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“Dad, can I have 30 quid please? I want to buy some stuff for school.” „Absolutely not,“ you shake your head, „do you think I’m stupid? You want money for some nonsense for sure.“ „Okay, can I have 29.50 for a new school bag, please?“ „Of course! There you go!“

– Are you this gullible? Keep reading. 



This article is inspired by The Illusion of Choice. A book written by Richard Shotton about cognitive biases in marketing and everyday life. Read another article from this series.


Imagine…

You’re going to work. It’s a beautiful day. You’re admiring autumn leaves' beauty when a beggar materialises in front of you. “Could you spare some change? I lost my bus ticket, and I need a call and…“ He stares at you while keeping a polite distance. But you only shake your head and speed up a little. “I don’t want to support this,” you moan “It’s a trap, he’s trying that all day, every day. I’m sure of it.“ 

The next day, you choose a different route. But even here, you find a person in need. “Excuse me, sir, can you help me? I need 1 pound, 15 pence to …” “It’s alright,” you stop him. “There you go.” The beggar wants to thank you, but you’re already on your way. The sun is shining. There’s nothing on your mind.


Nothing... besides one question. Why did you refuse the first man but helped the other one?


A. You were feeling bad after refusing the first one so you helped the other.

B. You killed a spider that morning and you wanted to even out your karma.

C. You believed the second man more because he asked for an exact value.


Before you make up your mind, let me share a research or two that might help you with that.


Don’t beg for money. Ask for 29 pounds and 50 pence

In 1994 Michael Santos, a psychologist from the University of California and his researches begged for money on the streets. 


Sometimes they asked people vaguely: for some change or a quarter. And then other times they were precise, they begged for 17 cents or 35 cents for example. Can you guess their success rate?


According to the results people were 60% more likely to give money when the researcher asked for an exact value compared to the vague demand. 





Pique technique


Based on his research Santos came up with the pique technique. It’s a persuasive technique based on asking a very specific request. The request may sound weird because of its exactness, but that will only boost people’s attention. The memorability of your demand will also be on the rise.  


And most importantly, the believability will also rise. “Oh, they're asking me for 36 cents exactly, they have to have a damn good reason for it! I would not question that. I’ll just give them what they want.” That’s most probably on people’s minds when you use that technique. Neat, huh?


Be precise. They’ll believe you


How can you use the pique technique in everyday life? I have a few tips.


  1. Freelancers, ask for 23.35 £ per hour


Do you want to avoid arguing about the price of your services? Be precise. When you ask people for 30 quid per hour, the client will most likely negotiate.


They will feel it’s open for discussion and try to lower the price as much as possible. In their minds, they probably feel like: “Oh, I’m not gonna let this person exploit me, they would make millions cuz I’m stupid, no way.”


(Basically, every client I ever had thought I was gonna buy a mansion with a swimming pool once they paid me… for the 3 articles they ordered.)


But when you ask for 23.35 £ per hour, the client will think that there has to be a damn good reason behind that price and won’t question it that much. 


And If they do – their suggestions to lower the price will probably be much more modest. It’s not about being precise though. It’s about another powerful tool in your kit called the Framing effect. When you put 30  £ on the table, people will work in round numbers. You framed the price between 10-50  £.


But when asking for 23 £, the mental frame is smaller and we tend to think only in a 20-30 radius. And if the suggested rate is 23.35 £, the frame gets so tiny, we will probably think only in a 20-25 radius. 


This hypothesis is supported by the following research.


  1. Sell the house for 500 345 £


Chris Janiszewki and Dan Uy from Florida University analysed 25 564 house sales from Alachua County in Florida. According to their findings, sellers who set the more exact price ($ 798,845) sold their homes closer to the original price compared to people who went with the round value ($ 800,000). 


It's probably because people thinking in round numbers like $ 800,000 could easily imagine pushing the price down to $ 700,000 or $ 600,000. But when you present the exact price of $ 798,845, people would feel comfortable lowering it only to $ 750,000 or $ 710,000.


  1. Invite colleagues for a meeting at 2:56 PM


The preciseness of your request boosts memorability, remember? So if you have a super busy boss you need to talk to, don’t ask for “a minute” of their time, ask for a “17-minute-call, please?“ Would they think you’re a bit weird? YES! Would they remember you? ALSO YES!


I bet they’ll join the call just to find out what that time business was all about.


You can also say “I have 6 questions for you,“ instead of “I have a few questions“. You’ll look like you’ve prepared and you'll be much more likely to receive their attention.


Those were just two lousy examples but I’m certain you already feel the potential.

Play with preciseness during business hours. Your work team is your oyster.


  1. Be like Ivory Snow


You can also take inspiration from the Ivory Snow. It's been on the market since 1879. And it succeded partly thanks to the two weird but memorable slogans. One of them is a masterpiece of preciseness: “99 and 44/100% pure”.


Is it weird? Again. Yes. But you gain customers' trust for sure. Nobody would lie about the 0 and 56/100% of “unpureness“ in their products.


(The second slogan was “It Floats“ by the way. It was used for their soaps). 



  1. Sell cheese for 5.16 £


In 2008 Chris Janiszewki and Dan Uy from Florida University asked people to estimate the real price of some super basic goods like cheese or a beach house. (Not kidding)


Each product came with a selling price and it was up to our participants to identify the real value. Participants were divided into 3 groups and each group was presented with a different price. There always were at least one round value present to examine its influence on participants' desicion making process.


Let’s take cheese, for example. The first group of people were told the cheese was 5$, the second $4.85 and the third $5.15. 


The estimates should be approximately the same no matter the preciseness of the price, right? Well, the results are not so sure. 


The $5 group estimated a real value of $3.75 on average.

The $4.85 group estimated a real value of $4.17 on average.

The $5.15 group estimated a real value of $4.41 on average.


The rounded value was again viewed as the most doubtful and with the most extra legroom for adjustments. 


My advice? Earn the trust of your customers by picking more precise prices for your products. It’s so easy it should not even work.




Correct answer: C. You believed the second man because he asked for an exact value




Source: Richard Shotton | The Illusion of Choice, Chris Voss | Never Split the Difference

Read more: Exactly.Period

 


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