{"id":2740,"date":"2008-03-09T17:33:40","date_gmt":"2008-03-10T00:33:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=2740"},"modified":"2008-03-12T23:27:36","modified_gmt":"2008-03-13T06:27:36","slug":"predictably-irrational-the-hidden-forces-that-shape-our-decisions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2740\/predictably-irrational-the-hidden-forces-that-shape-our-decisions\/","title":{"rendered":"Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Book Recommendation<\/font>
\n
\nHe had me at “The Economist.”<\/em><\/p>\n

He being Dan Ariely, author of the new book Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions.<\/em><\/a> It’s about the buying and marketing choices we make and why we make them. And why the seemingly rational path to a purchase is often the road less traveled.<\/p>\n

Chapter one opens with an example<\/a> drawn directly from the subscription promotions of my sometimes client The Economist<\/em>.<\/em><\/a> <\/em>Which is why you’ll also find this article posted here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr. Ariely’s second example involves real estate. Showing why most buyers choose the more expensive, and yet demonstrably less valuable property among the three houses he presents.<\/p>\n

As a “behavioral economist,” Mr. Ariely organizes the book using the scientific method. In successive chapters he postulates a theory. Devises a controlled experiment. Tests his hypotheses. And reports the results … which are fascinating as well as illuminating. (Conduct a few tests on yourself: The door<\/a> game. Easy-hard<\/a> game. The circle<\/a> illusion. Table<\/a> illusion. Jastrow<\/a> illusion. Stroop<\/a> illusion. Line<\/a> illusion. Checker board<\/a> illusion. And Koffka<\/a> illusion.<\/p>\n

Predictably Irrational<\/em> reveals that many best practices in marketing may, in fact, be predicated on myths. And it gives the lie to some long-held, fiercely-defended beliefs about customer behavior. But its greatest contribution is helping you achieve what I think is most missing in sales\u2014whether real estate or subscriptions: The ability of sellers to think like buyers in accurate and advantageous ways.<\/p>\n

These “hidden forces” will help you understand the true meaning of free.<\/a> The concept of price anchors. The power of social motivation. If you’re in real estate, I think you’ll find it easy to take what you learn and apply it to the pricing of properties, the showing of homes, the marketing of listings. If you’re selling magazines, it may cause you to re-frame your offers, re-cast your benefits, and re-position your brand.<\/p>\n

Now fair warning: Mr. Arieley has a grander vision than I. So he doesn’t draw the same conclusions from his data as I do. As a result, he tends to airily end chapters with sweeping pronunciations on the implications of his Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Book Recommendation He had me at “The Economist.” He being Dan Ariely, author of the new book Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions. It’s about the buying and marketing choices we make and why we make them. And why the seemingly rational path to a purchase is often the road less traveled. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2740","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-marketing","8":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2823,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2823\/the-short-list-goes-to-the-dogs-voting-for-the-peoples-choice-award-is-open\/","url_meta":{"origin":2740,"position":0},"title":"The Short List goes to the dogs: Voting for the People’s Choice Award is open","author":"Greg Swann","date":"March 23, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"By the time I had time to deal with The Odysseus Medal last week, it was pretty late in the week. The week had been pretty light on nominations, and we were heading into Easter, so I made a command decision to combine these two weeks into one award. Then\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Carnivals"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Carnivals","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blog-carnivals\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1962,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1962\/is-greenspan-to-blame-for-the-housing-crisis-and-if-he-is-is-this-entirely-a-bad-thing\/","url_meta":{"origin":2740,"position":1},"title":"Is Greenspan to Blame for the Housing Crisis? And, if he is, is this entirely a bad thing?","author":"Greg Swann","date":"September 23, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The second half of a US News dyscomium on Alan Greenspan's Fed:The global spread of capitalism has increased inflation-dampening competition throughout the world and allowed investors to accept lower yields when investing in bonds. What's more, globalization has boosted incomes, in Asia and beyond. That has expanded the pool of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Investment"","block_context":{"text":"Investment","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/investment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":769,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/769\/anonymous-posters-who-hate-lereah\/","url_meta":{"origin":2740,"position":2},"title":"Anonymous Posters Who Hate Lereah","author":"Russell Shaw","date":"December 14, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"\"name\" wrote: Lereah not only lies, he either knows or should have known he is lying, which means that if he is unaware that he is pathologically lying then he belongs in a psychiatric unit. Point made. I'll have him committed. ___ \"David\" wrote: Lereah is a paid shill of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10870,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/10870\/were-pat-robertson-and-danny-glover-separated-at-birth\/","url_meta":{"origin":2740,"position":3},"title":"Were Pat Robertson and Danny Glover separated at birth?","author":"Greg Swann","date":"January 15, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Click the pix. The people of Haiti may not have food, clean water, fuel, homes, medical supplies or physical security, but at least they suffer no shortage of venal, vile, self-serving, posturing ghouls feeding on the festering carcasses of the dead and riding high-horseback on the wracked bodies of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Group Therapy"","block_context":{"text":"Group Therapy","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/group-therapy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2139,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2139\/real-estate-perfect-storm-warning-do-not-miss-this-window-of-opportunity\/","url_meta":{"origin":2740,"position":4},"title":"Real Estate Perfect Storm Warning: Do Not Miss This Window of Opportunity","author":"Cooksquared","date":"October 31, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"One very unique thing about investing is the valuation process.\u00a0 While there are numerous ways to value an investment, the only true measure is what it can be sold for.\u00a0 While I can say a piece of property is worth $1 million, if it does not sell at that value\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Investment"","block_context":{"text":"Investment","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/investment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3923,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/3923\/what-went-wrong-in-the-real-estate-market-we-told-homeowners-to-treat-their-homes-like-securities-investments-and-they-did\/","url_meta":{"origin":2740,"position":5},"title":"What went wrong in the real estate market? We told homeowners to treat their homes like securities investments — and they did…","author":"Greg Swann","date":"August 16, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This is my column for this week from the Arizona Republic (permanent link). As a matter of eating crow, I will attest that I publicly denied that housing prices could ever behave like securities prices, falling far below their fundamental value. The market has proved me wrong. We're writing contracts\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Investment"","block_context":{"text":"Investment","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/investment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2740\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}