In my recent travels I found myself wandering around a huge shopping mall. I usually don’t hang around shopping malls because of the damage they do to my wallet. However, I was compelled to do so because I had to keep a promise I had made a year earlier. I had promised to buy my daughter a laptop for her birthday and the date was fast approaching.
I eventually found an electronics shop and was ushered in by a young lady with a beautiful, friendly smile. She seemed quite enthusiastic to see me, and she showed me around and asked what I wanted to buy. She made me feel special, especially since I was the only black guy in the room. I described the laptop I wanted, and she took me straight to a laptop on display. The laptop had a large discounted price on it, and she claimed it was the only piece left at this price.
At this point, I realized what was happening. This beautiful lady didn’t really like me. She was just using psychological tricks to close another sale from another random customer. Luckily for me, I had just finished reading Robert Cialdini’s Psychology of Influence. I noticed that the first psychological lever working against me was the tendency to avoid being inconsistent. I had made a promise to my daughter, and I didn’t want to break it. This tendency is quite powerful. Human beings always behave in a way to remain consistent with their values and this is why we resist change.
I had also fallen for the liking tendency. I saw an attractive woman smiling at me, and I assumed she liked me. So I reciprocated by heeding her call to come into the shop. Now I was hooked. How could I let this friendly, beautiful woman down by not buying anything? The reciprocation tendency was now working against me. She had offered me a friendly, warm smile. I felt obliged to offer something in return.
Then there was the discount pricing. I knew this was a sales gimmick, but it seemed to work its magic. This is the contrast influence. The lower price seemed like such a good deal, even though I knew that they were lying. They had just increased the real price and claimed that the difference was a discount.
Finally, this gorgeous lady pulled out the scarcity lever when she claimed this was the only laptop left at such a price. My primitive brain all of a sudden felt it had to acquire this item. This scarcity tendency is quite powerful and drives us to do all sorts of insane things, like keep buying things we don’t need.
In the end, I capitulated and bought the laptop. But before I could leave, this angel of a woman had another trick up her sleeve. She offered me a free laptop bag. In return, she offered to sell me a wireless mouse and an extended warranty on the laptop. I fell for the bag but retained my intellectual pride by refusing the warranty.
So I left the store with a laptop, wireless mouse and a bag in hand and felt astonished that with all my knowledge of psychological influences, I had still not managed to counteract them.
Luckily my daughter was quite pleased with her birthday gift!
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