A couple of years ago, it was time for me to trade in my old beater Chevy S10 for a new(er), more gas efficient Honda. Smurfette (my sky blue truck) was good to me, and ran just fine, but she was only a two seater and not the most reliable for making the long haul from Denton to Georgetown. She had several add ons as well, which made her a great truck for someone who needed something to get around town but not for long drives.
When I found my car however, the salesman attempted to use the social psychological technique of low-balling. I was very picky about which type of Accord I wanted, I wasn't too concerned about color, although living in Texas I was hoping to find a white car. My main goal was to find a standard transmission Accord without a million miles on it that was within my price range. Because the ratio of standards to automatics for Accords is 1:40 when I found a low mileage white standard I knew I had to have it. Problem was, the salesman knew how badly I wanted it. He gave me a great price on the car, then went to ask his manager how much they could give me for my truck.
Kiesler (1971) predicts that at this point, the salesman knows that now that I have made the decision to buy the car, I am in the seat opposite his desk justifying my purchase to myself by thinking of all the positives of my car. He can then make me a ridiculous offer for my truck (which he did) in the hope that because I am so in love with the car I'll make any offer to have it. Unfortunately for him, my dad and I were ready for his tricks. Instead of thinking about how great the car was while the salesperson talked to his manager, we discussed the minimum price we would accept for the truck. When the salesperson quoted a price about 750 less than we'd agreed to take, we refused to buy the car until he made a more realistic offer. He did, and by the way I LOVE my Honda :)
Reference:
Kiesler, C. (1971). The psychology of commitment. New York: Academic Press.
No comments:
Post a Comment