Short Circuiting Buyer's Remorse by Kenrick Cleveland

It's human nature to want to believe that we have done something of value when we make a purchase. We like to feel we've used proper sense and keen determination in choosing things that are going to be good for us and of the greatest use. And we most certainly want to know we'll feel good about the choices we've made in the long run.

And with all decisions, of any kind, not just purchasing decisions, we pause to wonder if what we've decided upon is good for us. We generally know we've made good decisions when we have a congruence between the product and the feeling.

The following is some research in the field of social ways of looking at persuasion.

The studies performed in the areas of sociology and persuasion discovered that when people were going to a race track to wager, just prior to placing the bet, the person would be asked by a researcher, 'So you're making a bet? What are the odds your horse is going to win?'

Generally, the odds they gave were low. They'd respond, 'Well, I'm not sure. I mean, maybe I've got a fifty-fifty chance. Maybe thirty. Pretty low, I guess.'

The researcher would then ask, just after the purchaser bought the ticket, 'So. . . You've just placed a bet. . . what do you think the odds are that your horse is going to win?'

The researchers found that as a general rule, people would respond, 'Oh, huge. . . My odds are maybe eighty, ninety percent. Possibly more.'

The only thing that changed was that they bought the ticket. What made these people believe so strongly after they bought the ticket?

The answer: They were emotionally connected and committed to the decision and had an intense need to believe it was a good choice.

Nowadays, a commitment isn't a commitment. You can commit today but I've still got to give you three to seven days to change your mind.

What does this mean? A deal isn't a deal until the people are happy and they're using the product and they're really sold on it. That's when you've got a good deal all the way around.

All of the principles come to bear on people and their decision making abilities and their capacity to stay happy once these decisions are made.

1) Hearing they could have bought it cheaper elsewhere. 2) Learning that there's a fault or a problem with the product or with what it advises. 3) A family member or friend telling them that this is pure nonsense. 4) Another thing that could happen is, the person themselves begins to doubt that what they did was either a good use of money or a valuable enough service for them to spend it on. 5) A family member, a spouse may try to convince them that they need that money for other things.

This all gives us a very unfair advantage.

Kenrick Cleveland teaches techniques to earn the business of affluent prospects using persuasion. He runs public and private seminars and offers home study courses and coaching programs in persuasion techniques.