Being Mean Makes The Sale!

Okay this isn't exactly what I think as a customer, but I have to believe it is what a lot of the more expensive women's apparel stores believe.

My mother came to visit last week-end, and we went to a few of the nicer apparel stores in the area to try to find her a new suit for her up and coming trip to England (personally, if I didn't have to occasionally wear the odd suit to a business meeting, I wouldn't bother with them, but that's just me).

At one of these stores in particular, we ran into a whole bevy of female sales assistants who seemed to be trying to out do each other in terms of who could be meaner. It felt like they believed that the more they could make us feel priviledged for being in the store being waited on my them, the more we were likely to buy.

Does this really work for some women? It doesn't work very well for me. I am the type of woman who prefers to be waited on by someone who is relaxed, warm and welcoming and makes me feel good about being in the store. I am looking for someone I can trust and feel reassured by, rather than someone who takes one look at my poor excuse for an outfit and makes me feel inadequate.

I do know that there is a certain amount of reverse psychology in the sales process, because I have found that in my business as well. It really does seem to be the case that 'if you play hard to get' with potential clients, that they are more likely to want to work with you than if you are too keen and eager.

Okay - stop the presses. A female colleague of mine has just informed me that she used to be a sales associate on Rodeo Drive, and that she was instructed to be mean to the customers because the meaner you are, the more they buy. So perhaps it really does work in a retail environment as well. I need to think about applying this psychology to my marketing business. Who can I be mean to first?