I was traveling to Phoenix last month when I experienced a great, real-time lesson in what it means to assume the close.
Stopping by the car rental counter, the rep was walking through the standard questions when they asked me about insurance…
“Do you want the premium coverage or will standard coverage be fine?”
It was so simple and slick I had to pause.
After a moment I replied “I’ll actually decline coverage, but that’s a clever sales script.”
At which point the rep chuckled and said “Thanks! Almost everybody opts for the standard package.”
What Does It Mean To Assume The Close?
Assuming the close is a simple sales strategy where you assume folks will be interested in your offering and speak to them as if the decision to convert has already been made.
In this case, rather than asking if I wanted insurance coverage, the rep simply assumed that I would and moved to understanding which package I’d be most interested in.
And Did You Catch The Anchor?
In addition to assuming the close, this script also had the rep introduce an anchor point.
Price anchoring is when you introduce an initial price for the prospect to refer to when considering the ultimate price that they are offered.
Ever see a product listed for $100, but available for just $49 for a limited time? By introducing that initial price anchor of $100, suddenly the $49 seems like more of a deal than it might have if the product was listed at $49 to begin with.
In this case, by starting with the “premium coverage” it made the “standard coverage” feel like a more reasonable thing to get.
Understanding Persuasion vs. Manipulation
But while I appreciated the savviness of the car rental sales script, I didn’t appreciate that it was likely getting a fair amount of people to pay for coverage they didn’t actually want or need.
Whether it’s assuming the close, price anchors, or any other sales strategy or tactic, there’s a responsibility we all have in marketing to ensure we are persuading prospects, not manipulating them.
In the case of marketing, persuasion is a prosocial behavior where we encourage someone to consider making a decision that is in both their best interest, as well as ours.
Manipulation, on the other hand, is activity that gets a prospect to take an action in our best interest, but not necessarily in theirs.
Getting people to agree to a car rental insurance policy they don’t actually want, need, or understand? It’s certainly a savvy sales strategy, but it also reeks of manipulation in marketing.
So What Does This Mean For Me?
If you haven’t lately, it likely would serve you - and your organization - well to review your existing marketing and support materials to understand how aspects of assuming the close or introducing an anchor could support increased status stage conversion.
But before you actually implement anything, take that list of opportunities you identify and ask yourself…
Is This Manipulation Or Persuasion?
Because at the end of the day, if you have to trick people into taking an action in your best interest, chances are it’s not in theirs.
About the Author
Seth is the founder and CEO of Kanahoma, a San Diego-based performance marketing agency on a mission to build a better agency for organizations building a better world.
You can learn more about who we are and what we do at www.Kanahoma.com.