying on an endless rack of clothes. The two young women helping her also had endless "suggestions."

So, I did what any guy does in this situation. I went on the prowl for some examples of Tribal Seduction marketing. Now this is not the most subtle marketing you've ever seen, but I believe this speaks directly to women -- a graphic displayed by a rack of $200 jeans showing a narrowing tape measure with the words: "Our exclusive patent-pending front panel contours your body! Raises your rear! You'll lose inches instantly! And wear one size smaller!"

You've got to admit this speaks to just about any woman regardless of age, shape, or size.

Deb plays tennis for two hours, five times a week. She can run circles around me aerobically, but she still went ga-ga over this new line of jeans. The two ladies helping her (both of whom had rail-like model bodies) were raving about them, too.

This is Tribal Seduction marketing at its best. Simple, to the point, and it hits on every trigger ingrained in women's subconscious since they were little girls playing dress-up. This is a great example of the Tribal Seduction CHARM formula in action (Captivate, Hook, Advance, Reinforce, Motivate).

What makes this the ultimate Tribal Seduction was the way the manager and her assistant made us feel. Like a Tiffany charm in the little blue box, they wrapped it with a ribbon of passionate support.

They locked the store at 9 p.m. Then, they turned all their attention to making sure I was comfortable and that Deb had an endless rack of suggested clothes to try on.

We walked out of there at 10:20 p.m. with new jeans and thrilled with the 90-minute experience.

I asked a friend if he agreed that this was a great example of Tribal Seduction. His answer: "I suspect the post- 9 p.m. experience is the real seduction. I (recently) accompanied my wife as she shopped for a pendant. ... I sent her along an hour earlier, and went into the store only after she had shortlisted three choices.

"Then the sales lady's magic began. She gently, non-intrusively, yet persistently guided us to picking the most expensive one -- showing how nice it looked, going out of the way to find a necklace from the store's inventory that matched the one my wife owns and displaying how it would look with the settings, and so on.

"We both agreed the pendant was at least 25 percent more expensive than it should have been ... We were well over the budget we had mutually agreed upon ... (but) we both felt happy and good about the experience.

"That's selling magic. When you have it, profits soar -- not surprisingly, though, because clients turn into evangelists, uninvited to do so."

What about you? How would you have felt if that all happened to you?