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Salespersons have employed two major sales tactics in order to influence customers to make relatively high-priced selections when presented with sequenced product lines (lines with graduated attributes and prices). The top-down tactic begins by presenting information on the highest-priced model and descends down the product line, explaining the sacrifices made with each step down. The way people use decision heuristics (rules of thumb) to simplify complex, information-rich decision tasks may explain the success of top-down selling. The "anchoring-and-adjustment" theory suggests that such mental shortcuts can systematically bias the decision outcome, as decision-makers start from an initial value or anchor point and adjust to yield a final decision.

The bottom-up sales tactic starts by presenting the lowest-priced model as the reference point and steps up to higher-priced models. Salespersons seek to communicate that the more expensive item is actually a better value. But nothing in the decision-heuristics literature supports the bottom-up strategy as an effective tactic, and to the extent that the anchoring-and-adjustment theory explains the effectiveness of top-down selling, it suggests that the bottom-up tactic should be ineffective. Furthermore, some psychologists suggest that customers may attribute less honesty and credibility to a salesperson who is trying to step them up the product line to a more expensive model; if true, this could limit the tactic's effectiveness.