Argue with Me, Convinced

A sale is easier when the shopper agrees with the salesperson. But researchers at Virginia Tech documented a circumstance where it pays off to have the shopper briefly argue with us. This is when the person comes to us with a preference firmly set and we want to change that preference. Maybe a brand different from the customer’s habitual choice would both serve the customer better and increase store profitability. In the political arena, it could be that a citizen consistently votes for a certain political party and we’d like to have the citizen fairly consider an alternative.
     The challenge is that when a consumer makes the same choice many times, their mind closes against objectively evaluating alternatives. In fact, they’ll distort new information in ways that support their decisions. You could present compelling arguments for changing their reasoning, but the thrust of those arguments won’t pierce the closed mind.
     This selective perception doesn’t occur when the shopper or voter has made the choice once or only a few times in the past. Right after a consumer chooses one among options, post-decision doubt commonly causes the consumer to closely attend to the benefits that would be offered by what’s been rejected. At the other extreme, after the same choice has been made a great number of times, variety-seeking arises, at least among younger consumers, so there’s interest in considering alternatives.
     It’s between these two circumstances where we might want to disrupt the thinking. The Virginia Tech studies suggest that if the salesperson or political campaigner presents a statement which stimulates a brief debate about an issue not directly related to the purchase decision, this opens up the thinking to afterwards assessing alternatives in product, brand, or candidate.
     You don’t want to make a debatable statement that destroys your credibility as an influence agent. In the studies, statements like, “Reading is bad for the mind” and “Only people who earn a lot of money are successful” were used. I recommend against those. Instead, to apply the principle of a helpful argument, ask the shopper to defend a decision they made prior to the one where you want to change their mind. “For what reasons did you select that option?” you’ll ask, and then say, “Others might disagree with your decision.”
     Let them win the argument. Finish off by saying, “I see your point,” before moving back to the sale you’re wanting to make.

For your success: Retailer’s Edge: Boost Profits Using Shopper Psychology

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