Double Your Influence to Persuade?

Double Your Influence And Ability to Persuade?

When we ask college students and corporate executives if they know
about the power of Influence, students strike out, while up to 74%
of executives name a book called Influence: the psychology of persuasion.

What’s It All About Alfie

Picture training little girls going door-to-door selling Girl Scout cookies.
Fund-raising even for a worthy cause is a pain in the fundament. Listen to this
secret the pros teach the kids.

“Mister, would you give $300 to help the Girl Scouts make a better world?”
Just before the homeowner slams the door in your face, say this:

“Okay, but would you at least buy a $3.50 box of Girl Scout cookies?”

Would you believe up to 87% of those asked in this sequence will buy their damned cookies.

How Come

Consistency and Commitment is a personal trait we all strive for. It means
if we agree with something, we want to appear to the world as smart and reasonable. No way to $300, but when compared to just $3.50 to help a good cause…

Just for kids? Real estate sales folks make it a rule to show you a first house
priced at 50-100% higher than you told them you want to spend. It sets a
mental criteria for your final buying price.

Imagine seeing a magnificent residence priced at $650K when you told the
sales person you want to spend $300K. Statistically, you will end up upgrading
yourself to about a $400K price tag. The expensive house changed your feelings.

Brands and Positioning

Even the street person who washes your windshield hoping for a buck, knows the Rolex watch brand, and maybe even knows Patek Philipp is about $18K. It is plain human to want to be associated with expensive items? Emotions carry the decision.

Don’t we all believe the higher the price, the better the quality? Urban myth.

Smart marketers will have three price ranges: top-of-the-line for wealthy shoppers,
middle-of-the-line for Brand name buyers without deep pockets. The low-priced line
is for bargain-hunters who want positive emotions, at Wal-Mart prices.

Three Triggers That Influence

1. If you slightly (almost imperceptibly) NOD or SHAKE your head
while attempting to persuade, convince, and influence, at the right times and places, you increase getting a YES up to 51% of the time.

Social Proof is a psychological law that says we imitate other people,
and look to them for behavioral cues. Ever look in a restaurant window
to see if it is crowded? We like to dine at places proven to be a crowd-
pleaser. The parking lot is full means the public voted with their feet.

When you are speaking, offer benefits of your product or service, and
gently move your head up and down in a NOD. It registers with the
listener and affect his/her final behavior.

When you talk about the negatives of your competitors, slightly SHAKE your head back-and-forth. That will register negative feedback more than all your words.

2. We find more than 90% of untrained speakers will use Hesitation
Phrases and Interjections to fill in the spaces while they are thinking.
It hurts your credibility as an expert, and is annoying to the ear.

“Uh, uh…Umm, umm” How about, “You-Know!” fourteen times,
and “Like, like.” Eliminate the – “I mean, I mean,” phrase that makes people cringe when you continuously repeat them.

People say yes to people they trust, as knowledgeable and experts.
When they hear you stumbling and bumbling, and using the standard gap-fillers, they tune your ideas out.

Concentrate by using your attention span to avoid these annoying interjections. You will increase your YES response up to 49% because you will appear to be an authority in your field, and know all the answers.

3. If you inadvertently TOUCH the person you are attempting to
persuade and influence, your statistical rate of convincing them
increases up to 34%. Yes, that is a lot. Listen to this.

Waiters and waitresses who consistently earn the highest weekly
gratuities are trained to consciously touch the hand or shoulder of their
customers before they leave their tip. Humans who are touched become
emotionally involved, it is evolutionary, and based on grooming.

Subconsciously the touching person is no longer a stranger, and your
mood and attitude toward them – changes in their favor.
If you see touching as cheating, don’t do it, but remember that the
affect is subconscious and works like gold.

Emotions are stronger than words. Urban society tends to avoid
touching others. Touch others more often and convince more folks
more of the time.

Endwords

If you see the merit in understanding the laws of Nodding and Shaking,
not using Hesitation Phrases, and the power of Touch, check out
the work of Professor Robert B. Cialdini, author of Influence: the psychology of persuasion.

See: the law of Authority, law of Liking, law of Social Proof, law of Consistency and Commitment, law of Reciprocity, and the law of Scarcity. It will make you an expert on influence, persuasion and convincing others.

Would you have a competitive advantage at school and your career
if you read-and-remembered three (3) books, articles and reports,
in the time your peers could hardly finish one?

Contact us for FREE details on improving your long-term memory
and reading skills.

See ya,

copyright © 2009 H. Bernard Wechsler
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