November 10, 2008

Response to "The Persuaders"

In my line of work, banking, some of my fellow employees were surprised to learn we are in the business of selling. We do not think of ourselves as sales people, but rather customer service providers or financial professional, etc. While we are not working with advertisement per say, it all seems to be a part of a whole big plot.

The way a customer feels when they call on the phone or visit a branch does a lot for whether they will tell a friend something positive or negative. As part of our sales training clearly states, people do not choose their bank, car, or drink (or whatever it may be) for logical reasons. It is human nature to buy with emotion and then rationalize with logic. Advertising agencies know this, of course.

Even in a non-marketing specific position at a bank, I am trying to appeal to the needs of welcoming and confidence with every customer. I do not know about the scientific approach of establish code and all of that, but in a society where there are a million choices, surely every company is trying to win the emotional vote of the consumer.

I did not find the information in the video to be disturbing, but perhaps that is because I was already conducting myself under these assumptions. Does it bother me the amount of information there is about me that is available to companies? Yes and no. Am I going to start spending cash only and cancel my internet and magazine subscriptions? No. Like many people, I will continue trying to weed through all the noise, and try to make purchases based on logic rather than emotional motivation. Well, at least I'll be sure my logical reasoning after-the-fact sounds good.