Chapter 7Paying the Price of ‘Yes’
Why is the dominant response of many salespeople ‘yes’ when a customer asks for a discount or a lower price? Why is that dominant response so difficult to change?
There are many presumably positive reasons why salespeople make concessions and agree to offer discounts. Discounting can help close a deal quickly, make customers happy, and increase sales volumes and revenue. Discounting can be a very effective tool to counter competitive pressures, whether real or anticipated.
The acceptance of discounting as a useful tactic may also be a halo effect from what salespeople experience as private consumers when they receive discounts, coupons, or free trials.1 The underlying assumption is that if such tactics enhance the personal satisfaction they derive from private purchases, such concessions could engender the same goodwill with customers in a business-related sale. Over time, their own personal experience unwittingly reinforces an urge to respond favourably whenever a client asks for a discount. Hence, salespeople's untrained dominant response is to yield to the natural inclination to say ‘yes’. It will remain their response until they change it consciously.
The studies from Zajonc offer insights into how external conditions can determine how appropriate and how successful the untrained dominant response will be. Whenever the dominant response is the appropriate course of action, it implies that the task is easier or has less at stake. Conversely, ...
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