Being a Better Consumer
Knowing what to look for when someone is selling you something.
A common adage in the sales world besides the ABCs of selling which translates for those of you who may not already know into Always Be Closing, is If the product is free then you are the product. So what are the tale tells of someone attempting to sell you something. In this short diatribe on Being a Better Consumer, which also means being better informed, ill give you my top ten signs to look out for when someone is trying to sell you something.
Number Ten: Secrets, Mysteries, Best, Mystical, Scientific, each and everyone of these words excite a reaction within the readers mind which not only thrills him or her, but mentally disarms the reader, psychologically causes the reader to drop their guards for a moment as such trigger words like; scientifically proven, medically approved, or government sponsored relays a sense of security in the mind of the reader. Each one of these are simply trigger words intended to disarm you. When a news report flashes and the headline or tagline states the government is backing this, or medical science has proven this, we as a consumer class have been conditioned to accept these triggers as validating terms. This puts our minds in a less tense mode allowing the pitch to go from insinuative to blatant. See once we know there’s scientific research backing this product we are less likely to challenge its claims, or even question its true value.
Number Nine: Trip wires are what marketers call things which catch a consumer up so that he or she can be sold something else. So for instance since google is the worlds largest search engine, which has developed a database robust with keywords or better yet metadata, which can not only collect informative information, but also generate predictive programming, Alphabet Inc knows that when you type into the search bar, “home improvement”, “Bar”, “kitchen cabinet”, and the like that you are in the process of or thinking about redecorating your property. So your information is traded, bartered, and sold to the highest bidders and they can set traps which will trip you up to be redirected to their products which may have not even been on your mind to begin with. Example: So you searched for a swimming pool for your backyard. The trip wire is; Free ebook on, “The Ten Best Ways to Find a Contractor for Your Home Pool.” However when you get through divulging your personal information to the company for their free ebook, you start receiving all kinds of promo and advertisements about backyard spas, and barbecue grills, patios, and the likes. This is the exact purpose of a tripwire to offer you something you can’t refuse, so they may later sell you something you may not really even want.
Number Eight: Keeping up with the Jones’ or more likely today the Kardashians, Everyone else is doing it, You’re not in the loop, You’re not cool if you’re not down. Each and everyone of these methods we will simply call “Shaming.” The thing about sales, is that you as the salesman or company selling the product, is that you create a problem and provide the solution all in one swoop. However as a conscious and better informed consumer, you can realistically access your own personal situation to infer whether the so called problem is actually a problem which exist in your world. You may see a subliminal ad for a product which is suppose to cause you to loose weight, now is excess weight a problem for most people yes, and not because this company says it is but because we all would most likely like to loose a few pounds at some point in our lives this is human conditioning, But is it a real problem in “YOUR” life. Is excess weight holding you back from anything in your life, is it slowing you down, is it causing you to pay more in medical insurance, treatment, or the likes, if not it really isn’t a problem, its a slight inconvenience. However the company pushing you their dicey weight loss miracle “solution”, will so strategically, and craftily convince you that it is.
Number Seven: The Thing You Didn’t Know You Didn’t Know, we will call this technique “Smarter Than Thou.” So you didn’t know that an astronomical number of Americans suffer from lack of sleep at night, its so bad that you are suffering from it too, just never really realized it. The reason is “rapid racing thoughts syndrome,” but with the new Serenity bot, a well designed peace invoking Artificial Intelligent, bot you will sleep like you’ve never rested before. With seven different modes to rapidly take you through the various cycles of R.E.M sleep you will be able to fall asleep long before your head ever hits the pillow. (Disclaimer this is not a real ad simply a hypothetical one, however I’m sure that I wouldn’t have to look to far online to find something very close to this one, promising something similar.) The point is you didn’t even realize the lack of sleep in America was that bad, everyone of us according to this ad are simply walking zombies, and the only way to solve this problem once again according to this ad is to buy their most likely, overpriced, and unnecessary Artificial intelligent bot, which I guess sings to us in our sleep like our mothers use to when we were children.
Number Six: “And I Promise You,” We will call this technique “Sweet Poison”, these four words in this combination are a dangerous statement waiting for disaster. Anytime someone has to promise you something, first off you should really take whatever comes after And I Promise You with a grain of salt but know immediately that they are attempting to sell you something. The something I am referring to in the sale isn’t always a physical product, more times than none the sale is usually an ideal. Most people on a daily basis want to sell you on the way they themselves think. They believe that if more people thought like them the world would be a better place. This is completely false and has been disproven every time a dictator has gained power. The world is a diverse place, and thrives on this diversity, when you attempt to stifle creativity, logic, or free thinking, you stifle growth. As well simply because you do agree with someone else ideal does not negate the fact that you are still entitled to have ideals about the same subject of your own. In every transaction a sale is made, either you yourself are sold on the other persons way of thinking, or you sell them some b.s. as to why you are not willing to submit to their way of thinking.
Number Five: “The Sky is Falling technique”, there’s a little bit of chicken little in every advertisement, or sales person. They are rightfully trained to make the sale seem to fulfill an urgent need. This is done using various methods, the best one is “Act Now, Because this deal won’t last.” Hence the sky is falling, as if you don’t purchase today you will never have another opportunity to buy. Ask yourself, Why? Is the company going out of business, is it a fly by night, if they can afford to sell it for $99.99 today why will they not be able to afford to sell it for the same price a week from now, a month from now? All these are valid questions, and depending on which side you’re on you are answering these questions with what you think are valid responses, however since Im speaking specifically to consumers, the only valid conclusion you should reach is, oh because they want my money today, not tomorrow of a week from now even though they will take it then as well.
Number Four: Webinars, Conventions, Expos, Showcases, Galas. Many of these are a new convention birthed from the traveling salesman concept or the world fairs. These are sure tell signs that someone is attempting to sell you something, when they attempt to teach you something you don’t know, or refresh something you already do know, usually comes with a sales pitch at the end to buy their course, their book, or their program. These online gimmicks are and can be pretty deceptive in the sense that you may fully have only the intention to learn, then you spend thirty minutes of your time listening to a sales pitch about how this information is going to change your life, only to be told in order to get the information you have to join a course, or buy a book. Not to say there is anything wrong with this method or any of the others previously mention, this is only to say that since the intention is not clearly stated before you invest your time, it is however deceptive.
Number Three: Subliminal Messages. Many may say and even argue that these don’t exist or that that was a method used in the 60s and 70s and since government has banned these types of sales tactics. My rebuttal, they are much more alive than ever and finely tuned to the point of nearly perfection. When an attractive woman poses on her personal instagram feed or other popular social media, with a name brand tights on and a bottle of water from a company you’ve never heard of you can be sure she is subliminally attempting to introduce you to or reintroduce you to a product she hopes to sell you. As a film producer myself, a majority of our funds to produce the films come from brands, companies, and businesses wishing to advertise their products, so essentially television series, feature films, and shorts even at times are simply extended informercials. Products will be strategically placed throughout the film ensuring they catch your attention without causing any conscious recognition of the fact you are being sold to. You’ve already paid for a ticket to the film, or a monthly subscription to the service, but in order to recoup that $20,000,000 budget we need you to go out and buy, chevy, fashion nova, and the likes as well.
Number Two: Propaganda; In short the concept in using propaganda to sell is to misdirect you. You see if I want you to buy, propaganda is a form of mind controlled coined by the late Edward Bernays, nephew to Sigmund Freud, he structured the craft, and today it is more or less called P.R. or public relations. You see our minds have been conditioned to work in very direct ways when stimulated by certain stimulus. If I put up an ad displaying a fast, luxurious, exotic vehicle cruising the streets of Monaco with an attractive woman or guy in the passenger seat, and at the end of this commercial tell you, this is not for you, you can not have this, for one reason or another your mind automatically wants it. This isn’t exactly the propagandas fault, but how they use this knowledge into coercing you to accepting something as truth which isn’t, is.
and Number One: Free, this has been mentioned early on but deserves elaboration as it is the most common trip wire.
Samples: We all know at the end of a sample comes an offering that’s obvious even expected, right, however what you may not know is that the product you are sampling isn’t necessarily the product the company wants to sell you on. So you go to a gas station and the sales man offers you a free sample of wax, which they tell you once you’ve gotten your car washed will show the true extent of the wax, so you pull up to purchase a $19.99 car wash and the salesman tells you hey for only $10.00s more a month you can have unlimited car washes. So it started with the sample of wax, which led to a monthly membership fee. This is the upset. Every company has a host of products or services which they break down into tiers. This is common convention for companies as they have specific products and services which are their bread and butter. With companies like McDonalds its not actually the Bigmac they are attempting to sell you, its actually the drink and fries, as these items are their bread and butter items. With companies like Netflix, its their premier service membership, and Amazon its their prime memberships, and on and on. Most companies give away a major product or service to sell you something which they have a higher profit margin on. A great example is the modern movie theater, well actually the theaters of the past would be a better model, as they would literally allow popular films to be exhibited at their theaters for literally pennies, as they worked to sell you their concessions. When you purchase a car, boat, or motorcycle, it isn’t the price of the vehicle the salesman is attempting to sale you on, but the monthly payments, as he knows the money is made on the interest rate they are able to give you. So in major purchase such as those previously mentioned, cars, boats, motorcycles, even houses, the sale isn’t the actual item, the sale is the loan, the longer, and higher terms an institution can get the better for them. This is evident by the fact that when you purchase your home, with a 30 year mortgage, it is highly unlikely that your lender will remain the same lender for that 30 year period. The initial lender will typically be the packaging firm who then turns and sells that mortgage on an open market for a profit.
Theres an age old adage which says, “To name something for what it is, is to take its power.” Well I say that for a consumer its the exact opposite, to name something for what it is strips you of your power over it. To be able to name and recognize an Apple iPhone, iPad, or watch means you are inundated by Apples spell, this doesn’t mean you have to purchase their products or any other companies at that matter, but it does mean you have to choose, to or not. This chic is not true freedom, to have to choose between product, A, B, or C is not freedom you not have to make a choice at all is true freedom.
Can you live in America without spending money? Probably not, and that’s not what’s being insinuated, I am simply implying that if you are going to spend your hard earned money, do it wisely, a knowledgable consumer is a better consumer, not only for the company but for the consumer themselves. To go into a deal knowing what you want out of it, the value of what you are paying for, and what the responsibilities, guarantees, and warranties of the other party are are the acumen of a knowledgeable consumer.
