As salespeople, many of you are well acquainted with the ‘puppy
dog’ close.The tactic here is to
get someone to take the dog home for a day or two and if they’re not sure they
want the dog, or are completely satisfied, they can return it.The gamble here is that by taking the
dog home to your children, the seller hopes the kids will become enamored with
the dog thereby making it difficult for you the parent to return the dog.
Does this really work in real life? Does the Puppy Dog close really work?
If you go to the GM website today, on their homepage you
will see an offer that is quite tempting.You can take home any of GM’s cars and drive it around for up to 60
days.If you’re not completely
satisfied with the car, GM will allow you to return the car.Here’s their commitment, “If you don't
absolutely love your new Chevy, we'll take it back.”Does this sound familiar?
Is GM taking a big gamble using this approach?I don’t think so and there’s plenty of
data to back-up this bold approach.
Almost three decades of studies and research confirm that
consumers will value an object more when they take possession of it.This value creation phenomenon is
called the Endowment Effect.Once
you take ownership of something, your perceived value of the item increases
while your willingness to give it up decreases.
But it goes beyond merely taking possession of the
object.New studies are showing
that simply ‘touching’ the object 1) increases your perceived ownership of the
object and 2) it also increases the value you attribute (i.e., how much you’re
willing to pay) for the object making it that much harder for you to give it
up.
GM not only knows this, they’re banking on it!By driving it home and testing out the features
(touching), they hope your perceived value of the automobile will increase and
that the more you drive it during those 30 to 60 days, your sense of ownership
will get to the point where returning the automobile will be too painful of an
experience.
GM also knows that if you go down this ‘puppy dog’ road, the
time you’ll invest in researching the car, deciding to take it home and then
using the car will be so great that the thought of starting the process of
getting a new car all over again will become a mental deterrent for returning
the car.They’re
banking on your commitment (investment) of time and effort to stick to your ‘commitment’.
Let me summarize the three sources of influence that GM is
employing to sell you their car:
1) Taking possession of the object (leads to) legal
and mental ownership
2) Touching the object (leads to) an increase how
much you value (i.e., would pay for it) the object
3) Your commitment of time and effort (leads to) your
inability to start the process all over again
It may seem at face value that GM is taking a big gamble with
this return offer.Are they
gambling?Yes!They’re betting on human nature to
takes it course.They’re betting
on the additive forces of possession, touching and commitment to influence buyers
to keep their cars.
Although the results are not in, I have a strong suspicion
that this gamble will pay-off big for them not only in terms of cars moved, but
in getting American buyers to take another look at an American made car.
by Victor Antonio, Sales Influence
