Immunize Yourself Against Sneaky Sales Tactics
Have you ever purchased something -- a product, a health club membership, a magazine subscription from a door-to-door salesperson -- only to regret it minutes later? It's happened to most people, including myself.
Why do we buy things we don't want? One reason is that sales people and advertisers use powerful psychological tricks to influence your behavior. One of the best books I've ever read on the subject is Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, by Robert B. Cialdini. He's a social psychologist who went undercover to identify the principals behind psychological sales techniques. I can't recommend the book highly enough.
In the same vein is this list of "9 Ways Marketing Weasels Will Try to Manipulate You," written by Jeff Atwood. Using insight gleaned from Dan Ariely's book Predictably Irrational, Atwood goes through marketers' sleazy tactics, one-by-one, telling you how to avoid falling prey to them. The first tactic listed is "encourage false comparisons." Some retailers will often have a very expensive item for sale for the sole purpose of making the other items in the same category (like a coffeemaker, or car) look more attractively priced.
Atwood's advice: Be careful when making side-by-side comparisons; one of the items might be a decoy.
The other eight tactics and counter-tactics are worth reading about, too. Caveat emptor!
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