The mythical “sense of urgent need”!

Does it still work?

Not in my opinion and I’ll explain why you should never use it

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Post published on 05/05/2022 by Fabrizio Cesarini on site https://www.fabriziocesarini.com and released with licenza CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IT (Creative Common – Attribuzione – Non commerciale – Non opere derivate 3.0 Italia)

Cover Image credits and copyrights by Unsplash

Article Images credits and copyrights by Fabrizio Cesarini on https://www.fabriziocesarini.com

For those of you who are not familiar with this technique, it is one of the simplest and most popular tricks, and that’s why it is also widely used, which is to convey some sense of urgency to the buyer of the sale. Easy!

It was recently used on me by a super cool, modern, digital, innovative products, innovative services, modern image company. One day the salesperson calls me and says “hi. Listen, there are also other people interested. If you want to buy you need to confirm now!”.

Nooo. If I had any doubts now you’ve taken them away. Sale closed.

This experience led me to reflect on the fact that all of us are a bit of salesmen. When we are looking for a new job, we want to change house, we are looking for a partner or simply we put something on sale on Vinted, we find ourselves on the seller’s side, even if for a short period of time. So it’s useful for everyone to understand how best to sell regardless of what the object of the sale is.

That this technique is still used is quite obvious. Unfortunately I would say.

But the problem is to understand if it still works.

In my opinion it doesn’t, on the contrary it is absolutely counterproductive!

I don’t say that it never works in absolute fact I think that some sales are concluded with this technique but I also think that they are less and less and the conversion rate is always lower.

If it doesn’t work why does the seller continue to use it? I’ve been asking myself that question and I think I’ve figured out the reason. In fact, the two reasons.

The first is definitely a cultural one that is easily solved with specific training that eliminates the concept of “I’ve always done it this way” and allows you to provide salespeople with new sales tools aligned with the current socio/economic environment.
The second reason is that he is unable to determine how much this technique is not working. He probably thinks the customer didn’t buy for a thousand personal reasons of his own, but he doesn’t think he was the cause of the missed sale because he has no way to get feedback from the lost customer.

In my specific case I was really interested in the purchase but I have my times both for things that have higher priority in life and because I need time before making a purchase especially if the amount is significant.
The salesperson misinterpreted my delay and began to think he was losing the sale and started rushing me.

This technique leverages the stress that forces people to make impulsive decisions.
Galactic mistake!
I have no intention of adding more stress to my life over a purchase that should instead be a pleasure. And today there are already too many reasons for stress.

But what if I had decided, driven by the seller’s urgency, to buy?

There would always remain that sense of “strangeness”, of dissatisfaction of hasty purchase, “… maybe I could have done better”, “… he pushed me”, “… he put me under pressure”, ” … he made me make a wrong decision”. So I’m not fully satisfied with this product. I don’t want it anymore. I will carry this feeling with me as long as I have this product and I will do anything to get rid of it. Both of the product and the sensation.

End result?

In the short term he made a sale. Good. But in the long term a total disaster!

Some consequences.
Unhappy customers because the relationship got off on the wrong foot.
I’ll probably badmouth them around (in person and on social) about the product, the company, and the salesperson. I may give negative reviews. I definitely won’t recommend the product and company to others. I may find all the flaws and try hard to ” revenge” to get even. It is then likely that I will stress the after sales technical support. And many other things.
These are all easily understandable human reactions that could be enacted by anyone who feels “forced”.

These damages need years to recover.

Why should I rush if I am confident in my product/service? Wouldn’t it be better to give the client time to make their assessments in their own time? This rush might even make people think wrongly.
And if I don’t sell? Okay. Maybe you wouldn’t have sold anyway, but at least you haven’t created a negative relationship and maybe he’ll come back to buy tomorrow.

I think it is necessary to revise the sales mechanisms, especially in a society that has changed profoundly in recent times. You can’t continue to use obsolete sales techniques and logic that are not aligned with reality. Today we are moving more towards the gentle push (The Nudge). And personally, I can tell you that it works much better.

Do you agree?