The 6 Pillars of Persuasion

The Research Topic:

Book: Influence - Robert Cialdini

What influences people, and how can I use it to my advantage?

Why is it important to me?

• Learn how to influence people and their decisions

• For anyone in marketing or any position where you deal with people

• Build your persuasion skills, and learn how to make money from why people do what they do

A Deep Dive:

What Influences People?

Have you ever wanted to persuade someone to do something for you,

or even persuade them to give you money?

Here we have the 6 pillars of persuasion,

it’s so powerful it comes with a warning:

| Only use for good purposes |

Learn exactly what persuades people,

how we can use this knowledge to persuade,

and a challenge to use persuasion in your life….

Reciprocity:

Reciprocation Rule: we should try to repay in kind, what another person has provided us

People will feel inclined to give back to you when you give them something first.

For Example:

An experiment occurred when a man was at an art show with a guest ( the subject ). He got to know them, showed them around, talked a bit, and then told them he needed a minute to step out for a call.

This study was conducted with 2 variables:

He would either bring 2 Cokes back from his stepping away, one for himself, and one for the guest; or he wouldn’t bring back anything at all.

Later on at the art show the man tried to sell raffle tickets to the guest ( subject ).

The Results:

When he gave a Coke bottle to the guests, they bought twice as many tickets as the guests that he didn’t bring back a Coke bottle.

A simple gift offering like a bottle of Coke, doubled the sale of his raffle tickets!

Even when a gift is unwanted, we still feel the need to repay, and in the case of this experiment:

They paid him back literally!

Commitment and Consistency:

Robert Cialdini with a Phd. in Psychology discovered that humans believe more in something after they have committed to it, than before they did.

For Example:

Horse race bettors believe the horse they bet on has higher odds of winning after they’ve placed the bet on it, even though nothing has changed.

Mindless Consistency:

is the willingness to trade money or something of value for the peace of mind that your problem will be solved

Yes! People will put money down on something they don’t know will work, just because their problem is that serve out of desperateness will pay anyone waving a solution.

To have the power of consistency you need to get a person to commit.

Start with small commitments, you will not immediately profit, but he is no longer a prospect, he is now a customer.

Social Proof:

Social proof works strongest to influence us when we are unsure of ourselves.

We will use the actions of others to decide on proper behavior for ourselves, especially when we view those others as similar to us.

A study was done to prove this: 

There is a wallet left on the street with some money in it and a note.

The note left in the wallet said to return it.

Half the tested group had the wallet note in ordinary English,

and the other half of the study notes were in broken English from a foreigner.

Results:

The wallet was returned 33 percent of the time with the foreigner note,

and 70 percent when it was written in ordinary English. Astonishing!

Liking:

We prefer to say yes to someone of our liking.

How to get someone to like you:

Attractiveness is a big factor, unfortunately, we can’t change our genetics, but we can our appearance.

We like people who are similar to us, they dress like us and have similar hobbies, careers, friends, etc.

Simple compliments such as “ I like you “ make a big difference.

Conjoined goals, familiarity, and association will all increase liking.

An Example of Association:

A weatherman in Buffalo is hated and a weatherman in Arizona is loved.

Neither is better than the other, one is liked more because there is sun 300 days a year, vs. constant weather predicaments in Buffalo.

Authority:

Having a duty and or reporting to an authority figure strongly influences behavior.

The Milgram Experiment:

Stanley Milgram a psychologist at Yale University experimented to test the power of authority.

A newspaper ad was advertised to get volunteers to help with a memory experiment.

The volunteers were paired up, one “learner” and one “teacher”. It was fixed so that the volunteer would always be the teacher, and the learner was an actor.

The teacher had to read out word pairings, the learner would have to memorize them and repeat back the requested word pairing.

The learner was strapped to a chair with electrodes, and for every question they got wrong, the voltage would increase from 15 volts up to 450.

Results:

Out of the several tested groups, the “teachers” would continue shocking the learner even after they were screaming in pain, telling the teacher they needed to get out “ I have a heart condition, please! “.

About 70% continued on because the authority figure told them not to stop, even when the learner was in agonizing pain.

Scarcity:

Opportunities seem more valuable to us when their availability is limited.

In a research study given to half the students of a high school a book advertising read:

“ A Book for Adults Only “

the other advertisement was the same just without this piece.

To those half with the “ A Book for Adults Only “ advertisement, they:

• wanted to read the book more

• thought they would find it more interesting

• would pay more money for it

Social demand also influences in regards to scarcity:

When we think other people are trying to get what we want, we buy quicker and it becomes more desirable.

Now we get to use this influence for ourselves, here’s how to do it:

Actionable Steps to Success:

Influence People to Buy Like Crazy!

In society, the vast majority of people associate value with price.

We have been brought up that expensive = good.

A lot of times people will base the quality of an item on the price, so if your item isn’t selling, try moving up the price!

In the book, this happened in a coincidence when a sales rep wrote on the tag of a piece of jewelry that had trouble selling in their jewelry store for two times the price instead of half off.

In surprise, the jewelry that once no one had bought, flew off the shelves!

We can use the contrast principle to our advantage:

Trying to maximize profits when you know there will be an influx of traffic?

You can exploit this principle in business by marking up your prices for products when you know there will be an influx of traffic.

If they don’t sell, you can discount them by marking them down to what their original price was, this is a “perceived discount”.

Unwanted gifts can play a big part in changing a person’s buying decision.

Studies have shown that even if a gift is not wanted, due to the Reciprocity Rule, one is inclined to give back by either buying your product or donating if you are a charity.

The next time you run an offer for your business, include something small for free,

making your prospect inclined to give back by purchasing or sharing your business’s product/service.

Let’s make this a challenge……

The Capital Challenge:

Give and take…… and take

Your Goal:

Influence someone to buy something from you.

Your Strategy:

First, let’s make sure we have something for someone to buy,

if you run a business you already have something,

if not, choose a random item like a pen, a book, or a chair.

The way we are going to get them to buy from us is by using the persuasion rules:

I usually don’t do this and would write it out for you, but this video is fantastic at showing you how to sell anything with influence.

WATCH THIS NOW: