Scarcity principle: a trick to encourage us to buy

Salespeople know very well that a good trick to improve the sales of any product is to warn the customer that a shortage period is coming. And I am not referring here to the salespeople who work in shops and places to the public, but to the salespeople who represent factories and companies, which periodically visit their customers in their own establishments to take them order.

Communicate to the client that this or that product is going to be missing from next week, either because the factory closes for holidays, because it ran out of raw materials for its production, or because of what out of, it is a way to encourage you to order a larger quantity than usual to feel safe and with immediate needs covered. This is the principle of scarcity.

Scarcity principle, useful for selling anything

The investigations also say that the order of the article in question can reach double or triple when the shortage predicted by the seller has the character of "rumor" or "information exclusive ”. The strategy translates to something like this:

“Let it be between us, but it seems that premium champagne is going to be missing for Christmas. The factory has a union problem and the workers plan a strike for that time. Carlitos, the manufacturer, told me, who is a friend of the plant's delegate. The owners of the company still don't know anything. Perhaps you should reinforce the order with a few more boxes, but this cannot be known by anyone. I tell you about it because of the trust that unites us after so many years ”.

But the fight for the scarce good can take other forms. Let's see what they are.

Competing for the same

In addition to "exclusivity", there is another variant with which you can get the most out of when using this psychological trick: the "competition" for the scarce resourceor. To illustrate, I cite the bench of the accused in the real estate sector, with which it is likely that I will end up earning the furious hatred of the entire sector.

Let's take an example. A couple planning their wedding to move in together later combines an appointment with a real estate agent to visit an apartment that is for rent. The property is what the couple needs: it has three main rooms, is bright, has low expenses. According to technical information, the place is perfect. Now we just need to see what state it is in.

But the astute real estate agent (who has been attending inquiries about the property for some time) quotes several interested people for the same day, with a 10-15 minutes apart, inevitably: after the couple of unsuspecting lovebirds walk the floor under the guidance of the vendor, and While they deliberate among themselves on the advantages and disadvantages of renting it, a second couple arrives with the same intentions... What happens next is the key to trick.

The real estate agent approaches the first couple and tells them in a confidential tone, almost in a whisper, to excuse him for a moment while show the property to other people, but don't worry, they have priority, in case they want to leave a sign that same day.

On the other hand, under similar conditions, he tells newcomers that there is a couple who arrived earlier and that they want to keep the property. However, anyway, since they have gone there, it will show them the excellent place, and they can keep it if the other interested parties change their minds.

The trap is set. Both the people who came before and those who came after, they feel that their original interest in that apartment grows exponentially. Suddenly, it is a scarce good, and for which they must also compete.

Competition in restaurants

When a product has a high social demand, or at least we believe that, thanks to vile psychological tricks, our interest in owning it increases automatically. This is the idea behind an effective home-made marketing strategy implemented by many restaurants..

Even if there is enough physical space within the establishment, the room master or venue manager makes sure arriving diners have to wait outside, on the sidewalk. Thus, many times long lines form at the door of the place, suggesting to anyone who passes by that, if there are so many people waiting patiently for dinner, surely it must be because the food is Excellent. After all, who would willingly submit to such torture if the end result was not amply worth it?

Simulating the demand

The same applies to public shows. Guided by the notion of social demand, we come to think, wrongly, that if a film being shown currently has a large audience, either because we have read it in the newspaper or because we have seen with our own eyes the long lines that form at the entrance to the cinema, it has to be, necessarily, because the film is a real marvel of the seventh art.

Even more. There are doctors, psychotherapists, and even fortune-tellers, tarot writers and scammers of the most varied nature that publicly expose their agendas so that we know the large number of people who come to them. The delay to obtain a turn can be, in certain cases, several months. The objective is always the same: to increase the degree of difficulty in accessing the service so that, in a positive correlation, the degree of perceived desirability and professionalism also increases.

Rationalization

There are times when people go wild and compete for a rare commodity just as a school of hundreds and thousands of piranhas does on a tiny minnow.

“If something is scarce, it is because everyone wants it. And if everyone wants it, it's because it has to be good. "

This seems to be the logic of thought (or rather "illogical" of thought) that underlies this particular psychological phenomenon. All the positive attributes that we attribute to the product or service for which we suddenly find ourselves in a struggle with others people are composed, most of the time, by mere rationalizations to justify and reassure us about our actions excessive.

"Well, I had to wait for an hour and a half to enter the restaurant, but it's always worth it, they make the best squid in the country there."

Comments like this are typical when we share our experience with a friend. Now, do they really make the best squids there? It is very doubtful that this really is the case, but we need to believe it to leave our conscience clear and our self-esteem unscathed.

It is an argument that we actually use to convince ourselves that we have done the right thing., when a doubt assails us about the decision to wait so long in the open to eat a simple plate of squid.

Competition in personnel selection

Many business consulting firms resort to the same dynamic when they are commissioned to search and select personnel. Nowadays, it is very common for all the candidates who aspire to a certain position to meet in what is called an “assessment”. Basically, it is a group interview in which the different applicants must interact with each other and participate in a series of activities in which they have to solve problems related to their area labor.

Although in principle the idea of ​​the assessment is to save time and evaluate people's social skills and their competencies when working as a team, the process does not stop being, badly that despite the psychologists who are dedicated to this, a fight of gladiators who fight to obtain a unique and precious job, in a kind of 21st century model coliseum.

With some touches of exaggeration, Marcelo Piñeyro's film “El Method” shows in a forceful way how hostile and ruthless an assessment can become when several candidates for a manager position in a multinational company are pushed by circumstances to face each other to win the desired trophy, while outside the building where it is held the process the viewer can appreciate a world in complete crisis, mired in hunger, social disagreement and protests, which generates a strong counterpoint with what happens doors inside.

Competing in personal relationships

This unique psychological phenomenon can be observed even on a more intimate and personal level., in social relationships.

A couple decides to end their relationship after a few years of dating. They are both convinced that love has run out and it is better for each to continue on their own. They manage quite well on their own, for a few months, until he starts dating a new girl and the information reaches the ears of his ex-wife. At this point, she begins to feel jealous. Not before, now.

Suddenly, she feels an intense and inexplicable interest in the boy. And even though they hadn't been together for a long time, she can't help but experience feelings of regret and desires to get back what she no longer belongs to. Sure, now it "belongs to someone else." And the certainty of unavailability, added to the appearance of a competitor, reactivates lost interest and triggers the instinct for possession.

Does the reader friend think that the case I am raising is fanciful and exaggerated? Not at all! It is something that happens with unusual frequency, I have observed it permanently throughout my professional career. This is how changeable and contradictory we can become.