Summarising Robert Cialdini's book, Influence: Science and Practice, there exists 6 universal principles of social influence.
1. Reciprocation - we feel obligated to return favours performed for us.
Example:
How do you feel when someone buys you a drink at the bar?
Evidence:
Waiters giving sweets directly to patrons saw a greater increase in tip size than on those days that they did not. Even greater if they gave 3 versus 2 sweets - "discretely". Greater again if the customer was not expecting this.
Application:
- Free giveaways - Give away a free pen, ball, keychain at event in return for contact details
- Bring a complimentary book, pen to a meeting - more willing to share information
N.B:
- 3 Key Dimensions
--Personalised: Making it out as if you are giving an extra 3rd sweet to them and only them
--Unexpectedness: Not informing them that they would receive any sweet. Pleasant suprise!
--Significance: 2 mints versus 1 increased the avg. tip size
Ask yourself, What to this customer would be PUS?
- Significance increases when we point out the value explicity when bundling a free gift - free anti-virus program saving you £150
Caveat: when conditionals (if..then..) are introduced, reciprocity declines sharply
- a better approach is "I'm sure you would do the same for me.."
2. Authority - we listen to our seniors, superiors and subject matter experts and take their word for gospel with out question.
Example:
How would you react if a doctor asked you to stop drinking versus your wife?
Evidence:
In an experiment all nurses ordered to administer a lethal amount of drugs to a patient did so at persistence from the Doctor.
Application:
Show Awards, Achievements, Accolades - be sure to make visible your awards achievments and accolades. They will earn you credibility.
Show-off without showing off - Have a colleague introduce you while reciting your experience and achievments - "I'll put you through to Joe, he has 11 yrs experience in this area and has achieved x,y,z..""
3. Social Proof - we feel comfortable doing what the majority has endorsed. We don't want to be left behind!
Example:
Have you ever seen 2 buskers on the street. One will have a huge crowd while the other has nobody. A passer by will choose to stop at the busker with the larger crowd as everyone else had, "So he must be good, right?"
Evidence:
Changing a single sentence during infomercials drove an increase in sales. "Operators are waiting please call now" (Mental image of bored telephonists waiting for the phone to ring) vs. "If operators are busy, please call again" (if the phone lines are busy then others are keen on getting this quickly, I don't want to be left behind!)
Application:
- Using terms to show endorsement by competitors - Other companies operating in your market saved X
- Leveraging affiliations with large organisations - Microsoft partner, IBM certified
- Informing of large customer base or high volume of sales - 35,000 installations, 5 sales per day
N.B:
Avoid Negative Social Proof - informing 20% of employees late drove up tardiness, commended for using less electricity than neighbour so increased usage
4. Scarcity - we perceive a greater net value when abundance is at its lowest. We want to get ahead of the crowd!
Example:
Cost of Gold vs Cost of Silver. Out of Stock Wiis caused interest and endorsement.
Application:
More likely to get buy-in if you emphasize the uniqueness of an entity.
"Diffusion of responsibility" - If a mass e-mail or message is sent to a group they all assume the others will take care of the request. It needs to appear scarce and personalised to have affect.
"We have a greater LOSS AVERSION than gain affinity" - For a game of double or lose we would rather play for £10 than £50 as the potential risk is too high (even though the pay-off would be greater)
- "Take advantage of this offer.." vs. "Don't miss out on this opportunity.."
- "We can help you save X each month" vs. "Productivity increses by X"
5. Consistency/Commitment - we want to act consistent to our values and commitments.
Example:
Luke Skywalker to Vader - "there is good in you, I can sense it" - The LABELLING TECHNIQUE - assign the label & then make a request that is consistent with that label
Evidence:
Decrease in the number of cancellations by simply changing - 'Please call if you have to cancel' versus 'Could you call me and let me know if you have to cancel because..' (They had commited by saying yes, so more difficult to be inconsistent with their word)
Application:
Appealing to the ego - You are pretty good with technology, can you help me fix my PC
Would you../Do you ..? - Ask whether they would support an initiative then wait for a "YES" , then implement it. They will have to support or risk inconsistency.
'Would you like to reduce the cost required to run this project by 50%?' Well an in-house..
'Do you want to reduce the cost of finding information within the organisation?'
- Active Agreement - have attendees agree to involvement - have patient write up own appointment card and sign vs. passively from nurse
- Praise Previous Decision when Requesting Change - Given the information you had at that time you made the best decision, however inlight of new evidence ..... - no loss of face or inconsistency.
- Align Change with Pre-Existing Values/Behaviour - the best way to ride a horse is in the direction its going - makes adoption easier to swallow
- Minimal Contribution - "Even a penny will help, increased contributions vs. please help our charity" - even a 15 min meeting would be useful.
6. Likability - we like helping people we like.
Example: Obama is one of the most likeable politicians in recent years. He has spurred masses to action.
Evidence: We like people like us, we can relate to, who smile, who make us feel important, who talk to us as individuals.
Application: Aim for commonality when meeting prospects/clients/friends. Smile and look for common areas you can discuss. Be genuinely curious.
Admit Drawbacks
- allows you focus on the solution rather than the problem - "Avis. We are no.2 but we try harder"
- Prevents competitors using them against you.
N.B.:
Drawback, Pushback - Directly after mentioning the drawback, mention the benifit associated with it
- "Avis. We are no.2 but we try harder"
- "We are 20% more expensive but thats because we invest more in R&D so that you are always ahead of the competition"
Failures - companies with failures attributed to internal & controllable factors bounced back quicker than those with failures attributed to external & uncontrollable factors - shows they identified problem and were working to prevent it ever happening again (Blaming technology was most forgiven)
Same Name Syndrome - we comply and like those with same names as us - we better like those with similar interests and commonalities.
Mirroring:
Repeat what I say - waiters that repeated back word for word what customer ordered versus those that just noded or said OK got better tips - We like mirroring appears smoother and more cohesive
- "So you are saying that ...
- "You mentioned X, Y, Z ..
Repeat what I do - behaviour mirroring leads to increased trust - I lean, you lean - I cross legs , you cross legs
Fluency - 'If the gloves don't fit, you must acquit!' - More memorable, easily repeated, processed easier & likable -
