Every customer encounters this dilemma at some point. You aren’t sure if you want to buy a product or service, but the person doing the selling — they’re sure. They’re insistent. They know you want to pull out your wallet. And sometimes, they’re even apparently right, because, look, there you go, forking over money when you’re really not sure if that’s what you want to do.
What just happened? You fell for the hard sell. How can you avoid that in the future? Listen to your gut the next time you feel like you’re getting the hard sell — and learn some of the tactics that shrewd salespeople use to get you to open your wallet.
“There aren’t many of these left …” Uh-oh. The salesperson has told you that if you don’t buy this product or get this deal now, it may go away.
“We feel more of a pressure to want to get something if we think it’s about to go away. So, it’s quite common for salespeople to use urgency as a way to make their target more likely to say yes. The pitch is presented in a way that makes it sound like a great opportunity but you must decide right now, no taking time to think about it,” says Vassilis Dalakas, a professor of marketing who specializes in consumer psychology, at Cal State University San Marcos in San Marco, California.
And that’s a problem. “Time pressure throws us into autopilot thinking, which is full of biases, fallacies and mistakes. We’re easily persuaded when under the influence of time pressure,” says Ken Taylor, founder of 39 Consulting, a marketing consultancy based in Atlanta. He also has a blog about the art of persuasion called ThePersuadent.com.
[See: 5 Easy Ways to Make Fast Cash.]
The salesperson appears to be on your side, instead of his or her own company. This is another one to watch out for, Dalakas says.
“It’s not uncommon for a salesperson to say something that could be perceived as negative about a product he or she is selling,” he says.
Dalakas offers up the example where the salesperson lowers their voice and says, “You know, between you and me, this isn’t too great. There have been some issues …”
Dalakas says that customers are usually surprised by that admission, and they appreciate the honesty.
“However, often this is just a setup to make it easier to pitch a different product to the customer who now feels the salesperson is on their side,” Dalakas says.
You’re getting questions about your personal life. It seems like the salesperson is being friendly, asking what you do for a living or how many kids you have. But there’s a reason they’re asking, says Christian Lowery, a licensed real estate salesperson in New York City.
“They’re trying to build a rapport with you and take your mind off the fact that they’re a salesperson,” Lowery says. “If someone is trying to sell you a house and the first five minutes of the conversation are about your two children’s after-school activities … prepare yourself for the sales push.”
[See: 7 Products to Never Buy in Bulk.]
Watch out for the ol’ anchoring and adjustment tactic. You’ve probably been in this scenario before: A salesperson talks to you about the features you’re looking for in, say, a car, and then you learn the price, and, wow, it’s too much. Then the salesperson perhaps has a conversation with a manager, and the price is lowered, and you exhale. Now, you can start getting serious about making a purchase.
That’s actually a sales technique called anchoring and adjustment, according to Deborah Searcy, a business professor at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida.
The salesperson anchors your thinking around the higher number, Searcy says. “Then, when the person says, ‘No, that’s too much for me,’ the salesperson comes back with a lower number that seems like a good deal.”
That may sound like just a routine exchange in the sales process, but as Searcy points out, if the salesperson had started at a lower price point, the customer, determined to find a good deal, may have not been all that interested.
Be careful not to fall under the spell of cognitive dissonance. This is a psychological phenomenon, and salespeople use this, Searcy says.
“Cognitive dissonance is having inconsistent thoughts or beliefs, and humans find this state really uncomfortable. Salespeople use this to pressure sales,” she says.
Searcy offers up the example of going into a car dealership, and the salesperson asks you if you’re ready to buy a car today.
If you say, “yes,” Searcy says that you’re setting yourself up for cognitive dissonance if you later want to walk away and not buy a car.
“Humans want to be consistent in their thoughts and actions, so salespeople get you to do a little or commit to a little, so that making the bigger commitment is consistent with your previous actions,” she says.
[See: 25 Ways to Fix Your Finances Fast.]
Of course, if you worry about all of this too much, you’ll never set foot in a store again, walk onto a car dealership, use a real estate agent or talk to anyone who might possibly try to convince you to part with your hard-earned cash. And, sure there’s always the chance a salesperson is nice to you because they are, well, nice.
Still, the next time you feel pressure as you’re listening to a sales pitch, ask yourself if your unease is because the item or service is expensive, and you really don’t know if you want to spend the money — or are you in the midst of a hard sell? Because no matter what the salesperson is telling you, there’s no law that says you have to spend money after investing some time listening to a sales pitch. You always have the option of walking away. You can think about what you were planning on buying, sleep it over and come back to make your purchase the next day.
Of course, by then, it may be too late …
More from U.S. News
10 Tips to Sell Your Home Fast
10 Ways to Make Extra Money in Retirement
7 Things to Consider When Picking Out Paint Colors for Your Home
5 Ways Consumers Fall for the ‘Hard Sell’ originally appeared on usnews.com
