I had a couple of hours to kill after dropping my son and his friends off at a concert venue, so I headed to a nearby mall to complete a few errands, and then find a place to sit with my laptop. As I explored the mall, I walked by a kiosk a number of times, where several people were engaging passers-by to sample whatever they were selling.
The first time I walked by, a man asked if I wanted a free sample. I just shook my head and kept walking. The second time a woman stretched her arm out towards me with a packet in her hand asking if I wanted to try a free lotion sample. I smiled, and politely declined. I didn’t have any desire to buy any kind of lotion or beauty product. The third time, however, went very differently.
As I approached the kiosk for the third time a woman with long dark hair, tight clothing and heavy makeup basically grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the stand. She said she wanted to show me something.
Saleswoman (with huge smile): “Are you happy, or are you married?”
Me: “Both.”
Saleswoman “Ah, tell your wife when you get home that she’s done a good job!”
I laughed a little, as she instructed me to hold my hands together like a bowl. Hesitantly I followed her directions, and she immediately poured some exfoliating scrub into my palms.
I knew at this point I was dealing with a salesperson on a completely different level than the other two working the kiosk. She had already succeeded where the others had failed. She had product on my hand, managed to learn personal information about me and worked humor into the interaction. Warning flags were flying in my subconscious, I knew exactly what she was doing.
As I rubbed my hands together over a bowl, she sprayed them with water. When the product had completely washed off, she told me to look in the bowl and notice how dirty the water was as proof that the scrub worked wondrously. She handed me a towel to dry my hands, then introduced herself and shook my hand.
Saleswoman: “Excuse my accent, I’m from Israel. Also, you’ll have to forgive my nervousness because I’m really excited to talk to you.”
She had just made the conversation even more personal, as she now knew my name. I consciously noted that she used it often in our continuing conversation attempting to make me feel more comfortable with her. She also used blatant flattery to stroke my male ego.
Next, she had me rub body butter lotion on my freshly scrubbed hands. I admitted that my hands felt very soft. She quickly retrieved a bag, and placed one container of the scrub, and one container of the body butter into it. Keeping a level head, I know she’s seconds from ringing a sale up on her cash register. A purchase I haven’t agreed to yet.
Me: “How much do the products cost?”
Saleswoman: “$58 for each container. I know it seems like a lot, but it will literally last you two years.”
Shocked by the price, I snapped out of the ego stroked induced male numbness and put the brakes on the process.
Me: “I’ve got some other shopping to do. I’ll have to think about it, but will come back if I decide to buy them.”
This is where the sales pitch went into high gear as we both knew that if I walked away, I wasn’t coming back.
Saleswoman: “I’ve really enjoyed talking to you, and we’re about to close down for the night so I’m going to give you a very special deal. I’m going to use my voucher on you. But if you buy the products, in two weeks when you AND your wife love them – and you WILL love them, and your wife WILL love them, you have to take my business card and email me to say Thank You.”
More flattery, a sense of urgency due to the mall closing, and more ego stroking. I felt my defenses crumbling again. I felt myself wanting to buy the products. Some small piece of logic called out from the back of my brain telling me that the sense of urgency was false. The mall didn’t close for another 90 minutes.
Me: “How much is your special price?”
Saleswoman (cocking her head back making her hair whip just a little): “Ah, your favorite question. If you buy the scrub for $58…..”
She was going in for the kill, and I knew it. She put her hand on my shoulder as she lifted herself up on the tips of her toes. I could feel her breath on my neck, and her hair across my arm as she whispered into my ear.
Saleswoman: “The body butter will be my gift to you. Absolutely free.”
She was good. Really good. I knew the products were overpriced. I knew I didn’t even want the products. I knew all the jokes, the flattery, the use of my name, the physicality of the final interaction was all simply to get me to buy the product. I knew she didn’t really like me, or even care to know me. She was just selling a product.
Yet, I still almost caved in. Almost.
Me: “I’m sorry, I’ll have to think about it.”
She came down of the tips of her toes and backed away. Her smile was a shell of what it had been, as she thanked me for my time and asked me to keep the product in mind as I walked through the mall.
She knew she had lost, and that I wouldn’t be back.
Walking away, I shivered with how close I had come to spending an obscene amount of money on some beauty products that I didn’t want or need. My desire to purchase the products was based on a visceral male reaction to getting attention from an attractive woman. To be honest, the thing that kept bringing logic and reason back into my stream of consciousness was one simple phrase:
“This is going to make a great blog post.”
Have you ever been engaged in a high pressure sales pitch like this? Did it work?
haha she was good. I suck at sales. It’s funny cause I’m really bold in my biz, but if I have to sell a product, I’m a disaster.
I’ve never tried to sell anything, but I’m guessing I would suck at it too. I’d just rather have the product speak for itself – which would make me a failure as a salesperson. 🙂 thanks for reading, Stefanie!
Hahahaha wow! what a post! I really thought you were going to cave in and buy the stuff! Im glad you didnt though. I get annoyed by people who try to use those tactics to get you to buy things. Its an unfair advantage in my opinion.
I was tempted, and felt myself teetering on the edge several times. I *HATE* high pressure sales pitches. It’s one thing if you agree to engage the sales people….but these people were standing in the middle of the aisles, just hoping to make eye contact. I’m glad I stayed strong – thanks for stopping by, Mike!
She was right about one thing, lol, your wife HAS done a good job!
I call them “the kiosk people”, (as though they are aliens). They employ handsome young men, too, just in case a more ‘mature’ lady happens to walk past… Sometimes I take the lotion, but the only purchase I ever made from them was as a specifically requested gift.
My daughter buys from them all the time. Of course, she also has a time share!
Haha, I’m a lucky man, Sassy Mamaw – that was probably the easiest question she asked me. I think you’re right, they employ people that would appeal to different demographics. The male that approached me was certainly in the ballpark of an attractive male. Some people aren’t uncomfortable in those situations…I certainly am. I avoided the kiosk like the plague for the rest of the night. Great to hear from you Sassy Mamaw!
I know exactly which dead sea skincare kiosk you are talking about. There is one in my mall too. I once made the mistake of making eye contact with a somewhat handsome (not my type really, but not ugly for sure) sales guy as I walked past and he used the same smooth talking lines and immediately got their lotion on my hands before I even realized I had stopped and was talking to him. No, I didn’t buy it because that is a ridiculous price. But they have some serious sales pressure and the guy seemed kind of put off that I wasn’t interested in him and wasn’t responding with sparkles in my eye. I liked the lotion but as soon as he told me the price I laughed and said “Nope!” haha
LOL, that’s crazy! I wish I would have kept the little sample packet they gave me, I was interested in seeing if I could find the product online, and how much it could be purchased for. Yeah, it doesn’t surprise me that the salesman would seem “put off” – it was amazing how the woman carried her self changed once she realized she wasn’t going to get a sale from me! Thanks for your comment, Alice!
Look away, look away! I always try to avoid those kiosk. My wife ran into a high pressure makeup sale guy this summer and he almost tackled her as we walked past a second time. Never fun, but you have to stand your ground. Nicely done Travis!
The first two were easy to walk past, they weren’t as aggressive. But the third one…..I think she would have tackled me and dragged me over to the kiosk. I went to great lengths to avoid the kiosk the rest of the night. There was NO WAY I was walking by again. Thanks for reading, Brian!
Ewwww, I feel dirty just listening to that sales pitch. Don’t get me wrong, given societal standards, I think women should use any advantage they have. But still… eesh.
Glad you pulled yourself away. (Tim does this by thinking about what I’ll say if he comes home with an item.)
I don’t have a problem with people using an advantage, but what she was doing was bordering on coercion in my book. If I would have bought the product based solely on the pressure of the salesman and not the quality of the product, well….that’s a bad sale in my book! thanks for sharing your thoughts, Abigail!
“To be honest, the thing that kept bringing logic and reason back into my stream of consciousness was one simple phrase: “This is going to make a great blog post.”” Love that! She certainly knew what she was doing and while you were well aware of it, it makes you wonder how many people aren’t or just don’t care.
That’s the problem I have, Gary….some people would buy the products because they felt uncomfortable (or maybe TOO comfortable) and just wanted to get out of the situation – not because they actually wanted the product. Thanks for reading, Gary!
That kind of sales pitch is pretty impressive to me – partly because I could never do it myself but also because you can tell when someone has serious skills. That kind of sales is an art form – I really respect people who have that skill!
But yea, I avoid situations like that like the plague. I know I’m not going to buy anything, so I don’t want to waste their time. But a good salesperson can pull you in magically somehow – it happens!
My standard line is, “I don’t want to waste your time or mine.” I’m great with that when someone calls, or when they knock at my door. But somehow I ended up with scrub and water on my hands and I either would have had to run away with junk on my hands (looking like a freak) or wait until they were cleaned off. I chose B, and by the time I dried my hands it was almost all over anyway. In retrospect I should have not put my hands out to accept the product to begin with…….but like you said, they magically pull you in somehow.
I love working in sales with physical things. When I worked in a pawn shop, I was the only female working there. I would always wear a suit, make sure my hair was done and my make up done and I would let the merchandise speak for itself. I would make a killing selling jewelry and I would let the men “teach me” how to use the power tools. Granted I already knew how it worked, but it is crazy the differences in selling to men versus selling to women. She sounded like a really good sales person and one that I would like to have in my corner. It didn’t seem to high sales in my honest opinion as she only engaged you when you “allowed her” and she nicely overcame your objections. Seems like she was doing her job and you got a great story out of it.
I’m not sure if I “allowed” her to steer me over to the kiosk….I suppose I did. My problem is mostly with her making it a.) seem like her “buy one at $58, get one free” was a good deal. It’s not…I found the product and you can buy it for $21.99 per product. b.) give me a false sense of urgency by saying they were about to shut down (ie, I didn’t have time to think about it) when in reality the mall was open for another 90 minutes. I wasn’t aware of A, but I did consciously note that the mall was NOT closing immediately. It was over for her right there…in my mind the question was “why does she have to be deceptive to get me to buy the product?”
Thanks for the great post! As a woman we are bombarded with high pressure sales pitches (just in a different way). We are pressured into being more attractive – it’s relentless, You need $100 cream for the wrinkles, $100 perfume to smell lovely and the $200 outfit to impress. I run for the hills when I see sales people coming towards me these days 🙂
I don’t deny there’s a lot of pressure on women (and men as well…but not to the same degree) to look a certain way in order to be thought of as “successful.” Sort of like the over valuation we (as a society) put on money as being a measuring stick of success and/or happiness. Thanks for reading, Kymberly!
Wow, that’s one incredible saleswoman. What’s really impressive to me is that I’m guessing the whole interaction didn’t last more than what? 5 minutes? The sale would either happen quickly or not at all. It wasn’t an hour-long interaction where a ton of time was lost if you walked away.
I tend to come off as grumpy and annoyed when sales people approach me for anything, so I haven’t been in this situation very often. I did have something similar happen at a kisok, but I acted annoyed and got out of there as quickly as I could, so not nearly as high-pressured. I read an article about Israeli salespeople who work these kisoks and how successful they are. They blow other salespeople out of the water.
5 minutes at the most, DC. I wish I would have been a bit more grumpy and annoyed….unfortunately I had it in my head that I didn’t want to be rude to the saleswoman, but in reality she was being rude to me, so…..what’s the difference? Thanks for your comment, DC!
Wow, just wow. I’ve seen something similar myself – but not THAT far. I suck at sales and could never do anything like that. That being said, kudos to you for standing your ground as far too many wouldn’t and likely why she took that approach…as it works. 🙂 I usually give off the “I’m in a hurry” look and that seems to work most of the time.
She definitely gave it everything she had……I wish it hadn’t gotten that far – as far as I’m concerned it’s 5 minutes of my life I’ll never get back – although I did get a blog post out of it. LOL
I would have thanked her for giving you inspiration for a great post! 🙂 I would be totally terrible at selling stuff. I once caved under high pressure sales from a carpet cleaner I got on groupon. He was pressuring me to get my couch cleaned and basically made it seem like I was a dirty disgusting pig if I didn’t have it cleaned and that I would probably die of some horrible couch disease. He was kind of an asshole about it, but I still caved. I’m still kicking myself.
I had a vacuum guy show up once wanting to give us a demonstration. I had no desire to buy a vacuum at the time, but he was at our home for a FREAKING HOUR. Never, ever, let someone in your home. Never ever.
You’re right! It did make a great blog post! How great that you had this accountability mechanism in place at a time of temptation. So cool that you realized what was happening as it happened – and yet you still felt inclined to give in to the manipulation. She was aggressive! I wish that Vonnie had been there. She would have given that woman something to think about when she whispered in your ear. Unbelievable!
LOL…if Vonnie had been there she wouldn’t have allowed us to get within 15 feet of their product. I did find it interesting that I consciously reminded myself at every turn that it was all just a sales pitch. No overpriced beauty products for this guy! 😉
I bought an overpriced raffle ticket from an extremely attractive officer one time. Man, was he good! He and your saleslady were cut from the same cloth! Congrats for not giving in. I kicked myself for 3 days afterwards. This was about 20 years ago, but it’s amazing how your story brought it right back to the surface. 😐
Well, at least your raffle ticket donation went to a good cause? LOL…glad I could remind you of your experience. 🙂 Thanks for reading, Kay!
Every good waiter/waitress knows how to put on a good high pressure sales pitch. I outsold alcohol by really pushing “pairings.” This was before I could drink, and as it turns out, I hate wine.
I think there’s a line though between a good sales pitch, and using questionable methods. I’m not sure she crossed that line….but it sure was entertaining. Wait, hate wine?????
I had the same experience. It was gold something cream.
What I found most interesting was when they change tactics depending on an answer. For me they complemented my skin and ask what products I use saying theirs was far superior. But when I said I don’t have a night time products routine. They started a scare tactic…
Oh you have to… Your skin might look fine now but you’ll age quickly if you don’t remove toxins from your skin
Yeah okay… That was like 4 yrs ago and some people still mistake me for a high schooler.
Just saying I was think all beauty products are superfluous… So a $58 one heck no.
Good job on not crumbling.
Good sales people will definitely change their tactics based upon the person, or the answers given. Know your audience! Thanks for reading!
Wow, she’s talented and very meticulously trained. I’ve passed these sorts of people at mall kiosks, but I haven’t so far been slowed down enough to get as engaged as you did. Well done for not being seduced! I’d love to know what her success rate is for someone she gets to the sales pitch stage that she managed to get you to. 50%?
I’d bet at least 50%, Kurt……I still shake my head at being sucked in at all. I normally don’t let them get that far.