The only way I can describe it is through examples. It particularly happens in B2B situations. I am a buyer for various services. When I meet with a vendor, they sometimes throw out things like:
“We like to work with people like you who focus on the big picture, and not just focus on cost”
Translation - if you try to cut us down on price, you are by definition showing everyone you are a small picture person.
“We are looking for a strategic, forward thinking person to partner with us” - Again, if I decide to go with someone else, I am not a forward thinker.
So, it’s basically a sideways compliment. They are saying something good about me, but the compliment relies on me working with them or buying their product. I don’t know if sales people learn this technique in sales seminars or what, but does it have a name? What would you call this technique? I’d like to identify it by name back to the sales person the next time it is used.
I think in a current IMHO thread on Pick-Up Artist[ry] it’s been described as a form of the technique called “negging.”
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I don’t think it is negging, because my (admittedly limited) understanding of negging is that it involves put-downs, and neither of the examples given by the OP do.
It’s a mixture of flattery, framing and excluded middle.
It’s flattery in that it is suggesting you are big picture or strategic forward thinking person.
It’s framing in that the salesperson is trying to set a scene (ie “frame”) before they present you with an unpalatable message. It’s like the way a politician in favour of gun control might talk for five minutes about gun massacres before mentioning they favour gun control, while a politician against gun control might talk about self defense and libertarian principles before mentioning they are against gun control.
And then it is an excluded middle in that the salesperson is trying to suggest that (to take the first example) one can only be concerned with either the big picture or the cost, when actually you could take both into account.
I’m not sure but it’s the same as the fallacy that goes like this:
“All smart, reasonable people can agree that X.”
The suggestion being that if you disagree with X, you’re dumb and unreasonable. I think people who specialize in naming fallacies must have found and named that one before those who specialize in naming sales techniques.
Does anyone remember the tale of The Emperor’s New Clothes?It is suggested that the suit of clothes is invisible to all those stupid and unfit for their position. Therefore, everyone is afraid of saying they don’t see clothes on the emperor because others may think them stupid and unfit.
Your translation is wrong. It should be - we’re more expensive than the other guy.
Their goal is to sell you on their product/service, not to sell you on the price.
My company had issues like this. We provided a service, and were often higher priced than competitors. In our opinion, we also provided a better level of service, so our sales force would have to sell our better service. I imagine they would make the effort to get the conversation away from bottom line cost and focus on something else, the Big Picture, quality, reliability. Your quotes are a way to direct the conversation.
Our sales force would come in occasionally requesting a lower price than the competition and we had managers comment that this lower price should be dropped off with the secretary, since the customer only cared about the bottom line, there’s no point to spending any time in their office discussing it. How long can you talk about one number?
A few years back, I had a job where I bought a fair amount of products and services for my company. I got this approach pretty often.
I always found it annoying, and rarely ended up working with salespeople who used this approach.
It sounded to me like they were telling me that I had to qualify to buy their product or their service. Was I forward-thinking enough for them? Was I able to focus on the big picture and not get bogged down in the details?
It struck me as bullshit. From my point of view, my company needed something. If they could provide it, at a reasonable price, I would buy from them. Of course cost wasn’t the only factor, but it did matter.
It could be a form of pride baiting. Kind of like when you balk at the price of a car and the salesman says, “maybe we can find you something more affordable”.
“Affordable” is the pride bait. The customer is challenged to pay more in order to prove that he can afford the price.
I always like it when a car salesman uses this line on me. It gives me a chance to put some heavy pressure back on the salesman. Quite loudly I counter with, " You and I will NEVER discuss what I can afford. We will only discuss what I am willing to pay."
Isn’t this a variation on telling someone they have a (positive) quality that you want them to have? I remember reading about this somewhere as a persuasion technique, I don’t know if it has a name.
IE “What I like about you is you are so generous” or “What I like about you is you are so open minded”
