Feign humility and selflessness – disguise your self-serving agenda and take on the role of the consultant, a mere middleman, whose focus is solely on ensuring the client’s needs are met and they are a good fit for the service: this builds trust, reduces resistance and, with the prospect’s guard down, they are more vulnerable and likely to buy from a trustworthy advisor.  

Join ‘team client’ – pretend to be on the prospect’s side against your own company: place their interests first by struggling to convince your boss to secure a favourable deal, discount etc., that benefits the client – reap future rewards by up- and cross-selling from a position of trust.

Exploit the reciprocity instinct – make a seemingly altruistic gesture (however symbolic in value or entirely useless) and leverage the receiver’s urge to return the kind favour. Invest equally in insincere compliments (non-material in nature) to play on this instinct and increases the prospect’s warm and fuzzy feelings towards you – liking and trust are the lifeblood of sales.

Gain compliance by underscoring their freedom of choice – remind the prospect that it is their call, reducing any resistance to manipulation by implying they are not persuaded and can make the ‘final call’ themselves.

Bait-and-switch with a low-ball price – play on the idea of commitment – once we commit to an idea, we don’t like to be perceived (by ourselves too!) as contradicting ourselves. First offer a highly attractive low, entry level price (the hook), get the prospect to agree in principle to the appeal/benefits of the deal, then raise the price (reasonably) – it is more likely to be accepted as the benefit of deal has been already establish and accepted. Similarly, make a small request to get your foot in the door and then widen the crack by making slightly larger requests – useful tactic for upselling.

Fear of losing out / false scarcity: we naturally equate scarcity with value – particularly if ownership is limited or exclusive and we need to make a decision in a limited period of time. Setting artificial, arbitrary deadlines – purchase/sale countdowns – or publishing low-stock notices encourage purchases before a product runs out or a discount expires e.g., ‘only 2 left in stock/ 5 people are looking at this now’ / ‘High demand for this hotel – only 4 rooms left’)

Pre-emptively attack the competition: while overtly bad-mouthing competitors smacks of insecurity, researching your competitors and using this information to your advantage to diminish them (without mentioning specific companies), helps enhance your company’s stature e.g., ‘Some companies only offer X / use last generation technology etc., while my company….”

Probe for issues and needs & exploit fears: leading the conversation through structured questioning (i.e., establish the circumstances and background and search for leverage points, hone in on the prospect’s issues/concerns, focus on the potential impact and consequences, then question about the need for -and the perceived value of – a solution. The knock-on effect is that the prospect convinces you/himself of the issue, its impact, and how much a solution would be worth – rather than you ramming features, benefits down his throat:  his own words are much more persuasive to him than yours.

Play on emotional connections – evoking raw human emotions, whether promising elevated status, customer flattery, pride – implying owners are distinctive, attractive, special and sophisticated if they ‘appreciate’ the brand – tugs on emotions to drives sales (often coupled with scarcity and exclusivity) – impulse buys that customers later rationalise.