Decision triggers are characteristics of a situation that cause your customer to stop processing information, stop thinking, stop investigating and searching, and make a decision.
At that point, when the person encounters those certain circumstances in the information, he says to himself «it is enough, from now on I can move safely in that direction, I am convinced that this is the right choice and that it is what I have to do".
This occurs at the precise moment that a decision trigger is fired: the bullet reaches its destination, and the person makes a decision.
These units of information with the ability to generate action on a person and cause it to be defined in one direction or another, are called decision triggers, and can be used as an element of influence to incite people to access information. requests made to it.
The case of a Jewelry Store in Arizona is known. The owner had bought a batch of turquoise, which she had been unable to sell. Even though the tourist season was at its peak, the turquoises caused less attention than any of the other products.
Just before leaving for a shopping trip for a few days, the owner left the business employee a note to highlight all the turquoises on display with new prices. The note said "price x 1/2", hoping to get rid of the stock completely.
On his return a week later, all the turquoises had been sold. Why? Had the big discount worked? No, just the opposite had happened. The seller had interpreted the price x 1/2 to mean x 2, and all the turquoises had been sold at double their original price.
Unintentionally, the jewelery owner had generated an automatic influence trigger: "If it's more expensive, it should be better."
I live in Funes, in the suburbs of Rosario, Argentina. One of my hobbies is making repairs and repairs at home, and I enjoy weekends going to the best-known hardware store in town to buy nails, screws, glue, and other items.
In this case, what I had to do was maintain the garden, and fight the ants that, in addition to eating the leaves of our lemon tree, were already making forays into our kitchen.
I wanted to buy a poison that was not very toxic because although I wanted to eliminate the ants, I did not want to affect Pepo, my German sheepdog, or my children since I would also apply it inside the house.
I was in doubt between two poisons produced by the same manufacturer. On other occasions he had used K-othrina which is a water-soluble poison of low toxicity for people and animals, but now he saw in the hardware store that Bi-otrhina also existed.
I assumed that since it was called "BIO" it would be more ecological, or even more friendly to animals and people, so I wanted to make sure if this was so and if in addition to this quality it would kill ants. Because for a friendly substance one has to water, right ?, but this also had to eliminate insects.
I asked the seller of the hardware store if he could explain the difference between them.
He didn't know very well, so the first thing he did was check what the price of both was. K-otrhina cost $ 3 and Bi-otrhina 3.65.
"Okay, fine, but I would like to know well what one is for and what the other is for, what differences they have."
The very willing employee opened the boxes of one and the other, took out the bottles of both poisons and unfolded the leaflets that accompanied each. For both of them it was almost a personal matter to find the differences.
First the vendor read aloud the chemical formula of what each contained and there seemed to be no difference. Second, he read the recommendations for use, the forms of dissolution, the insects that fought… and nothing seemed to be different between one poison and another.
Finally we look at both boxes together carefully to try to find some explanation from the manufacturer, something that would allow me to choose between one product or the other. Nothing.
We finally put each poison in its box, and the seller's comment was simply, "I don't know what difference they make, but Bi-otrhina must be better because it's a little more expensive."
I already wanted to go and stomp the ants, and I asked him to give me either one. He ended up offering me a third poison which is what I ended up carrying without asking any more questions.
I do not know what happens to you, but when it is my turn to go to the greengrocer's section in the supermarket and I have to choose between different types of tomatoes that are on display, and none seems to me to be in my sight and my inexperienced touch better than another I usually use their prices to decide which one to take.
Usually there are three types of tomatoes, and one costs $ 1.50 per kilo; the other $ 1, and the third $ 0.80, I choose the one of $ 1.50 or eventually the one of $ 1, because I suppose that they must be the "best" and that I am not going to take unpleasant surprises when I prepare a salad or My wife will reprimand me for the crap I buy.
In the case of the more expensive turquoises, buyers associated one trigger in particular (high price = quality).
When a product that is already positioned in the consumer's mind as very expensive is suddenly offered at a low price, the consumer assumes that there may be a problem in the company that produces it, or that the same components are no longer used, or quality controls have been relaxed.
For example, if someone offers you a Rolex for $ 100, you may buy it, but you will also have suspicions about its authenticity or origin.
We are traversed by the invisible ties of automatic behavior patterns. These patterns are what help us respond to a red light stopping us, a green light setting our vehicle in motion, and a yellow light speeding up even more!
CONTRAST
If you were a menswear salesperson and a customer comes into your business interested in a suit and ties. What would you show him first?
The ties? If he buys a tie for $ 40, then considering buying a suit for $ 350 will seem like a lot of money.
But by choosing an expensive suit in the beginning, you will bring into play an interesting contrast-based decision trigger. A tie for $ 40 will seem cheap to you after deciding to spend $ 350 on a suit.
If you don't show the most expensive product to your customer first, you are having this trigger reverse play against you. The most expensive product will seem even more expensive.
The same is done by charities and firefighters by selling raffles and contribution bonds. They will always show you the most expensive bonuses and raffles first.
First the one of $ 100, and when one comes away scared by that proposal, they will immediately show you that they have other options, they also have $ 50, $ 30, $ 20, $ 10 and even $ 3.
Finally, it seems to you that the $ 20 is not so bad, it is not spending as much as the barbarity of $ 100, nor as miserable as the $ 3, and you have also fallen under the influence of perceptual contrast.
In the United States, some real estate agencies use the contrast principle effectively but manipulatively.
First, they'll show you houses that are in a state that requires parts, bathrooms that will need fixing, or walls that beg for a decent color of paint, at a high price.
After showing you a couple of expensive properties in that state, they will take you to see nice houses that are in better condition, at a reasonable price. This tactic effectively serves to make the prettiest houses appear as if they were deals and opportunities.
This technique of offering the most expensive product first works great with cars, too. First they will offer you the car model you are interested in that costs US $ 19,000, and once you have decided that this is the car and that you will buy it, the seller will sit with you in your office and begin to I propose the additional ones: alloy sports wheels for U $ S 570, plus GPS satellite navigation system for U $ S 420, plus multiple CD player for U $ S 200, plus 5-year extended warranty for other U $ S 800.
Each thing is offered one at a time, and separately none seem like as much money compared to the $ 19,000 investment you just made, and they all seem adequate and desirable.
Important: Remember that to make the technique work in your favor, you must first wait for the person to have made the decision to purchase the main product and then offer the additional ones one by one.
In this article we have only considered in general two decision triggers: EXPENSIVE = GOOD, and CONTRAST
And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Knowing all the principles that determine people's beliefs and attitudes and move them to act will not only help you be a more persuasive person and close more sales with higher profit margins, but will also allow you to recognize and exercise control over attempts to influence other people.
