In The Power of Persuasion: How We're Bought and Sold
, Levine delivers an excellent scenario of the sales process by Peter Lowe International.Briefly what happened is that after being entice to take action to buy a $255 seminar ticket at the limited of price of $49, of which Levine was later informed that the $49 ticket deal has expired, bought a $59 ticket and at the same time was persuaded to buy a useful Yearbook at half price; and eventually paid $84 for the ticket with fees and taxes included. This was only the first round of the sparring session with Peter Lowe International
During the seminar there was as usual a bunch of speakers attacking with every sales tactic to get participants to buy their products; using emotional tools such as an inspiring video to mentally psych up the audience.
One technique I believe is so affective is when the speaker tells the audience that they may leave the room if they are not interest, but invokes so much peer pressure that every participant stays in their sits. How this technique works is that you tell the participants that you will be promoting your product and informed that it is not a must to buy, but it is vital to have. Of course there will be certain people who will not be interested to hear a word more about the product would begin to leave the seminar room because the speaker has already mentioned that anyone not interest may leave. But this is what happens; the speaker will wait a few seconds for those who are not interest to leave their sits, or attempt to leave their sits. The silence not only put those uninterested participants in a spot because the whole room may be staring at them, but sometimes with the additional help of the speaker will portray the message that those who stood up to leave are not interested to, for example to be rich, to take charge of their lives, etc etc etc... you get what i mean. I have personally experienced such a subtle but forceful technique to get people to listen to your sales pitch from many top motivational speakers around the world.
Back to our Peter Lowe International seminar. A month later, Levine received a letter by PLI that says he is one of the few selected to attend a new personalized program. When Levine calls up to find out more, the sales consultant began to 'qualify' Levine with what is known as the 'four walls' cornering technique designed to ultimately make you say 'yes' and be obligated to attend the program. The sales consultant will make sure Levine is committed and believe that he is qualified for the program; and even asks to answers few questions then to call back later with the answers; telling Levine that based on the answers PLI will decide whether Levine has the right qualities, attitude, and aptitude to attend this exclusive program.
This is how professional sales people and marketing companies coerced you to buy their products and services.
Posts
