Lessons From The Vice Squad, Part I

It’s no secret among top marketers that some of the smartest salesmen are con-artists. I do NOT suggest you get involved in any sort of unethical project... and, in fact, I hope you rot in hell if you do.

However... you cannot afford to ignore the outrageously-accurate knowledge of human behavior that is the stock and trade of the conman. (And I include politicians as well as multilevel marketers in this category.) The same charm tactics used by the cad to steal hearts can also be used by the nice guy to win his soul-mate. And the compelling sales pitch used to sell worthless junk will work just as well selling your honest-to- God hot stuff products.

I fully expect that, when people start trashing me -- and I will get criticized, because everyone who sticks their head above the fray to tell the truth eventually gets shot at -- they will harp on this Lessons From The Vice Squad” section in my newsletter.

Well, screw ‘em. I don’t care where good marketing ideas come from. The reason conartists are so good is that they typically only get one shot at making the “sale”. They gotta split right after money exchanges hands. So they are superb students of human nature and behavior. As you should be, selling your legitimate business. You’re dreaming if you think you’re gonna get more than one shot at making the sale.

Bad marketers ignore human behavior. Good marketers study demographics and psychology. Great marketers learn from everything... including the “dark side” of salesmanship.

First “vice squad” lesson: No con will work on an honest man. You need greed in the mix. In those 3-card Monte or shell games (which shell is the pea under?), the hustler always allows the mark to win at first. Then the bet doubles. The mark, thinking this is the easiest money he’s ever made, agrees.

And suddenly that pea does magic acts. By the time the mark realizes he’s being taken, he’s lost a bundle.

For the rest of us, it’s a reminder of the importance of appealing to the inherent greed in all humans. Many marketers put their customers on a pedestal, and refuse to get into the “gutter” with their competition offering blatant bargains.

Big mistake. I love to do “firesale” ads, where some slight damage or mislabeling or tiny flaw has forced us to offer everything at dirt-cheap bargain prices. There are businesses all over the country who earn so much in their liquidation “going out of business” sales that they not only stay in business... but they routinely try to go back out of business so they can have that liquidation sale again.

A furniture dealer I know sold so many couches with slight rain damage, that he punched a hole in the warehouse roof to keep the leaks coming.

People like to get something for nothing, or at least get a better deal than everyone else got. It gives them a story to tell their friends. Makes them feel good about their prowess at finding bargains. And -- most importantly -- gives them “permission” to spend money on something they might otherwise put off buying (or not buy at all).

Take this lesson to heart. There’s a reason why “greed” is listed as a basic human motivation, right up there with better health, fixing problems, and finding love.

A connected rule to this is: Once hooked, the mark will refuse to let go. In fact, the more irrational and absurd the deal, the more tightly the hooked mark will insist it’s the greatest thing in the universe.

This is not unusual or isolated human behavior. Happens every day. In cults praying to UFOs, in pyramid marketing schemes where the simplest math shows it cannot work, in superstitions (those astrology and psychic hotline ads aren’t on all night just to take up air space), and in investments (does Enron or the dot-com boom ring a bell?).

At nearly every marketing seminar I’ve done, there is at least one guy in the audience stricken with multi-level marketing sickness. No amount of rational argument or clear-cut math or even the warnings of others who escaped the same fix will make this guy waver from his commitment to the con.

Worse, in order to keep his own mind from exploding, he must evangelize to everyone else around him, trying to convince them it’s the best thing since sliced bread. Just look into their eyes. Lost.

No one is completely immune. How many chain letters have you received in your life? How many have you sent on to friends, just to “be on the safe side” that none of the bad stuff promised will happen to you? I’ll bet you did it at least once.

There’s something inherent in our wiring that makes us desperately cling to beliefs that take root in our head. There is often no rational explanation whatsoever. Do you prefer Coke to Pepsi? Why? It’s sugar water. How many times do you have to vote for one political party... and get fooled again... before you change your affiliation? For most folks, it’s time after time.

And a famous religious leader once said, “Give me a child until he’s seven, and he’ll be a believer for life.” Why? It’s in our wiring, dude.

What does this mean for the smart marketer? It goes back to the “two reasons why anyone buys anything” rule: Your customer needs a ton of rational reasons why this is a great deal, so he can give his wife, his buddies, and himself a good and plausible story supporting his buying decision.

And you need to appeal to your customer’s “belief wiring” deep inside -- by hitting all those silly hot buttons he would never admit to having any sway over him. “Hey, I bought this Porsche because it’s a great investment and a work of art... not because young women suddenly look at me differently.”

Yeah, right.

John Carlton, http://www.marketingrebelrant.com/

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