Session 2 – Feeling remorse, eh?

We’ll understand another sales technique titled as ‘Low-balling’.

Used mainly for sales, it involves displaying the item or service at a lower price and then when the customer is convinced to buy it, the price is raised to its original price by citing the display price as a mistake or misprint. Most of the times, the customer doesn’t back out.

To say it simply, if you know there’s something unpleasant about what you’re asking the person to do, reveal the unpleasant details only after the person has agreed to the request.

Well, low-balling often leads to something termed as ‘Buyer’s Remorse’.

An example would explain it better. Here it goes:

Susan goes to her local car dealership to buy a car. She is initially offered a new SUV for $14,000. She believes that this is a steal, so she agrees to buy it. The sales manager goes into his office to gather the paperwork. When he comes back, he informs Susan that the SUV is actually $16,000, not $14,000 as she was told. The increase in price is due to several upgrades that the car company has installed, including tinted windows, OnStar navigation, and satellite radio. Susan is upset with the price increase but agrees to pay it. This is an example of the low-balling technique.

Note: It is important to make the person realize that he/she is at his/her will to agree or refuse the proposal.

You see ‘Low-balling’ being used on the Internet all the time.

You see an attractive deal. Something along the lines of ‘Here’s the Christmas major giveaway for you’.

You proceed. You read on as it continues to grip you in its presentation.

The offer captivates you totally…..

And then…… comes the catch saying ‘It is available free with <insert an attractive name here> bundle which is being at just <show the current discounted price alongside the original crossed price>.’

Of course, it doesn’t work always and there are many other factors that contribute to its success and that makes it a little less effective online.

Something related to this you can read about is ‘Cognitive dissonance’.

A simple explanation that could explain this phenomenon is the ‘Consistency Principle’.

You’ve already learned about it but for the sake of refreshing it, It states that once people have committed to what you’ve asked, they’re more likely to stay true to the commitment even after learning the negatives of it.

So this brings us to the end of the 2nd session.