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Peter Smith: A Sleazy Salesman and the Case for Regret Avoidance
Smith uses a comment he overheard in the grocery store to remind retailers that their job is to inspire buying behavior, not just sell.
Peter Smith is an industry consultant, speaker, sales trainer, and author. He can be reached via email at TheRetailSmiths@gmail.com.
“Can I tell you a secret? We took these off a discount rack because we’re making room for spirits.”
I overheard that line walking through my local grocery store this week.
When you work in a space long enough, you start noticing things others don’t. Like hearing your name in a crowded room, there’s no logical reason it should cut through the noise, but it does.
For me, anything tied to consumer psychology stands out, and “Can I tell you a secret?” is a guaranteed attention grabber.
It worked. What followed didn’t.
The tone, the framing, the positioning—it all landed with a kind of dull, familiar sleaziness. The kind that suggests this isn’t new, or authentic. It’s just well practiced.
And maybe it works, but it’s the wrong game.
There’s a substantial body of research showing that consumers perceive wine to taste better when they believe it costs more, not just attitudinally, but neurologically. We quite literally experience the product differently.
We don’t just taste the wine; we taste the price.
So, leading with “discount rack” isn’t just lazy, it’s counterproductive.
It assumes all customers are motivated by price. They’re not.
In many cases, the opposite is true: Discounting lowers perceived quality and in consumables, it can diminish the experience itself.
We don’t just discount the product. We discount the taste.
Related stories will be right here …
I overheard that line walking through my local grocery store this week.
When you work in a space long enough, you start noticing things others don’t. Like hearing your name in a crowded room, there’s no logical reason it should cut through the noise, but it does.
For me, anything tied to consumer psychology stands out, and “Can I tell you a secret?” is a guaranteed attention grabber.
It worked. What followed didn’t.
The tone, the framing, the positioning—it all landed with a kind of dull, familiar sleaziness. The kind that suggests this isn’t new, or authentic. It’s just well practiced.
And maybe it works, but it’s the wrong game.
There’s a substantial body of research showing that consumers perceive wine to taste better when they believe it costs more, not just attitudinally, but neurologically. We quite literally experience the product differently.
We don’t just taste the wine; we taste the price.
So, leading with “discount rack” isn’t just lazy, it’s counterproductive.
It assumes all customers are motivated by price. They’re not.
In many cases, the opposite is true: Discounting lowers perceived quality and in consumables, it can diminish the experience itself.
We don’t just discount the product. We discount the taste.
What struck me most about the interaction wasn’t the tactic, it was the aspiration, or lack of one.
Too many people in sales are still trying to sell. Too few are focused on inspiring buying behavior.
Selling is about persuasion—getting the customer to submit. The win is yours.
Positively influencing and inspiring buying behavior is different.
It’s about understanding what matters most to the customer. Bringing empathy, curiosity, presence, and guiding them toward something they’ll feel good about long after the transaction is over.
The win is shared.
My wine guy assumed price would motivate. A better approach? Appeal to something higher.
There’s powerful research around regret avoidance; specifically, that we feel more regret over the things we didn’t do than the things we did that didn’t work out.
“The goal isn’t to move products. It is to create decisions customers are glad they made and avoid the ones they’ll regret not making.” — Peter Smith, The Retail Smiths
Recently, someone commented on a LinkedIn post of mine about Sevan Biçakçı. She shared that she still regrets not buying a piece of his jewelry she saw at Barneys New York more than 20 years ago.
Think about that. Decades of purchases since, and what stayed with her was the one she didn’t make.
That’s the opportunity. Not “This came off a discount rack,” but “This is special—and you may not see it again.”
Not price. Meaning.
Not urgency manufactured through discounting. Relevance anchored in aspiration.
Maybe the gentleman in the grocery store could have highlighted a standout bottle.
He could have connected it to what was in the customer’s cart, spoken to rarity, pairing, occasion—anything that elevates the moment.
Because the goal isn’t to move products. It is to create decisions customers are glad they made and avoid the ones they’ll regret not making.
That’s a higher bar, and a better business.
Happy retailing!
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