This is the third post in a series of articles that will help you avoid scams and invest your time and money into legitimate business opportunities. You can find the whole series in the Business Scams section.
Time Pressure
I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “pressure sales tactics” before. Putting pressure on a potential buyer is a common tactic for improving the chances of a sale.
One of the most effective ways to force someone into making a rushed, irrational decision is to put them under time pressure.
You only have five seconds to make a decision – what will you do?
Scarcity
Creating scarcity is a sales tactic that is often employed by scammers.
Perhaps you are looking to invest in property, or maybe you are looking to start an online business and have found what you believe to be a good opportunity. These two businesses are completely different to each other but both are targeted by fraudsters who apply time pressure.
Time Pressure Offline
Let’s use investing in property as an example of an offline business opportunity.
If you have ever bought a house before you may have noticed that there is always “another buyer”. At least there is according to the selling agent. The other buyer may or may not exist, but they will tell you the story anyway to put you under time pressure.
If you were told that no one else was interested in the property then you could take as much time as you like to make a decision on whether to buy it.
While under pressure from the selling agent you might end up buying an investment property without properly evaluating important factors such as; the real value of the property, the real amount of potential rental income, the popularity of the local area, and the condition of the property.
Under time pressure, you might buy into a poor business opportunity.
Time Pressure Online
Scammers who use time pressure as a sales tactic love the internet. It seems almost every offer made online these days is “available for a short time only” or will “only accept the first 100 applicants”.
Plenty of legitimate businesses use scarcity as a sales tactic too, so a distinction must be made between the good guys and the scammers.
For example, I recently considered taking part in a training course that was offered online after an acquaintance gave positive feed back after completing the course. The website claimed that the latest intake would close after 300 people were accepted, and a few days later the course did close.
Clearly this is a case of a perfectly legitimate business using scarcity is a marketing tool to encourage people to sign up quickly rather than procrastinating (like I did).
Therefore, it seems that a good way to check whether a limited time offer is real is to check back at a later time to see if the offer is still on the table. Don’t worry if you miss out on the offer because you were doing the right thing and not making a rushed decision under time pressure. If the business is legitimate, the product will become available again. Popular products are not taken off the shelf forever.
If the business is scam and is making sales, the offer will probably remain open permanently because there is no limited time offer. Conversely, if the business is a scam and does not do well, it will close.
Take Your Time
You could save yourself a lot of money and heartache by taking your time to evaluate the business opportunities. Quick decisions are often poor decisions and investing your money into a business is a big decision.
Evaluate all business opportunities carefully and watch out for time pressure tactics.
Read the next post in the series Part 4 – Typical Results Seem Wrong
Read the previous post in the series Part 2 – Emotional Triggers
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