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I recently met with the VP of Sales for the Anthony Robbins Companies to learn the secrets to their phenomenal sales. They have nine sales divisions that sell everything from CDs and books to Tony's live events to a $65,000/year mentor program with The Man.
In describing their approach to selling Tony's live three-day events, he told me about a little change that has made a huge difference. They sell three different levels of tickets to the events that cost $795, $1195 and $2495. In the past when speaking to potential registrants, they had always described the ticket packages in that order; from the least to the most expensive.
He had a hunch that if they changed the order and offered the most expensive, then the least and finally the middle package, they would increase their sales. And that's exactly what happened.
The Use of Contrast, otherwise known as the Door-In-The-Face phenomenon, states that if you ask for more than what you want initially, when you then ask for what you REALLY want, you are more likely to get it than if you asked for what you really wanted in the first place.
At Anthony Robbins, the high-end ticket sales stayed about the same after their adjustment. But their sales of the mid-range tickets went through the roof. This happened because they were learning of the mid-range tickets after hearing the VIP price tag (more than twice the cost) instead of after the $795 tickets.
Dr. Robert Cialdini, in his brilliant book "Influence," tells of a letter one of his college students wrote to her parents that used this same psychology. She began by instructing her parents to sit down before they read any further. Her vision was starting to return, she went on, following the concussion she suffered when she jumped from her dorm room during the fire.
Fortunately, a gas station employee across the street saw the whole thing happen, called the ambulance and visited her in the hospital. They had fallen in love, she had moved in with him and they were engaged. Hopefully, the wedding would happen before her pregnancy started to show, but there were complications due to the infection he had passed on to her.
The good news, she concluded, was that none of the above was true. The bad news was that she was getting an F in Chemistry and just wanted her parents "to see those marks in their proper perspective."
Two great examples of The Use of Contrast.
Robert Graham
Robert Graham is the Principal of GrahamComm (www.grahamcomm.net), a consulting and training company that helps clients increase their sales and deliver outstanding presentations. He can be reached at 415-652-0763 or Robert@grahamcomm.net.
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