Robert Cialdini explains how a simple change to restaurant reservation confirmations cut no-shows by 67%. Instead of telling customers "Please call if you cancel," staff asked "Will you call if you need to cancel?" and waited for a yes. That small commitment made people follow through.
Commitment and consistency. People want to be consistent with what they have already said or done, especially in public. And what they have said or done has a name in behavioral science. We call that a commitment. People want to live up to, to what they have committed themselves to. So one strategy you can employ to get people to move in your direction is to first ask them to take a small step in your direction, just a small stance or position that is related to the direction you want them to go. Once they take that step, then they'll be significantly more likely to be consistent with that step, even with much larger requests they might receive. So what's remarkable is how small this first commitment can be. Let's take an example from a restaurant. Again, I'm using restaurants because we've all been in restaurants. We all know how it works there. And a problem this time, not that waiters or waitresses have, but of owners of restaurants. No shows, right? It's a big problem for restaurateurs. Sometimes as much as 30% of the time, they'll get a booking for a table, and then people just don't appear for it. They don't call to cancel. They just don't show up. It's a big problem. But there's a restaurant owner. Anybody here from Chicago? A few named Gordon Sinclair. Gordon's Restaurant in Chicago. He's a student of the influence process. And what he recognized was that when his receptionist took a booking, a reservation, she was saying the wrong thing. She used to say, thank you for calling Gordon's restaurant. Please call if you have to change or cancel your reservation. Gordon asked her to change two words, not any two words. Not please, please, please change two words that engage the power of the rule for commitment and consistency. People want to behave congruently with what they have said or done, especially in public. Any idea what those two words would be? Instead of please call if you have to change or cancel your reservation. Any ideas? Here they are. Will you please call if you have to change or cancel your reservation? And no shows at Gordon's restaurant dropped by 67% that day and never went back up. Why? Because when Gordon asked his receptionist to inquire, will you call if you have to cancel? He instructed her to pause. Suppose I said to you, will you call if you have to change or cancel your reservation? And I paused. What would you do to fill that moment? What would you say? Yes, of course. Glad. And that's your commitment. And that commitment now drove people away from no shows from 67 to 10%. That's how powerful a small thing like that is. So what are the implications for you?
