We as consumers become prey to the hucksters out there, once we need to buy something. We constantly fall victim to the refined sales and marketing tactics from those lurking dastards, who are abound. We’re aware of them, yet we continue to fall for the same tricks.
We get excited, our emotions kick in much more often than we care to admit, since paying too much is embarrassing to us.
Yet what we do is constantly surrender to their various methods of deception.
What the salesmen, marketers, and retailers will do is ply their trade in this fashion, all in the name of profit, to earn a living.
There’s always the stereotypical “used car salesman,” who parades around in the plaid sports coat, an offending aftershave, reeking of cigar smoke, who talks from the side of their mouth.
They have a one time deal this Saturday especially for you, one you just can’t resist.
What you instantly feel is discomfort, once his “script” claims the pristine used car you’re interested in, was driven by granny on Sunday’s to church.
You become a tad suspicious, feel uncomfortable, but what the heck, you buy it anyways.
Buyer Beware
We are always warned we should be aware of shysters, the fraudsters among us who attempts to part us from our money.
These individuals can be extremely deceptive, slick, and persuasive.
The reason why we fall for and believe them, is because these individuals know how to tap into our emotions, telling us everything is okay.
This happens to us once we’re cornered, and forced to make an immediate buying decision.
What their smooth and silky delivery does, is gives us confidence, by naturally boosting our serotonin levels in the brain, making us giddy.
Serotonin has the ability to turn off our logical thinking, making us feel safe, content and daring.
It knocks our logic and beliefs out of whack, placing us in a temporary sense of insanity, which isn’t subjected to scrutiny.
The brain fails to give us a warning signal something might be wrong, that we should step back and think about what we’re doing.
Why We Constantly Fall For These Tricks And Tactics
It happens to the best of us on occasion. It can be a rather convincing carnival huckster, seducing us to buy that magical blender, which is extremely overpriced.
Or we read an emotionally altering sales page for a health product on the Internet, and then buy it.
It’s perfectly natural we react this way, as we fall victim to the confidence or “con” tricks, devised by these slick marketers.
The reason we succumb, is because our minds aren’t wired to solve these extremely clever schemes, on the spot.
We would rather instead, show trust and give the benefit of the doubt.
Fool Me Once…
Our brain isn’t immediately able to distinguish at that moment, if someone is being honest or not.
We’re not able to detect, whether someone’s outright lying to us, or realize the unruffled situations from the alarming ones.
What we’re not able to determine because of our trusting nature, are the outright frauds out there, and the dishonesty which is cleverly masked.
The brain and our emotions, can’t comprehend these situations in time.
How To Stop Getting Fooled
Is there something, anything, we can do to avoid these temporarily moments of misjudgment, which alters our decision making ability.
If this happens more than once to us, we then become skeptical and defensive. We adopt an overly hypercritical attitude, before entering into any type of sales deal or pitch.
It’s a good idea to just momentarily take a step back, and then try to make a logical decision, before jumping in on instinct.
• The next time a waitress attempts to “bump” you up to a more expensive wine, know it’s a sales tactic, so ask to look at the wine list again. You might go with the more expensive wine anyways, but it will give you an opportunity, to think what you’re doing
• When your attractive fit personal fitness instructor, says you should add more spin biking classes because you’ll lose weight quicker. Tell them you’ll think about it, which gives you the opportunity to make your own decision
• When purchasing a high ticket electronic item such as a big screen TV or a new laptop, make sure you research what you want first, before setting foot in the store. This way, you’ll purchase the exact model you wanted, at a price which fits your budget
• You may think your financial broker is working for your best interests, but their ultimate end game isn’t to make money for you. Their real motive is earning money for the company they represent, and to pad their own pockets. You’re there as a means, to support that end
The end result of these usually self-serving deceptions, may be financially costly, stressful, and embarrassing to you.
How To Protect Yourself From Deception
What these manipulative deceivers are able to do, is hide information, distort pertinent data, or exaggerate facts to control or influence your choice and decisions.
Different types of deceptions are the toolbox of the con artists and the unscrupulous marketers, and on a grander scale, politicians.
Count anyone in who attempts to take advantage of a situation, usually to profit at your expense.
Increase Your Skepticism
You can protect yourself better from these tricksters, by being more mindfully skeptical. Skepticism is a method, of assessing the truth through revealing the facts by asking more questions.
You’ll be able to gain the exact information, by improving your critical thinking skills.
Know who you should or can trust, while deciding who’s attempting to take advantage of you, at your expense.
If you’ve been vulnerable to lies as well as deception in the past, especially when you’re not aware of all the facts, or if the situation is a little fuzzy, then avoid it altogether.
Make sure you step back, take a breath and choose a critical point of view.