Post by Rob W. Case on Mar 2, 2009 16:30:54 GMT -6
As the old saying goes, “buyer beware.”
When the economy is good, people will try and do what they can to boost sales, commissions, and exploit public ignorance to make money.
Now, as the economy is in the tank, there is more fraud, scams, schemes, and psychological pricing techniques in place in hopes to sway you to buy. When people are desperate, and when convenience is the product’s top selling point, then interest sways the consumer to action as his hopes are raised. Reality, after the sale is made, is the only factor that counts. When the sale is complete, there is no going back.
Too Good to be True:
If it sounds good, it must be good, right? Products that promise to produce results without grinding discipline and hard work are always top sellers. They are top sellers because the level of temptation that the selling point offers hope that the person will be relieved of the grinding discipline and hard work that is naturally required to produce the best results.
For example:
Diet Supplements
Over a year ago, I went to a local Walgreens, where I found the widely televised dietary product called Lipozene. I had seen the commercial for some time, and I wanted to try it, to see if it worked. I bought it. In early February of 2009, I decided to finally try it. It didn’t seem to do anything. I went on the web, and when I did, I came across all sorts of harsh horror stories from people who bought the product and was screwed, but in addition to having no results, they were being ripped off. Many people who bought the product from the TV commercial were charged for 4 month supplies, and so forth to their credit cards without their even knowing it. Not only that, but the product offered a 30 day money back guarantee. If people didn’t see any results in let’s say the timeframe of 2 weeks, they would call the company, and ask for their money back. In asking for their money back, all they would get is “your trial period has exceeded the 30 day limit” even if it didn’t.
“Cushy” Jobs
A friend of mine forwarded an e-mail to me asking if a certain thing was legit. It offered to pay you thousands of dollars if you stayed at home and typed for them. There was a lot of language in the selling point, a lot of strategic structuring to get anyone’s hopes up who wanted to make a little extra money to pay their bills. By the time you get at the very end, it required that YOU PAY $97 dollars for the software and so forth to be able to do the typing that is required for the company offering to pay you thousands of dollars to do it. In other words, it gives the impression that you will make thousands, if you make the small investment of “just” a hundred bucks. Either way, the mental focus is on the large sum of money, and in order to do it, you have to pay the small sum. After all, it takes money to make money, right? At least that is what lies in the subconscious anyway. But what really happens is that you buy the software, there is no demand for what the company offers you, and you end up being stuck with useless software for which you paid a whopping hundred bucks for. The thousands of dollars language was nothing more than a pipe-delusion, but it was appealing to your greed, or want, or need in order to motivate you to pull out your money to pay them.
Doing things the hard way establishes humility and builds character. Being content with what you have and not desiring to go beyond your means will in many ways help you to not buy into something that may cause an unpleasant experience, new stress, and a sense of panic.
In other words, hell always seems to result when one is always looking for simple, desirable, corner-cutting solutions. In order to get to point B from point A faster, it is better for you to work a little harder, because if you work from point A to point B, and expect a shady salesman to bring you there quicker, then he will keep milking you for all your worth, and in the long run, it will take you much longer to get to point B than you could ever imagine. It will take you longer because now you have less money, meaning you have to work harder just to make what you lost on the scam, and still work hard to get to point B. Now you made 2 major projects for yourself, when all the first one needed was patience, determination, and will.
When the economy is good, people will try and do what they can to boost sales, commissions, and exploit public ignorance to make money.
Now, as the economy is in the tank, there is more fraud, scams, schemes, and psychological pricing techniques in place in hopes to sway you to buy. When people are desperate, and when convenience is the product’s top selling point, then interest sways the consumer to action as his hopes are raised. Reality, after the sale is made, is the only factor that counts. When the sale is complete, there is no going back.
Too Good to be True:
If it sounds good, it must be good, right? Products that promise to produce results without grinding discipline and hard work are always top sellers. They are top sellers because the level of temptation that the selling point offers hope that the person will be relieved of the grinding discipline and hard work that is naturally required to produce the best results.
For example:
Diet Supplements
Over a year ago, I went to a local Walgreens, where I found the widely televised dietary product called Lipozene. I had seen the commercial for some time, and I wanted to try it, to see if it worked. I bought it. In early February of 2009, I decided to finally try it. It didn’t seem to do anything. I went on the web, and when I did, I came across all sorts of harsh horror stories from people who bought the product and was screwed, but in addition to having no results, they were being ripped off. Many people who bought the product from the TV commercial were charged for 4 month supplies, and so forth to their credit cards without their even knowing it. Not only that, but the product offered a 30 day money back guarantee. If people didn’t see any results in let’s say the timeframe of 2 weeks, they would call the company, and ask for their money back. In asking for their money back, all they would get is “your trial period has exceeded the 30 day limit” even if it didn’t.
“Cushy” Jobs
A friend of mine forwarded an e-mail to me asking if a certain thing was legit. It offered to pay you thousands of dollars if you stayed at home and typed for them. There was a lot of language in the selling point, a lot of strategic structuring to get anyone’s hopes up who wanted to make a little extra money to pay their bills. By the time you get at the very end, it required that YOU PAY $97 dollars for the software and so forth to be able to do the typing that is required for the company offering to pay you thousands of dollars to do it. In other words, it gives the impression that you will make thousands, if you make the small investment of “just” a hundred bucks. Either way, the mental focus is on the large sum of money, and in order to do it, you have to pay the small sum. After all, it takes money to make money, right? At least that is what lies in the subconscious anyway. But what really happens is that you buy the software, there is no demand for what the company offers you, and you end up being stuck with useless software for which you paid a whopping hundred bucks for. The thousands of dollars language was nothing more than a pipe-delusion, but it was appealing to your greed, or want, or need in order to motivate you to pull out your money to pay them.
Doing things the hard way establishes humility and builds character. Being content with what you have and not desiring to go beyond your means will in many ways help you to not buy into something that may cause an unpleasant experience, new stress, and a sense of panic.
In other words, hell always seems to result when one is always looking for simple, desirable, corner-cutting solutions. In order to get to point B from point A faster, it is better for you to work a little harder, because if you work from point A to point B, and expect a shady salesman to bring you there quicker, then he will keep milking you for all your worth, and in the long run, it will take you much longer to get to point B than you could ever imagine. It will take you longer because now you have less money, meaning you have to work harder just to make what you lost on the scam, and still work hard to get to point B. Now you made 2 major projects for yourself, when all the first one needed was patience, determination, and will.