Want a Banana?

The biggest form of customer resistance is their privately held belief, “This guy (or gal) is trying to sell me something. Must be a scam.” This is especially true for skeptics like me, so I know a lot about the thought process underlying the resistance. In social psychology, we call this a boomerang effect—when the compliance strategies we use basically backfire and scare the customer off. It is essential to convey sincerity and an absence of deception in order to gain buy in, while making realistic claims that are perceived to be legitimate. One technique for overcoming resistance is called the “disrupt then reframe” method. In this tactic, you identify and speak to the hidden fear or resistance of the customer BEFORE they even voice it. In addition, you add some alternative ways of viewing the situation (the reframe), thus disrupting their resistance-laden belief structure. The goal is for the customer to begin telling themselves, “This is a bargain!” or “What a great opportunity!” One way to guide the customer to this strategy is by sweetening the deal just before they are ready to commit (the “that’s not all” technique). Another method is to use the scarcity principle (act now while supplies last), which helps the customer to see that this opportunity may go away if they delay, or that there is a scarce amount of time or product for them to seize quickly. Another method to gain buy in is the take away (I guess this opportunity just isn’t for you). This shows that you aren’t desperate, and conveys that you have other offers out there, thus making you more attractive to the target. What works better than playing hard to get?

We call it ingratiation if we compliment someone else, give them the idea that we agree with them, or mimic their behaviors (gestures, way of speaking, dress). But the truth is that ingratiation works! When we feel that we are being complimented and built up in a genuine way (it is specific, it is something that we believe to be true of ourselves), we tend to start liking the source of the compliment more. We then want to help them and do favors for them. A number of experiments show that we are more likely to be persuaded by salespeople who: remember and use our names, make eye contact, show that they are listening to us (riveted to our every word), agree with us, imitate our speech patterns and gestures, and compliment us. Basically we want to believe good things about ourselves. If we give people a positive label about themselves (you are so generous, you are so helpful, you give to others, you are a risk-taker, you are courageous and independent), the listener wants to act in a way that is consistent with that label. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Sometimes we even feel this obligation to return the favor if we just see that the other person is making some kind of concession for us. This may be why the door-in-the-face tactic works so well. With this strategy, you make a request of the customer that they will likely turn down (you don’t actually want them to accept this initial offer). When they refuse, you immediately follow up with, “That’s understandable. But would you be willing to do this instead?” The second offer seems much easier to accommodate because it requires less risk, less investment, or less time of the customer. The contrast effect is called a perceptual contrast. There are theories about why the door-in-the-face works so well. One theory is that we feel guilty for turning the salesperson down for the initial favor, and when they ask the second favor, they seem to be making a concession. Therefore, we want to reciprocate the favor. This effect has been shown to increase the amount of volunteer work college students will donate to a soup kitchen for the homeless. It had also led home-owners to allow researchers to place a huge billboard in their front lawn for two weeks! It is surprising how helpful we all want to be. This gives me a little hope for humanity, after all. We salespeople are just helping the customer to know what they want to buy. They will buy something anyway. It might as well be our products.