Girl Scout sets record ..
Jennifer Sharpe knows how to sell Girl Scout cookies. In fact, she managed to sell 17.323 boxes for $3.50 each! (see full story)
As she said: “I know how to get people to buy more,” said Jennifer, a sophomore at Edsel Ford High School . “If they buy two boxes and they hand me a 10, I’d be like, ‘For 50 cents more, you can get three”
Why is this trick likely to work (it reminds me a bit of the movie paper moon)? Why is it likely to work better than simply offering people to buy 3 packages for $10.50
First, it is possible that making an initial offer below $10 (compared to one above $10) causes more people to be willing to buy — so it increases the market size.
Second, it is possible that once people had out their $10 they don’t think about the change they are about to get and as a consequence Jennifer’s offer of “just another 50 cents” does not register as another $3.50 for another box!
In any case, I suspect that Jennifer’s trip to Europe (which is what she collected the money for) will give her new ideas about new approaches to framing.
How aware was Jennifer that she may have been framing? I suspect that she just fell for the same fallacy that the buyer succumbs to. I suspect many times the sellers do it without realizing exactly what they have done. And possibly she viewed it not as $10.50 collected but rather as 3 vs 2 boxes sold. Kudos to her though anyway. Great accomplishment.
This is also a continuance of the downsell strategy. When offered a higher priced product which is rejected, and then offering a smaller item for much less they buyer is much more likely to say yes. In the example, had she asked for a $40 dollar donation for the GSA they would likely have said no, but if she said “well how about a box of cookies for $3.50,” they would be much more inclined to say yes. In this case by getting them to commit and then offering them another box for a great value (they process $.50 cents when the rest cost $3.50), it seems like a three for two deal and it is tough to pass up. This is subliminal persuasion in action and I also believe it is a perfect example of being predictably irrational. Beautiful example Dr. Ariely.
Read Influence by Robert Cialdini. It has a whole chapter on this I think and some other things that might shed light on irrationality…..
I’m wondering what other factors made her a superior salesperson. I imagine she has a personality that puts people at ease. I’d guess she is exceptional at noticing good places to “set up shop”, and exceptional at networking.
Someone once commented about a successful businessman, “he sees things other people don’t.”
Commenter “heckler” is Deborah Frisch, PhD.
Click on my name to see who she really is.
Dan, I’m sorry to have to sully your great post with my warning about Deb Frisch. I just think your readers ought to that she is no “ordinary” commenter.
She’s Predictably (and reliably) Irrational. And kinda mean, too.
This reminds me of some game shows (such as Millionaire) in which the contestant is asked whether s/he would like to continue answering one more question for double the prize (e.g. a million dollars) or s/he would like to take the 500,000 dollars home now. Which would you choose?