When are we susceptible to persuasion tactics?

Be aware of the following situations, or you may just be unknowingly persuaded to open up your wallet.

1. The first situation is what we consider the consequence of our actions unimportant. An example explained by Levine, is when you are about to check out and the salesman asks you whether you wanted the 3 or 5 years warranty, 'forgetting' to mention that you had an option of not buying the extended warranty.

2. The second situation is when were are forced to act quickly, because the need for urgency reduces our ability to rationalize. For example, limited time offers, or limited quantity/edition items. Urgency invokes the rule of scarcity. And the more limited the supply, the more desperate we are to get our hands on it.

3. The third situation is when we are bombarded with too much information. When we are overloaded with information, we tend to find shortcuts to make our decisions. This is why most reading materials and articles are not fully read. People will usually read the headlines and sub headlines to determine the full story.

4. The fourth situation is when the sales person has the influential traits of honesty, integrity and likability. We tend to buy from someone whom we believe is honest.

5. The fifth situation is a very common occurrence of following the Joneses or, acting like lemmings. We need proof that whatever we intend to buy is accepted by the majority, or as having social proof.

6. The sixth situation is when we are in a state of confusion, and therefore tend to fall prey to sales predators. In this state we again try to find shortcuts to make our decisions, and/or check if others are making the same decisions that we're about to make.