Chapter 22

Unethical Gambits: The Deliberate Mistake

The Deliberate Mistake is a very unethical tactic, and as with any con job, it requires a victim who also lacks ethics. The seller baits the hook when she prepares a proposal and deliberately leaves out or under-prices one of the elements. This could be the car salesperson who runs an adding machine tape on the cost of the car but includes only the price of a tape player, when the car also has a CD player. If the buyer takes the bait, he starts thinking that he now has an opportunity to put one over on the car salesperson. He becomes eager to close the deal before the salesperson spots the mistake. This eagerness makes the buyer a sloppy negotiator, and he may end up paying more for the car than if he had pointed out the mistake. Apart from that, the salesperson still has the option of “discovering” the mistake before the buyer consummates the sale and, with an accusing look, shames the buyer into paying the extra amount.

The Counter Gambit may sound high minded, but it’s obvious. Never try to get away with anything. If your greed doesn’t cost you at that moment, it will certainly catch up with you later on down life’s road. Instead, point out the mistake and say, “I assume that you’re not charging me for the CD player because you’re trying to get me to make a decision now?”

A variation of the Deliberate Mistake is the Erroneous Conclusion close. Using this method, the salesperson asks a question of the buyer, but deliberately draws an erroneous conclusion. When the buyer corrects the salesperson, she finds that she has made a commitment to buy. For example, the car salesperson says, “If you did decide today, you wouldn’t need to take delivery today would you?” The buyer responds, “Well, of course we’d want to take it today.”

The real estate salesperson says, “You wouldn’t want the sellers to include the refrigerator would you?” The buyers hadn’t been thinking of doing that, but the refrigerator looks better than theirs does so they reply, “Do you think they would include it?” The salesperson responds with, “Let’s include it in our offer and see what happens.”

The boat salesperson says, “You wouldn’t expect us to include a CB would you?” The buyer sees an opportunity to get something for nothing and responds, “I sure would.”