Fascinating podcast with transcript available. Lots of great ideas for persuading people to join a gym, sign up for personal training, commit to a nutrition plan, whatever.
6 basic principles:
1. reciprocity -- do something for them before you ask them to do something for you. Don't say "if you buy this, I'll donate 10% to a charity." Say "I've ALREADY given this money to charity -- now will you buy this for me?" The order is important.
Amplify the effect by personalizing the thing we give to that person. Not a generic gift to everybody.
Find ppl you can help out. Figure out what you can give them that is personalized.
Ben Franklin; ask your rival to lend you a book. As soon as they've done it, they say to themselves, I just lent a book to this guy. He's not so bad after all. When you return it, say "Thanks -- great book -- maybe we could talk about it sometime. Oh, and here's a book you'd like." They have to think "wait a minute, why would I go out of my way to help this person? He must not be so bad" and now you've created an opportunity that was previous a dead-end.
2. scarcity -- the iphone and the Wii for example. Great products, but the reason ppl lined up in sleeping bags in Nov was because of scarcity. scarcity can be a function of time -- for a limited time only! it can also be an issue of framing: real estate uses this all the time: this is the last house in the neighborhood, not gonna last long.
3. authority -- tell ppl why you're qualified
4. consistency -- ppl will try to be consistent with what they've said they'd do. Before delivering any recommendations: Get ppl to speak and to write down their priorities, their values, and their goals -- because people want to live up to what they write down. Super important for client intakes, especially for fat loss, adherence, compliance. Get them to write down what their goals, their priorities, and then match those priorities with a fitness/nutrition plan so they'll be more likely to succeed.
5. liking -- if they like you, they're more likely to say yes. 3 simple things to increase the rapport before we try to influence: 1. identify similarities. commonalities (hobbies, values, shared struggles). 2. give genuine praise where they deserve it. 3. identify opportunities for cooperative goals where we can work toward mutual purposes (work together on fat loss goals).
6. consensus. give them evidence that ppl just like them have been saying yes to it. ppl don't want to be outliers. ppl don't want to go against the wisdom of the crowds of ppl just like them that have already said yes. TESTIMONIALS are important. the more you can provide, the more similar the voices of those testimonials to the target market, the more effective. Prioritize the video testimonials from ppl who dress, talk, look like the ppl of your target audience.
Misc notes:
The one word that can increase sales 50%: "Because" -- ppl need REASONS for what they do. Study involving a copier "may I cut because I'm in a hurry?" 94% agreed. "Can I jump ahead to use the copier?" 63% said yes. "Can I use the copier b/c I need to make copies?" 93% said yes even though the sentence provides a nonsensical reason.
When people are UNCERTAIN, the three principles that are most potent:
scarcity
authority
consensus (social proof)
The moment of power: when someone says "Thank you," that is a moment of power offered to you. You don't say: "yes, now you owe me one." You say, "I was glad to do it. You'd have done the same for me." You frame that moment to empower you for a future moment. "Of course, it's what partners do for one another."
Notes from other Cialdini interviews:
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