Persuasion - How to influence people - PART I

Persuasion - How to influence people




There are different ways of how you can influence people. Recently it has been very popular to promote various techniques, which are supposed to make people comply to you- in other words you can learn how to influence behavior of others. NLP is just one to name. Such methods have gained popularity especially with the development of fields such as marketing or in sales industry. However, they are also being remonstrated by scientists dealing with the field of social relations, mainly psychologists, which claim such methods to be pseudo-psychology.

So how can we really influence others? Do the popular methods work? Have you ever found yourself in a situation when you agreed to buy something and then didn’t even know why? It is best to begin with basics, which bring about many useful tips how change actions and attitudes of others. There are 6 trends (this has been heavily studied and scientifically validated) in human bahavior that facilitates persuasion:







Reciprocation – people of all cultures and races subscribe to the rule that you reciprocate what has been done to you. When someone is polite to you, it is very likely you will feel the need to reciprocate this behavior. This probably stems from the evolutionary mechanism, which once helped our species to survive. Therefore, we often feel obliged to “return”, even if the favour or item or bahaviour was unwanted.

*This is widely used when it comes to free food samples, free workouts at gyms, or trial rides when buying a car .

Consistency - people want to appear and behave in a consistent manner. So after you gain their agreement, concession or an opinion on a topic, you may expect to have them behave consistently with what they admitted previously.

*You surely have heard something similar: “Mr Kowalski, do you agree that we need to protect our environment”” Yes”” So you will agree that our super environmental friendly vacuum cleaner is what you need”


Scarcity – People tend to value higher these things that are scarce. Therefore, if something is less available, it becomes more desirable. So you just need to point out that an opportunity is accessible only for a short period of time, this way making a person more willing to grab it.

*This you have surely heard, too: “Our special offer is valid only for a month- you can get this vacuum cleaner half price, but only till the end of June”

Authority - It has been proved that we are more prone to comply to people who have authority. So when persuading someone, you will be much more successful in a suit and tie and even more when wearing a uniform, even if the dress code is uncorrelated with the issue you deal with. So your persuasion will be much more effective when you call up to some authority- “five out of seven doctors recommend”- or when you appear as a person in authority.

*This is why in most toothpaste ads you have actors in doctor’s smocks recommending the exact product. Or famous actors (yes they constitute authority individuals) advertising different services uncorrelated to their profession at all.

Liking - people tend to agree to people they like and to like people who are similar . Some may say it is obvious, but how to make use of it? Paying open compliments to the client can double your sales-yes it can, even if they are aware of it . If you imitate body language and try to appear similar (e.g. speak in a similar manner to you interlocutor) you are prone to be a successful persuader.

*Sales people often seek a connection with their client- “No kidding, you are from Gdańsk? I was born and raised there! What a coincidence”- which also works in favor of their aim- to persuade you.

Social validation - If more people like the idea, the idea must be correct. We are more prone to accept something, if other people do. Basic mechanism, when deciding how to act, is to look what others do/would do in a given situation. We don’t want to stand out- mojority must be right.

*This is why we often get informed that the item is the fastest-selling product on the market. Showing people a list of donors, who donated to a charity, will increase their willingness to donate, than if the list wasn’t shown.

These may seem very simple and general rules, but after understanding them correctly, they can be very successfully applied to your everyday persuasion. Most of us probably, somehow intuitively, already do some of the tricks. However, after realizing the power of these simple rules and how they work, your from now on conscious persuasion will become even more effective.



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Sources:

- article „Science of persuasion” Robert Cialdini
- Youtube.com