Sales Speak

mudcow007

why is it companies feel the need to tell you who is using their products?

Just some of our customers etc etc

do they expect other companies to think ohhh well if its good for them i want it too!?

/rant over

joenobody

mudcow007 wrote:

do they expect other companies to think ohhh well if its good for them i want it too!?

Yes. It works too

jonomc4

yes they do - it is known fact that celebrity endorsements work i.e. the company sells more and makes more profit. The only endorsement that works better if from someone who lives nearby and you look up to.

That's why they do it - it is a proven science.

mudcow007

well everyday is a school day!

i didnt know that

mtb-idle

it's a bit like asking ofr bike/kit recommendations on here.

Someone else bought it and so you will too.

Celebrity endorsements always come across as a bit cheesy but they work.

You sound like someone who would enjoy Bill Hicks take on marketing (as do I) which starts off with the classic line

By the way, if anyone here is in marketing or advertising...kill yourself. Thank you. and includes more genius such as

Do a commercial, you're off the artistic roll call, every word you say is suspect, you're a corporate whore and eh, end of story.

il_principe

jonomc4 wrote:

yes they do - it is known fact that celebrity endorsements work i.e. the company sells more and makes more profit. The only endorsement that works better if from someone who lives nearby and you look up to.

That's why they do it - it is a proven science.

It's called the Social Proof Heuristic (http://www.influenceatwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Darkcoding_Behaviour_2010.pdf)

Firm I work for do a lot of work in Heuristics and their place in buyer behaviour (marketing, advertising, merchandising etc). We are all easily manipulated!

rick_chasey

Il Principe wrote:

We are all easily manipulated!

Absolutely.

I'm only considered to have done a good job if the candidate said no before agreeing to speak with me and meet our client.

SimonAH

I work in sales! Mind you, more in the 'come to me because I'm an expert and will help you' methodology than the 'Cheryl Cole uses our equipment' model thank gawd.

My absolute favourite though is that we still fork out millions on little pots of goop that promise to erase your wrinkles and make cellulite (there is no such thing BTW) disappear even though we know it won't, can't and never has. Snake oil lives on!

Reminds me of this; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwCPhHezc-o

il_principe

SimonAH wrote:

I work in sales! Mind you, more in the 'come to me because I'm an expert and will help you' methodology than the 'Cheryl Cole uses our equipment' model thank gawd.

My absolute favourite though is that we still fork out millions on little pots of goop that promise to erase your wrinkles and make cellulite (there is no such thing BTW) disappear even though we know it won't, can't and never has. Snake oil lives on!

Reminds me of this; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwCPhHezc-o

Ben Goldacre's rants on cosmetics - namely moisturisers always make me laugh.

veronese68

SimonAH wrote:

I work in sales! Mind you, more in the 'come to me because I'm an expert and will help you' methodology than the 'Cheryl Cole uses our equipment' model thank gawd.

Same here. Amazing how many people don't realise that being honest and putting someone off the short term gain of a bad sale and playing the long game wins overall.
Trust is an undervalued commodity to some salesmen.

walkingbootweather

Take no notice of celebrity endorsement and other such marketing ploys. I only use 'product' "because I'm worth it..."

davis

Il Principe wrote:

Firm I work for do a lot of work in Heuristics and their place in buyer behaviour (marketing, advertising, merchandising etc). We are all easily manipulated!

I think it was you (IP) that pointed out to me that I'm probably much more vulnerable to this than I'm aware of -- as a guy who barely sees any adverts etc (compared to most; no documented evidence for this assertion but I don't have a TV, don't get magazines/newspapers etc, and browse with certain browser extensions enabled) I wonder how vulnerable I am. Do you have any book recommendations for how this stuff works, and specifically how a curmudgeonly misanthrope like me might be more affected than I realise?

il_principe

There are two:

Thinking, Fast and Slow

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/0739357980

Nudge.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nudge-Improving-Decisions-Health-Happiness/dp/0300122233

Both are fascinating and a little scary.

Edit:

Kahneman received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics, despite being a research psychologist who has never studied economics.

davis

ta. At those prices, think I'll get the Kindle edition.


(Yes, I've spotted the irony of buying a product recommended by you when I've just claimed to be less vulnerable to suggestion! )

il_principe

davis wrote:

ta. At those prices, think I'll get the Kindle edition.


(Yes, I've spotted the irony of buying a product recommended by you when I've just claimed to be less vulnerable to suggestion! )

I was waiting for that.

Here's a great example of behavioural economics at play in NY Taxis:

Cabs in New York City used to accept payment exclusively in cash, and tipping was governed by informal norms. Then they installed touchscreens that display advertorial content and also facilitate credit card payment. When you pay with a card, you can manually enter a tip number or you can select one of three default options.

During payment, the user is presented with three default buttons for tipping: 20%, 25%, and 30%. When cabs were cash only, the average tip was roughly 10%. After the introduction of this system, the tip percentage jumped to 22%.
Those three buttons resulted in $144,146,165 of additional tips. Per year. Those are some very valuable buttons.
This sort of psychological anchoring is well-known from behavioral economics. Adding a more expensive dish to a menu or a "super size" option can often induce people to spend more even if very few people actually make the high-end purchase. But thinking about the kind of role that norms, anchors, and heuristics play in shaping behavioral responses often gets left on the cutting-room floor when pondering issues in a non-experimental context.

Clever stuff that uses a number of heuristics.

jonomc4

There was a great book I read a while ago called BrandWashed

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brandwashed-Tri ... 922&sr=8-1

Very interesting read.

Twostage

Il Principe wrote:

We are all easily manipulated!

I'm not.

(my wife told me to say that)