INFLUENCE The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B.

Cialdini
The principles consistency, reciprocation, social proof, authority, liking, and
scarcity
People simply like to have reasons for what they do
The point is that the same thing in this instance, room-temperature water
can be made to seem very different, depending on the nature of the event that
precedes it.
Sell the suit first, because when it comes time to look at sweaters, even
expensive ones, their prices will not seem as high in comparison.
The house !"ve got them spotted for looks really great after they"ve first
looked at a couple of dumps.#
!n each case, there was a common thread in the accompanying message.
The goods that were enclosed were to be considered a gift from the
organisation$ and any money ! wished to send should not be regarded as
payment but rather as a return offering.
%nother conse&uence of the rule, however, is an obligation to make a
concession to someone who has made a concession to us.
The techni&ue is a simple one that we can call the re'ection-then-retreat
techni&ue. Suppose you want me to agree to a certain re&uest. (ne way to
increase your chances would be first to make a larger re&uest of me, one that
! will most likely turn down. Then, after ! have refused, you would make the
smaller re&uest that you were really interested in all along. Provided that you
have structured your re&uest skilfully, ! should view your second re&uest as a
concession to me and should feel inclined to respond with a concession of my
own, the only one ! would have immediately open to me compliance with
your second re&uest.
)or a variety of reasons the percentage of successful door-to-door sales
increases impressively when the sales operator is able to mention the name
of a familiar person who recommended# the sales visit.
!f a customer refuses a purchase ask for referrals
(nce we have made a choice or taken a stand, we will encounter personal
and interpersonal pressures to behave consistently with that commitment.
)or the salesperson, the strategy is to obtain a large purchase by starting with
a small one. %lmost any small sale will do, because the purpose of that small
transaction is not profit. !t is commitment.
*ook at it his way when a person has signed an order for your merchandise,
even though the profit is so small it hardly compensates for the time and effort
of making the call, he is no longer a prospect he is a customer.
The tactic of starting small with a little re&uest in order to gain eventual
compliance with related larger re&uests has a name+ the foor-in-the-door
techni&ue.
(nce you"ve got a man"s self-image where you want it, he should comply
naturally with a whole range of your re&uests that are consistent with this view
of himself.
%pparently the mere knowledge that someone viewed them as charitable
caused these women to make their actions consistent with another"s
perception of them.
The enormously successful %mway ,orporation, for instance, has hit upon a
way to spur their sales personnel to greater and greater accomplishments.
-embers of the staff are asked to set individual sales goals and commit
themselves to those goals by personally recording them on paper.
Something special happens when people personally put their commitments on
paper+ They live up to what they have written down.
./-, /0-, or 100 words or less# testimonial contests
...express their opinions with a visible show of hands rather than by secret
ballot. (nce 'urors had stated their initial views publicly, they were reluctant to
allow themselves to change publicly, either.
persons who go through a great deal of trouble or pain to attain something
tend to value it more highly than persons who attain the same thing with a
minimum of effort#
throwing a lowball#
2uring this time, the dealer knows, customers automatically develop a range
of new reasons to support the choice they have now made.
3e can learn, from the way the other witnesses are reacting, whether the
event is or is not an emergency.
3e will use the actions of others to decide on proper behaviour for ourselves,
especially when we view those others as similar to ourselves.
Thus the most influential leaders are those who know how to arrange group
conditions to allow the principle of social proof to work maximally in their
favour.
%s a result, the !ndian realised, it was possible to kill tremendous numbers of
buffalo by starting a herd running toward a cliff. The animals, responding to
thundering social proof around them and never looking up to see what lay
ahead did the rest.
(nce again we can see that social proof is most powerful for those who feel
unfamiliar or unsure in a specific situation and who, conse&uently, must look
outside of themselves for evidence of how best to behave there.
4ach new prospect is visited by a salesperson armed with the name of a
friend who suggested ! call on you.# Turning the salesperson away under
those circumstances is difficult$ it"s almost like re'ecting the friend. The
Shaklee sales manual insists that employees use this system without fail+ !t
would be impossible to overestimate its value. Phoning or calling on a
prospect and being able to say that -r. So-and-so, a friend of his, felt he
would benefit by giving you a few moments of his time is virtually as good as a
sale /0 percent made before you enter.#
5esearch has shown that we automatically assign to good-looking individuals
such favourable traits as talent, kindness, honesty, and intelligence.
Several studies have demonstrated that we are more likely to help those who
dress like us.
%nother way re&uesters can manipulate similarity to increase liking and
compliance is to claim that they have backgrounds and interests similar to
ours.
-any sales training programs now urge trainees to mirror and match# the
customer"s body posture, mood, and verbal style, as similarities along each of
these dimensions have been shown to lead to positive results.
,on'oint efforts toward common goals steadily bridged the rancorous rift
between the groups.
,ompliance professionals are forever attempting to establish that we and they
are working for the same goals, that we must pull together# for mutual
benefit, that they are, in essence, our teammates.
...like the new-car salesman who takes our side and does battle# with his
boss to secure us a good deal.
known by the company we keep#
5esearch has shown that an attractive model posing with an automobile will
make the car appear more desirable. Some advertisers apparently believe
that the same holds true for all sorts of items
!t is the extreme willingness of adults to go to almost any lengths on the
command of an authority that constitutes the chief finding of the study
!t was found that with each increase in status, the same man grew in
perceived height by an average of a half inch, so that as the professor# he
was seen as two and a half inches taller than as the student#
The percentage of compliance when he was in uniform 6.7
Three and a half times as many people swept into traffic behind the suited
'aywalker.
)inely styled and expensive clothes carry an aura of status and position, as
do trappings such as 'ewellery and cars
People seem to be more motivated by the thought of losing something than by
the thought of gaining something of e&ual value
The deadline# tactic
...invoke the scarcity principle three separate times in 'ust five words that
read, 4xclusive, limited engagement ends soon8#
The advertising copy included the statement, a book for adults only,
restricted to those .1 years and over#
Those who learned of the age restriction 91: wanted to read the book more
and 9.: believed that they would like the book more than did those who
thought their access to the book was unlimited
The customers who received this last sales presentation learned that not only
was the availability of the product limited, so also was the news concerning it
the scarcity double whammy
The fact that the news carrying the scarcity of information was itself scare
made it especially persuasive
%s we have seen in the case of political freedoms and 9especially pertinent to
the present discussion: chocolate-chip cookies, people see a thing as more
desirable when it has recently become less available than when it has been
scarce all along
The results showed that those whose cookies became scare through the
process of social demand liked them significantly more than those whose
cookies became scare by mistake. !n fact, the cookies made less available
through social demand were rated the most desirable of any in the study
The feeling of being in competition for scarce resources has powerfully
motivating properties
Scarcity plus rivalry
The 'oy is not in experiencing a scare commodity but in possessing it