Comments on: Never Up-Sell a Customer

By: Action Lyrics

Action Lyrics — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 11:22:15 +0000

I studied this concept in undergrad Psychology, it’s called anchoring. Even when people know the first number given to them is completely arbitrary, they adjust it until it is reasonable, and then agree to that number.

The example we were given is as follows:
Suppose I spin a number-wheel, and it comes up pointing to 65. Then I ask: Do you think the percentage of African countries in the UN is above or below this number? (and then) What do you think is the percentage of African countries in the UN?

The results found were that the estimate of subjects who saw the wheel show 65 was 45%, while the estimate of subjects who saw 10 was 25% (on average).

By: quadszillla

quadszillla — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 22:33:58 +0000

Nice post – but sometimes you just want to get that initial sale to make them a customer. Then you can upsell afterward. It’s much easier to sell to customers who have purchased in the past.

By: Online Sports Betting

Online Sports Betting — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 01:26:42 +0000

My wife was in the furniture biz for the better part of 20 years. Did your stain guard policy come with a guarantee that if the sofa was stained anyway a replacement would be made? Then your wine spilling habit may get you the better end of the deal.

But a decently run store will keep records, and if you keep calling them because you’re the 21st century’s Foster Brooks eventually they will tell you to get lost.

My wife put it this way: “The first time is an accident. The second time is abuse”.

Yes, stain guards often fail. You don’t think those things are applied by rocket scientists, do you?

BTW, when you spend a lot of money, you call it a sofa. When you don’t, its a couch. I think you bought a sofa.

By: Stefanie

Stefanie — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 00:49:09 +0000

Maybe I’m an oddball, but if I told someone I wanted a couch and they just assumed that I wanted all of those other things, I would leave the store and buy somewhere else. In fact, I’ve done it before. If someone wants to try to upsell me, that’s fine, but I despise the, “Oh, you’ll definitely want this and this and this” approach.

By: Ben

Ben — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 23:56:05 +0000

Great example of anchoring! And I’d add a second axiom to your list… ‘never take your girlfriend to the sales counter with you – they’ll just be the second salesperson’.