Low-ball

Techniques > General persuasion > Sequential requests > Low-ball

Description | Example | Discussion | See also

Description

First make what you want the other person to agree to easy to accept by making it quick, cheap, easy, etc.

Maximize their buy-in, in particular by getting both verbal and public commitment to this.

Make it clear that they are agreeing to this of their own free will.

Then change the agreement to what you really want. The other person may complain, but, if the low-ball is done correctly they should agree to the change.

The trick of a successful low-ball is in the balance of making the initial request attractive enough to gain agreement, whilst not making the second request so outrageous that the other person refuses. It nevertheless is surprising how great a difference there can be between these two requests.

Example

A person agrees to buy a car at a low price. The sales person then apologizes that the wrong price was on the car. The person still agrees to buy it at the higher price.

A family books a package holiday. They find that there are surcharges. They pay these without question.

Discussion

The Low-ball works by first gaining closure and commitment to the idea or item which you want the other person to accept, then using the fact that people will behave consistently with their beliefs to sustain the commitment when you change the agreement.

There is also an illusion of irrevocability whereby a person believes that a decision made cannot be reversed, for example when a person agrees to buy a car and considers the handshake as the final transaction (as opposed to handing over the money).

Agreeing to a low price creates excitement and not buying after this state is induced may lead to an equally deep depression, which the person may avoid by continuing with the more expensive purchase.

When the final price is not that much higher than elsewhere, the person weighs up the inconvenience of going elsewhere with the short-term benefit of holding their purchase very soon.

Cialdini, Cacioppo, Bassett, and Miller (1978) asked students to participate in an experiment. The control group was told during the request that it would be at 7am. The low-ball group was only told this later. 24% of the control group agreed to this, whilst 56% of the low-ball group agreed (and 95% of these actually turned up).

Guéguen and Pascual (2000) found it to be important that the person believes that they have made a free and non-coerced agreement to the first request. In particular adding 'but you are free to accept or to refuse' to the first request increased compliance.

Burger and Petty (1981) showed that the same person must make both requests.

The Low-ball technique is a 'sequential request'.