6 Truths of Marketing

I recently read a book-Influence, I personally feel it is a very practical book. It is very helpful in both life and work, and the principles in it can be applied in various aspects. In the company, it is about getting along with colleagues and how to use these methods and principles to win customers in sales; in life, it is about knowing these sales traps and knowing how to avoid them.

1. Reciprocity Principle (A gift is a debt):

For example, everyone is very familiar with"Free trial"As an effective marketing tool, it has a long history. The general practice is to provide a small amount of related goods to potential customers and explain that the purpose is to let them try to see if they like the product. From the manufacturer's point of view, it is certainly a reasonable wish to let the public test the quality of their products. However, the wonderful thing about free trials is that free trial products are also a kind of gift, so they can also use the power of the reciprocity principle. When the person selling the product uses seemingly soft methods, the natural power of the gift itself, which makes people feel indebted, is released. The best place to offer free trials is the supermarket. There, customers can often taste a small piece of cheese or a small piece of meat. Many people find that after accepting the free food offered by the smiling staff, it is difficult to throw away the toothpick and turn around and leave. Therefore, they often buy something, even if they don't particularly like the product.

In the sales process, giving your customers certain benefits (but don't let him find out that you are doing this to sell your products, such as a bottle of water or a cigarette, which seems to be a polite act) will win the favor of customers.

2. Commitment and Consistency:

Members of the American Cancer Society randomly selected some residents in Bloomington, Indiana, and then called them to ask how they would respond if someone asked them to spend3hours raising money for the association. Most people, of course, didn't want to appear uncaring in front of the investigators, so they all said they were very happy to volunteer. A few days later, when the American Cancer Society really called to recruit volunteers, the effect of this carefully designed commitment method became apparent: the number of people who volunteered to raise money increased7times.

So when you introduce your product to a customer, if it does not meet his requirements, ask him if he would adopt a product that meets his requirements? In this way, when you improve it, he will be embarrassed to refuse to adopt your product.

3. Contrast Principle:

Car dealers often use the contrast principle when selling cars. After the price of a new car is agreed upon, they will suggest to the customer that the customer purchase one additional accessory after another. After spending tens of thousands of dollars, they spend a few hundred dollars more on accessories such as coated glass windows, rearview mirrors, tires, or fancy decorations. Their trick is to propose these additional accessories one by one, so that the price of each item seems insignificant compared to the large amount of money already spent. Many experienced car buyers know that it is precisely because of these inconspicuous additional accessories that the price of the car within the budget finally expands like a balloon. When the customer stands there, holding the signed contract, wondering what is going on, but finding that he can't blame anyone but himself, the car salesman stands aside with a smile like a master of soft skills.

Therefore, in sales, it is much easier to cleverly promote some additional products than your main products, and the profit margin varies from product to product; when you are a customer, you should be wary of whether these additional products you don't necessarily need are necessary to purchase.

4. Social Proof (Bandwagon effect, i.e., following the trend):

In Chinese society, every city and every resident is familiar with a phenomenon, that is, the craze for children learning piano, or learning foreign languages, or fitness, or Super Girl, in short, there are always large-scale bandwagon effects in society, and it seems that everyone has to refer to the behavior of those around them to decide what they should do, and it seems that no one can determine their own opinions. For example, an elderly couple saw many people queuing up on their way home. Without hesitation, they also joined the queue. When they got to the front, they found that it was selling scales. However, because they had been queuing for a long time and were already at the front, they thought they shouldn't waste the time queuing, so they bought the scale, and in order not to waste the money they bought, they kept using the scale.

When selling to customers, sometimes just telling him that other customers with the same Applications also use the product you recommend, he may waver or want to try it, because after all, in the eyes of most people, what is generally recognized still has a certain degree of credibility.

5. Appealing to their interests:

In the sales process, effectively imitating the other party's way of speaking and repeating the vocabulary used by the other party will win the other party's appreciation, so that the other party is willing to talk to you, which is conducive to the transaction. As seen in TV dramas, most businesses take place either at banquets or in coffee shops, or even on golf courses.

6. Limited Supply (Hunger Marketing):

Generally speaking, when something is very scarce or begins to become scarce, it becomes more valuable. The existence in the collection world"Precious mistakes"The phenomenon particularly illustrates the importance of scarcity. Sometimes, flawed items, such as blurry printed stamps or double-struck coins, can be worth more than those without flaws, and similar phenomena are common. For example, when an author recommends a good book to his students, he usually says that this book was published5years ago, local bookstores must not have it, and it is not sold online, it is really hard to find. Then he starts to introduce how good this book is. Therefore, at the end of the recommendation and introduction, many people are willing to pay the author to pre-order this book, so the number of people who pay is far more than if he didn't say the previous words.

In general, Tupperware's home parties are the most comprehensive and ingenious application of these principles. The home parties they host are typical of the compliant methods used by Americans. Anyone familiar with these parties knows that they utilize all the weapons of influence we have analyzed so far: reciprocity (games are played at the beginning of the party, with winners receiving prizes; even those who don't win have the opportunity to draw a gift from a bag. This way, everyone receives a gift before the buying begins); commitment (each participant must publicly describe the benefits of using Tupperware products); social proof (once the buying begins, everyone thinks: since others like me are buying their products, these products must be good).

In summary, everything above is what I have excerpted and summarized from the book after reading it, which is relatively useful for companies, only modifying some uncommon examples that are difficult to understand. Therefore, I do not create knowledge; I am merely a knowledge transporter.