Offer Expires Today

I was at the mall recently with my much younger girlfriend. Being young and pretty, she was approached by a guy working one of those “seeking new talent” booths. He said they were having a free workshop that week that she should attend, which she did. She had fun and learned a few things about modeling, and was asked to fill out this survey and bring it back to the guy at the booth later that week.

Thus began the sales pitch.

Now, I’m in my 40′s and have worked in advertising and sales for nearly 20 years. I’ve gone to high pressure time share presentations just to receive my free gift, having to say “no” dozens of times to multiple levels of salesmen. I’ve seen them all before. But she’s 18 – she hasn’t.

He heaped praise on their “main guy” who was supposedly a coveted industry insider, lured away from L.A. to teach in our city. He would be personally running a modeling “boot camp” which would teach my young girlfriend everything she would need in order to gain an advantage in the modeling world.

And lucky we came when we did.

The normal price had recently been slashed, but that offer was expiring TODAY. That’s right, she had to put down a deposit today in order to “lock in” this heavily slashed rate. After today, it would be going back up to the regular price, nearly double!

I could sense her anxiety level starting to rise… so I asked to pull her aside.

“This guy is full of shit,” is how I began my 2-minute primer on sales tactics. I saw her take a deep sigh of relief through slight disappointment when she realized what I was saying. She told him we weren’t interested and we left.

One month later…

We were on our way to a laser hair removal business who had sent us a flier for 50% off any procedure. In the car, we tried to guess how much it would cost to remove a small 3 inch patch of hair. I guessed $50. She said $20. We obviously had no idea.

The real price? $1800.

But fortunately we were eligible for that 50% discount, making it a mere $900. But there was one catch…

The offer expires today.

All we had to do was put down a small deposit today in order to “lock in” this heavily slashed rate. After today, it would be going back up to the regular price, nearly double!

Wait – where did we hear that before?

In my case – everywhere. It’s the oldest sales ploy in the book, but apparently the technique is alive and well in salesroom around the world.

Don’t ever let someone pressure you into making a decision “right now.” If you hear drivel like this, be wary of anything the salesman tells you. Salesmen are experts at presenting their products, not only making them look irresistible, but also with the added urgency of the “expires today” ploy.

Like this one time about 10 years ago when a carpet cleaner salesman showed up and offered to clean one room in my house if I would simply listen to his presentation. I told him I would take him up on his offer, but I warned him there was absolutely no way I would be impulsive and purchase anything today, no matter what. He agreed.

He took a couple hours cleaning my living room carpet and giving his presentation. Then he started showing me the prices, which I recall were around $5000… but with a discount that was only good today.

My wife at the time was amazed and want to buy his cleaner, but I stuck to my guns. It became my mantra.. “I won’t buy anything today.” I said I’d sleep on it and if I thought it was worth it, I’d call them the next day. If I couldn’t still get the lower rate the next day, then I would have to pass.

He hated that response. In fact, he seemed pretty mad when he left.

But I warned him – there was no way I would make a purchase today. And the next day, I received true vindication for my mantra when my wife walked in and said, “I’m so glad we didn’t buy that carpet cleaner.”

I usually just avoid salesmen now, but when I do talk to them, I make it clear that I never buy impulsively and any special offers expiring that day won’t matter. A good salesmen will still try to break you, but when he ultimately fails, you can smile and say, “I told you.”