Mind games and money-making tricks used by marketers to influence customers to buy

Many salespeople still use mind games, money-making tricks, and unethical sales techniques despite being bad business practices. I have listed below some of the common tricks sellers use to influence customers to buy from them. They are used by large and small company sales operations and can bring down or give a bad reputation not only to a company but to an entire industry. Look what happened to the vacation timeshare and vacation club market. An entire industry tainted by a few companies using questionable sales techniques that are unethical at best and illegal at worst.

You cannot build a long-term large or small business sales company based on scams to make money. A successful sales operation must be built on your customer relationships, repeat business, and customer referrals. No one-off sales made with bogus claims and sales tricks to close the deal. Here are some examples of sales mind games and influence techniques to avoid.

Lying about who you work for

This is a common sales scam to get a sales appointment with a prospect and manipulate the buyer into closing the sale. It was used by agency vendors trying to convert household energy customers away from their current provider. In the UK, they started the conversation by saying that they were from British Gas and that they were helping people find the best package for their gas and electricity supply. This was to get them through the door and give them some credibility. They felt it was more productive than saying they were from a competitor company and trying to get the customer to switch.

There were cases reported in the media where elderly and vulnerable people were totally confused. Some had signed contracts without reading them because the friendly salesperson said they needed a signature just to say they had called and completed the interview. It was only when they received a notification some time later that their power supply had been terminated and they were switching to a new supplier that they realized something was wrong. At that point, the seller had spent his commission and moved on to the next scam to make money. Power companies received bad publicity and lost trust and credibility.

false references

This sales scam is being used right now by overseas telemarketing and telesales companies offering to solve all your outstanding debt problems. The reason they give for calling is that you have outstanding debts. This is pure assumption and in the current economic climate many callers will have debt problems. Some even claim to call you because your bank has contacted them. You are asked who you bank with as a security question and then confirm that you answered correctly. Imagine a person receiving the call who has real debt problems. They think their bank has asked these people to call. All sorts of thoughts will run through your mind, which is exactly how this sales mind control trick works. They have a potential customer at the end of the line who is now panicking or believes the caller has their bank’s credibility behind them. When the credit crunch eases and debt is no longer a hot spot, offshore money-making scams will move on to the next short-term moneymaker.

My boss wants to know what I did wrong

Another bad business practice some direct sales operations use is the manager feedback call. The salesperson introduced his product and tried to close the sale, but the prospect refused to buy from him. After several attempts to make the sale, the salesperson seems to have given up and the potential customer relaxes and lets their guard down. The salesperson then asks if he can use the phone and call his manager since he cares about the customers and wants feedback on what the salesperson has done.

After a brief conversation, the salesperson hands the potential customer the phone and tells his manager that he’d like to talk a bit and give some feedback on how the salesperson presented the product. The sales trick used then is for the manager to try to close the sale. One way is to ask what the seller would have had to do to close the deal. The response is then used to come back with another proposal. There are variations on this scam, such as the salesperson’s reprimand within earshot of the potential customer to create sympathy from the potential customer. Another way is for the manager to use his power to get the prospect a special deal, but only if he accepts the sales today.

These mind games and scams have been used in some industries for many years and still exist today. I often invite sales reps just to see their strategies. I recently agreed to a sales appointment for double glazing. The presentation was very poor and the handling of objections was reduced to a standard response, which was to offer a lower price with guaranteed credit if you signed today. After several attempts to shut me down, the salesperson took his phone and called his manager. The manager asked me how much I had been quoted and I answered him. He said that it was too much and that the seller was new to the company and had given me the wrong price. That’s strange, I said, just a moment ago you were telling me what a great company you were and how you had worked for you for over twenty years, so you knew all about great products. There was a silence that he was not going to break. The salesman, sitting in my living room, was turning red with embarrassment. The manager at the end of the line couldn’t think of anything better than him confusing his staff.

Is it any wonder the double glazing market has a reputation for poor sales ethics when using these sales techniques? There are many highly reputable companies throughout the direct selling markets, but many have to overcome credibility problems created by a small minority that is more focused on scams to make money than providing great service that will earn them repeat business. and lots of references