Recent look up of a blog post by Mr. Drew McLellan (http://www.drewsmarketingminute.com/2013/02/selling-shouldnt-equal-annoying.html) revealed a factor about marketing I’ve always hated: many stores put you in a very akward situation so that either decision of buying or not buying will adversely affect your mood for the rest of your day. He mentioned while shopping at a local convenience store he was asked by the cashier if he wanted to make a donation to some charity organization with the entire line-up listening onto the conversation. Sure that sounds harmless, but the potential pressure it exerts on the customer is perhaps something most stores have never thought of. If a customer is unwilling to part with his money, he feels guilty for being so insensitive to all the poor souls the foundation is designed to help, yet he doesn’t just want to donate his hard-earned money on every occasion he is asked to donate.
As a matter of fact this can be felt almost everyday in marketing. Countless times I have encountered situations where an absolutely zealous salesperson passionately introducing to me his latest product and urging me to give it a try. I must say that more often than not I have no interest at all in what he has to sell me, but out of courtesy I still stay and listen. But the hardest part is never while he is demonstrating but what comes after the demonstration. Although the salesman consistently claims it is optional to buy the product, could I really have just walked off without showing at least some signs of interest? Dilemmas like these sometimes can ruin my entire day’s shopping experience, especially given I am very sensitive about other peoples’ feelings yet so rational at the same time. Buying makes me feel bad because I don’t really need the product, but not buying seems equally malicious. Really, what these stores and people ought to do in the future, is perhaps asking first if customers would be interested before bluntly going in for the sale. People get more annoyed over that!
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