Robert Cialdini spent three years working as a salesman, fundraiser, and copywriter to understand how professionals use influence tactics to get people to say yes. He found that influence professionals use these tactics far more than psychologists study them.
There are many more professionals using strategies of influence than there are psychologists studying them. Their goal is very simple. They want us to say, "Yes, yes, I want it. Yes, I need it. Yes, I want to be the right kind of person.
Yes, I'll buy it." This is The Place, Jordan Marsh.
Psychologist Robert Cialdini of Arizona State University spent 3 years examining the universal principles and tactics of these influence professionals from the inside as a sales trainee, fundraiser, and advertising copywriter.
One of the universal principles I found is the principle of reciprocation, which suggests that we are obligated to give back to others the form of behavior that they have given to us. So if someone does us a favor, we're significantly more likely to say yes when they ask for a favor in return. That's why the Hare Krishna for example, society in the airport, will come up to you and give you something before they ask for a donation. It can be a flower, a book, whatever. And this bottle will be produced only 2 or 3 times a decade. A second principle that we can talk about is the principle of scarcity, the idea that things that are rare, that are scarce, that are diminishing in their availability to us are more attractive. We want them more. As a consequence, many merchandisers will use strategies in which they'll give us time deadlines or availability limits on a product they want to sell, and because we can't have it after a certain time, we want it more and we go out and buy it. Another principle we can talk about is the principle of authority. This is the idea that we're much more willing to follow the lead of someone who is a legitimately constituted expert or an authority. It's reinforced for me. And me. Hey, maybe it was made for both of us. Must be magic. Now that's who this shoe was made for. Another principle we can talk about is the principle of commitment. The idea that once we've made a stand, once we've taken a position on an issue, we're much more willing to say yes to any request that is consistent with that commitment. So, very, very often, individuals will try to get us to make a small commitment that is consistent with the direction they want us to go. For example, a study was done in Toronto that showed if you can get people to agree to wear a little lapel pin that says "Support your United Way," 2 weeks later, they will be twice as likely to give a donation to the United Way when the solicitors come and canvass the neighborhood. Another principle we can talk about is the principle of liking. People are much more willing to say yes to a request to someone they know and like. Of course, the classic example of this is the Tupperware party, where they have arranged so that we are saying yes not to a stranger across a counter, we're saying yes to a friend or a relative who's invited us there, and we know we'll be getting a cut of everything we buy. Thank you all for coming. You really made a special evening for me. A final principle we can talk about is the principle of consensus, the idea that we're much more willing to say yes to a request if we have information that a lot of people around us are saying yes to that request. So, people can give us evidence— this is the largest-selling, the fastest-growing product— and we're much more willing to say, yes, this is something for me because everybody around us is doing so.
