soft sell
1
3.9
- noun
- /sɔft sɛl/
:
venta suave
- As a big believer in the soft sell or the indirect sell, I could not agree more.
- soft sell approach
Examples
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I'm for the soft sell.
Blog text (8) -
Use your blog as a soft sell technique.
Blog text (8) -
You know what the soft sell is?
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Soft sell... we were doing it before we had a name for it.
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Use the soft sell.
Blog text (8) -
Even though I've wanted to help a few relatives of mine, I realized that even a soft sell doesn't work for them.
Blog text (8) -
We here have no problem with that laughter, but, you know, sometimes you have to do a bit of a soft sell up there because many members of Congress are not quite as far-thinking as Congressman Ryan.
Blog text (21) -
Traditional Japanese advertising helped consumers re-contextualize through the use of atmospherics and association—the quintessential soft sell.
Academic text (2001) -
The marketing team favors a soft sell strategy that gently introduces products without pressuring customers.
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By using a soft sell in her presentation, she was able to engage the audience without feeling too pushy.
Synonyms
1
3.9
To convince someone with kind words or calm actions
Antonyms
How Aggressive
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun 'soft sell' is directly and predictably built from 'soft' (gentle/subtle) + 'sell' (to persuade or promote); a B1 learner who knows both constituents can infer a gentle or non‑aggressive method of selling. The adjective+noun compositional pattern is common and cross‑linguistically transparent, so prior exposure is not required to understand the meaning.
Etymology
The expression soft sell comes from the idea of a soft, gentle sell rather than a 'hard sell' that pushes people. A seller who suggests a product quietly and lets customers decide is doing a soft sell, so the phrase means a gentle, not forceful way to sell.