The Oriental Carpet Buyer

I found this great post about how a sales trainer was convinced into buying a carpet while in Istanbul. It is a great example of the lengths that some shops will go to and of the techniques used by salesmen in general:

Owner: “Is there any price, where, if you could own this rug for that price, you would walk out of here happy?”

Me: “Well, I’m really not looking to purchase a rug.”

Owner: “Yes, and you may end up not purchasing one. But is there any price where you would say, ‘I am happy to buy that rug.”?

Me: “I guess, if I could have that rug for $800, I’d probably be happy.”

Owner: “This is a rug that I would be selling in the summer for over $2,500. But you know,” looking at Rosie, “you are a very lucky young lady to have a father who has the means and the desire to purchase something like this for you that you really want. I hope you appreciate him.”

Me: “Wait a minute, that’s a line that I’ve used in sales training before. That comes right from Joe Girardi.”

Owner: “You are in sales? What do you sell?”

Me: “I’m in education, but I used to sell and I used to train sales people.”

At this point the owner comes right up to me, within about two inches. He grasps my right hand in his, starts shaking it, and says, “I think we can come to a deal. How about $1,500 for the rug?”

The sale goes on until, well, the carpet is sold. Then the author cites social psychologist Robert Cialdini:

According to Robert Cialdini, there are 6 weapons of influence:

1. Reciprocation: we try to repay what another person has provided us
2. Commitment and consistency: we desire to be consistent with what we have already done
3. Social proof: we tend to rely on what other people are doing to determine our own actions
4. Liking: we tend to go along with and follow people we like
5. Authority: we feel a sense of duty to follow someone who has authority
6. Scarcity: opportunities seem more valuable to us when their availability is limited

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