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In advertising, a hard sell is an advertisement or campaign that uses a more direct, forceful, and overt sales message, as opposed to a soft sell.
The term is also used to describe aggressive sales techniques used by company representatives, particularly in the context of doorstep selling.
The concepts that distinguish a hard sell from a soft sell have to do with directness of an advertiser or seller, rational appeal, and the amount of information given to the buyer about a product. A hard sell is extremely direct in nature. An advertisement will contain a forceful, loud slogan to grab buyers' attention, or a salesperson will be very persistent, cornering their buyer into purchasing the product they are selling. In a hard sell, the advertisement or seller will focus heavily on the quality of the product and explain how purchasing such a product will be a rational decision that will help improve the buyer's life. This type of selling supplies an abundance of information to the buyer so they receive as much information about the benefits of the product as possible. [1] The advertisement or seller uses such tactics to overwhelm the buyer with explanations, information, and persistence to ultimately create an incentive to purchase the good or service.
A soft sell is much more emotionally focused when put in comparison to a hard sell. An advertisement or seller will attempt to trigger feelings in the buyer that will make them want to buy the product that is being advertised. This selling technique is also much more indirect in nature than that of a hard sell. The subtlety of a soft sell is very evident, and many buyers often do not realize that they are being purposely directed in such a way to buy a product how a seller predicts that they will. [1] The ultimate goal of this type of selling is to create a mood or image that will appeal to the buyer and make them want to spend their money on a product, all without the buyer realizing that this is occurring. Persistence is not as involved in a soft sell as it is in a hard sell.
A very large volume is needed to run hard sell. Even with small probabilities of success, enough sales can be achieved by attempting conversion on large customers base to sustain the operation or even generate profits. This is especially useful when selling recurring purchases, such as subscriptions, warranty, or MLM products, because one sale will lead to recurring purchases.
Most purchases are analytical decisions, and hence, require time to collect data about comparable products, make comparisons to fit individual needs and find budget to finalize a purchase. Hard sell attempts to bypass all that by using emotional triggers, such as appealing to personal aspirations, creating artificial scarcity, applying compliance principles, and exploiting cognitive biases or fallacies.
Hard sell leverages information asymmetry, such as by avoiding comparisons with competitors, by delaying disclosures, by deflecting customer questions for clarity or information, or by limiting access to resources such as time (to decide), internet, or friends’ feedback (e.g. by running only in-person sales). Such information asymmetry is used as a leverage to make the sale seem more appealing than it actually is.
Some segments of the population are especially susceptible to hard selling, such as elderly people, unemployed, students, and minority groups.
The advantage of immediacy plays a large role in the concept of a hard sell and why so many advertisements and salespeople use this type of technique. Because this type of sell is so direct and blatant in nature, the person will most likely buy the product on the spot.[ citation needed ] A perfect example of this are mail order ads, where readers are urged to fill out a coupon right away. In opposition, a soft sell ad, because of its indirectness and subtlety, will allow for a person to have more time to make a decision as to whether or not they would like to invest their money in a product. [2] A prime example of this type of sell would be life insurance advertisements where emotional appeals of family and security are mentioned. Persons are put in a less pressured environment, allowing them to contemplate their decision on whether or not to buy a product. Immediacy is more evident in a hard sell.
A hard sell may alienate some customers, who find it off-putting. Sometimes the pressuring nature that comes along with hard sell tactics can overwhelm a person to the point where they dismiss the sales pitch or turn away from the advertisement altogether. Emotional appeal is more involved in a soft sell and with the absence of this in a hard sell, business can be lost if persons do not respond well to the tactics, especially when times are hard. During the Great Depression, soft sell tactics, like brand relationship and humor, proved successful approaches. People's inability to spend on luxuries required some wooing for a sale. [3] More direct hard sell tactics pushed away already stressed, calloused minded persons during this time period of economic hardship.[ citation needed ]
In addition, a hard sell generates much more buyer's remorse, because the customer did not get enough opportunity or information before sale to balance the value provided with the cost of the purchase. In extreme situations, buyers may feel cheated or even scammed.
There is also criticism of hard sell tactics in regards to lack of creativity on the part of advertisements and sellers, which causes the would-be customer to never acquire intrigue towards the product being sold.[ citation needed ]
The frequency with which either a hard sell or a soft sell is used is dependent upon the intent of its use—the goal of advertising agencies or salespeople. There are times where hard sells are the more rational choice for a sale, and where soft sells are required.
A hard sell is usually used when a seller wants their potential customer to do something soon—to make a call, to sign up for a subscription, or to buy a product in person on the spot. Sharpness and urgency is key in these situations to successfully make a sale. These tactics do not involve personable qualities or emotional appeal. [4]
When situations change, a soft sell is used to help promote a brand and make the product likable in the eyes of a potential customer. Warmth and desire towards a brand induces a connection between the product and the individual, rather than action on the product by the person. Immediacy and urgent buying is not involved in a soft sell, but long-term value and loyalty to a brand can be established. [4]
Marketing is the process of identifying customers and "creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging" goods and services for the satisfaction and retention of those customers. It is one of the primary components of business management and commerce.
Sales are activities related to selling or the number of goods sold in a given targeted time period. The delivery of a service for a cost is also considered a sale. A period during which goods are sold for a reduced price may also be referred to as a "sale".
Sales promotion is one of the elements of the promotional mix. The primary elements in the promotional mix are advertising, personal selling, direct marketing and publicity/public relations. Sales promotion uses both media and non-media marketing communications for a pre-determined, limited time to increase consumer demand, stimulate market demand or improve product availability. Examples include contests, coupons, freebies, loss leaders, point of purchase displays, premiums, prizes, product samples, and rebates.
Caveat emptor is Latin for "Let the buyer beware". It has become a proverb in English. Generally, caveat emptor is the contract law principle that controls the sale of real property after the date of closing, but may also apply to sales of other goods. The phrase caveat emptor and its use as a disclaimer of warranties arises from the fact that buyers typically have less information than the seller about the good or service they are purchasing. This quality of the situation is known as 'information asymmetry'. Defects in the good or service may be hidden from the buyer, and only known to the seller.
Bait-and-switch is a form of fraud used in retail sales but also employed in other contexts. First, customers are "baited" by merchants' advertising products or services at a low price, but then, when they visit the store, those customers discover that the advertised goods are not available and are pressured by salespeople to purchase similar but higher-priced ones ("switching").
Direct marketing is a form of communicating an offer, where organizations communicate directly to a pre-selected customer and supply a method for a direct response. Among practitioners, it is also known as direct response marketing. In contrast to direct marketing, advertising is more of a mass-message nature.
Personal selling occurs when a sales representative meets with a potential client for the purpose of transacting a sale. Many sales representatives rely on a sequential sales process that typically includes nine steps. Some sales representatives develop scripts for all or part of the sales process. The sales process can be used in face-to-face encounters and in telemarketing.
Advertising management is a planned managerial process designed to oversee and control the various advertising activities involved in a program to communicate with a firm's target market and which is ultimately designed to influence the consumer's purchase decisions. Advertising is just one element in a company's promotional mix and as such, must be integrated with the overall marketing communications program. Advertising is, however, the most expensive of all the promotional elements and therefore must be managed with care and accountability. Advertising management process also helps in defining the outline of the media campaign and in deciding which type of advertising would be used before the launch of a product.
Complex sales, also known as Enterprise sales, can refer to a method of trading sometimes used by organizations when procuring large contracts for goods and/or services where the customer takes control of the selling process by issuing a Request for Proposal (RFP) and requiring a proposal response from previously identified or interested suppliers. Complex sales involve long sales cycles with multiple decision makers. Multiple stakeholders and stakeholder groups contribute to every complex sale. These types of sales can take up to 8 to 18 months as multiple people from higher management are involved.
In the field of consumer behavior, an impulse purchase or impulse buying is an unplanned decision by a consumer to buy a product or service, made just before a purchase. One who tends to make such purchases is referred to as an impulse purchaser, impulse buyer, or compulsive buyer. Research findings suggest that emotions, feelings, and attitudes play a decisive role in purchasing, triggered by seeing the product or upon exposure to a well crafted promotional message.
A business can use a variety of pricing strategies when selling a product or service. To determine the most effective pricing strategy for a company, senior executives need to first identify the company's pricing position, pricing segment, pricing capability and their competitive pricing reaction strategy. Pricing strategies and tactics vary from company to company, and also differ across countries, cultures, industries and over time, with the maturing of industries and markets and changes in wider economic conditions.
B2B e-commerce, short for business-to-business electronic commerce, is the sale of goods or services between businesses via an online sales portal. In general, it is used to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of a company's sales efforts. Instead of receiving orders using human assets manually – by telephone or e-mail – orders are received digitally, reducing overhead costs.
Upselling is a sales technique where a seller invites the customer to purchase more expensive items, upgrades, or other add-ons to generate more revenue. While it usually involves marketing more profitable services or products, it can be simply exposing the customer to other options that were perhaps not considered. In practice, large businesses usually combine upselling and cross-selling to maximize revenue.
Closing is a sales term which refers to the process of making a sale. The sales sense springs from real estate, where closing is the final step of a transaction. In sales, it is used more generally to mean achievement of the desired outcome, which may be an exchange of money or acquiring a signature. Salespeople are often taught to think of targets not as strangers, but rather as prospective customers who already want or need what is being sold. Such prospects need only be "closed".
A touchpoint can be defined as any way consumers can interact with a business organization, whether it be person-to-person, through a website, an app or any form of communication. When consumers come in contact with these touchpoints it gives them the opportunity to compare their prior perceptions of the business and form an opinion.
Customer to customer markets provide a way to allow customers to interact with each other. Traditional markets require business to customer relationships, in which a customer goes to the business in order to purchase a product or service. In customer to customer markets, the business facilitates an environment where customers can sell goods or services to each other. Other types of markets include business to business (B2B) and business to customer (B2C).
Emotional branding is a term used within marketing communication that refers to the practice of building brands that appeal directly to a consumer's emotional state, needs and aspirations. Emotional branding is successful when it triggers an emotional response in the consumer, that is, a desire for the advertised brand that cannot fully be rationalized. Emotional brands have a significant impact when the consumer experiences a strong and lasting attachment to the brand comparable to a feeling of bonding, companionship or love. Examples of emotional branding include the nostalgic attachment to the Kodak brand of film, bonding with the Jim Beam bourbon brand, and love for the McDonald’s brand.
Tiffany (NJ) Inc. v. eBay Inc. 600 F.3d 93, is a United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit case in which plaintiff Tiffany & Co. filed the complaint, first in 2004, alleging that eBay constituted direct and contributory trademark infringement, trademark dilution, and false advertising since it facilitated and advertised counterfeit Tiffany jewelries on its online market. On July 14, 2008, the District Court for S. D. N. Y. decided in favor of eBay on all claims. Tiffany appealed these decisions to the Second Circuit. The court affirmed the judgment of the district court with respect to the claims of trademark infringement and dilution. The false advertising claim was returned to the district court for further processing, which was then ruled in favor of eBay.
Call to action (CTA) is a marketing term for any design to prompt an immediate response or encourage an immediate sale. A CTA most often refers to the use of words or phrases that can be incorporated into sales scripts, advertising messages, or web pages, which compel an audience to act in a specific way.
There are many types of e-commerce models', based on market segmentation, that can be used to conducted business online. The 6 types of business models that can be used in e-commerce include: Business-to-Consumer (B2C), Consumer-to-Business (C2B), Business-to-Business (B2B), Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C), Business-to-Administration (B2A), and Consumer-to-Administration