Paper
LOWBALL TECHNIQUE
When an attractive deal is offered and accepted by a buyer, before they are told about the negative aspects of the deal. The thinking behind this strategy is that people are less likely to back out of an offer once they have accepted it and are excited about the prospect. * A person agrees to buy a car at a low price. The sales person then apologizes that the wrong price was on the car. The person still agrees to buy it at the higher price. * A family books a package holiday. They find that there are surcharges. They pay these without question. * A car salesperson tells Sheila that a car she is interested in buying costs $5,000. After she has committed to buying the car, the salesperson points out that adding a stereo, an air conditioner, and floor mats will cost an extra $3,000.
DISRUPT THEN REFRAME TECHNIQUE
Davis and Knowles told customers that a package of eight cards sold for $3.00, and subsequently made sales to approximately 40% of customers. When they told customers that "the price of eight cards is 300 pennies, which is a bargain", then sales doubled to 80% of customers. These techniques have much in common with Milton Erikson's confusion techniques for hypnotic induction. A non-sequitur or unexpected element introduced into a script provides a momentary disruption. The disruption absorbs the critical functions, rendering them unavailable for an immediately following persuasive message, the ‘reframing.' In our research, we sell note cards door to door for a local charity. When we tell the customers that a package of eight cards sells for $3.00, we make sales at approximately 40% of the households. When we tell customers that the price of eight cards is 300 pennies [the disruption], which is a bargain [the reframing], then we make sales at approximately 80% of the households.
In the original experiment on this technique by Davis and Knowles (1999), the experimenters tried it on door-to-door sales of note cards
When an attractive deal is offered and accepted by a buyer, before they are told about the negative aspects of the deal. The thinking behind this strategy is that people are less likely to back out of an offer once they have accepted it and are excited about the prospect. * A person agrees to buy a car at a low price. The sales person then apologizes that the wrong price was on the car. The person still agrees to buy it at the higher price. * A family books a package holiday. They find that there are surcharges. They pay these without question. * A car salesperson tells Sheila that a car she is interested in buying costs $5,000. After she has committed to buying the car, the salesperson points out that adding a stereo, an air conditioner, and floor mats will cost an extra $3,000.
DISRUPT THEN REFRAME TECHNIQUE
Davis and Knowles told customers that a package of eight cards sold for $3.00, and subsequently made sales to approximately 40% of customers. When they told customers that "the price of eight cards is 300 pennies, which is a bargain", then sales doubled to 80% of customers. These techniques have much in common with Milton Erikson's confusion techniques for hypnotic induction. A non-sequitur or unexpected element introduced into a script provides a momentary disruption. The disruption absorbs the critical functions, rendering them unavailable for an immediately following persuasive message, the ‘reframing.' In our research, we sell note cards door to door for a local charity. When we tell the customers that a package of eight cards sells for $3.00, we make sales at approximately 40% of the households. When we tell customers that the price of eight cards is 300 pennies [the disruption], which is a bargain [the reframing], then we make sales at approximately 80% of the households.
In the original experiment on this technique by Davis and Knowles (1999), the experimenters tried it on door-to-door sales of note cards