Black Friday - Cyber Monday!

What’s this about…?

I’m not sure about you, but I watched with disbelief a few years ago at the news of people queuing, shoving, fighting, screaming to get a “bargain.” There would be some justification if it was food they needed as they were starving, or that their lives were under threat unless they got hold of a particular item.

No, this was consumerism gone bad, showing the worse type of being human there can be. Greed, all for me and none for you and people falling for the worse form of sales techniques. If you watched the TV people were not just content with buying one TV but 3, or 2 toasters or many kettles! Why? Some of the makes bought were not expensive models either but un-branded and low price anyway… the art of sales, even done this way, is about setting the bait, getting people to bite then upselling to other non reduced item! It happens all the time but yet many of us still fall into the trap.

When I started my first management role, for a very well-known fast-food chain, you were encouraged to “upsell” the items and human psychology is 9/10 you would say yes! “Burger and fries” “is that a large fries?” “yes” – increased your profit on that sale by 50% instantly…

“Would like that sale price tv” “Do you have a HDMI lead?” “No” gottcha! They could be much higher price than elsewhere!

Or “Sorry the sale item has now gone, but for £40 more you can have….” “yes” if your set to buy something then it takes a strong thinking person to go “not today”

I will admit I did look on amazon at their Black Friday deals…. All old stock and of no requirement to what I need. That is a regular ploy the sales process uses.

A bargain is and will only be a bargain if you need it in the first place! So think wisely, shop wisely and enjoy Christmas with people not material items…