Influence Book

Ideas flowing throughout the book

1. When people make decisions about others, they often base this decision on only one aspect of the person and not the whole.
   • Unfortunately, this is where you can be manipulated and led astray
2. There is a necessity of automatic responses.
   • Despite the risk of falling victim to those trying to exploit automatic responses, these responses are necessary to handle the demands of modern life. Because technology only increases the demands upon our mental energy, we need to be able to rely on these automatic responses to lead us in the right direction.

Influencers of Persuasion:

Weapons of influence (aka reason why)

• Using Why: Attach a reason to a request to increase the success rate:
  • "I have 5 pages, can I use the Xerox machine before you because I’m in a rush" had a success rate of 94% vs.60% success rate when no ‘reason why’ was given.
• Using Comparisons: Show potential customers the most expensive item first, then work down in price to increase the amount spent
  • The next products seem cheaper in comparison

Reciprocation

• Social obligations: Humans inherently dislike being indebted to someone.
  • A small gift or favor will lead to a larger reciprocal response.
• Reject and Retreat: This technique consists of first demanding a high price (or a large favor), then waiting for it to be rejected, only to follow this demand up with a smaller one, (that you really wanted all along).
• Examples:
  • If someone buys you lunch, you feel obligated to buy them lunch next time.
  • At the supermarket, or a warehouse club like Costco, “free” samples encourage the reciprocity rule when they make you buy something you wouldn’t have otherwise.
  • If a guy takes a lady out to an expensive dinner, they feel obligated to go out with him again even though they weren’t that into him.

Commitment & Consistency

• We tend to remain consistent to our commitments, once we have made them (consistency is a socially attractive trait).
  • It is recommended to write down/verbally state goals to improve chances of sticking to them.
• Living up to our identity - We will act in ways that are consistent with our identity, beliefs, and values.
  • “We are what we repeatedly do”- Aristotle.
  • American POW’s in Korea who were made into collaborators, started co-operating when they were labelled and classed themselves as a collaborator.
  • Are you a "runner," "reader," "birder," etc?
• Some examples:
  • Studies found that when people are asked if they would vote led to an increased likelihood to follow-through.
  • You tell everyone you’re running your 1st marathon in 3 months. The public announcement, or what I call “forced accountability,” will motivate you to be more consistent in your training so you hit your goal.

Social proof

• People are influenced by what others do. At an unfamiliar event or situation, we look to others on the correct etiquette. This effect is amplified by how similar the person whose actions we are watching are to ourselves.
• For example:
  • You’re at a restaurant and your 4 friends order drinks, so you do the same.
  • You laugh at a joke because your friends are laughing, but you don’t even get it.

Liking

• As a rule, we prefer to say yes to the request of those we like over those we don’t.
• Key properties that determine our view of people:
  • Physical Attractiveness
  • Similarity - Whether it’s sharing opinions, personality traits, background, lifestyle, etc.
  • Compliments - We love getting compliments, even if they’re not true!
  • Contact - We like things that are familiar to us (Why we eat at the same restaurants). We often fear what we don’t know.
  • Co-operation - We like people who work with us, instead of against us. Working together towards a common goal and being “on the same side” are very powerful. (Examples: Sports teams, alliances in reality TV shows, politics, etc)
  • Conditioning and Association - We like people who are similar to us, with the same views, interests, beliefs and values, so try to find areas of shared interest to increase rapport and connection.
    • “All things being equal, you root for your own sex, your own culture, your own locality…and what you want to prove is that YOU are better than the other person. Whomever you root for represents YOU; and when he wins, YOU win.” — Isaac Asimov
      • The principle of Association “…is a general one, governing both negative and positive connections. An innocent association with either bad things or good things will influence how people feel about us.”
      • Examples: Brand loyalty, Name dropping (friends who are successful), People saying “WE won!!” when their team wins (notice they also say “THEY lost!!” when their team loses)

Authority

• The greater the perceived authority of a person, the more likely people are to comply
• We often perceive and interact with people with authority differently. The more power a person is deemed to have, the more generous people are when estimating their height, and the more cautious we are with our conversations.
• Examples:
  • Policemen, firemen, clergy, office managers, etc.
  • Titles (MD, PhD, Esq, MBA, etc.)
  • Celebrity endorsements in advertising
  • The way people dress (Ex: 3-piece suit vs. tank top and board shorts).

Scarcity

• We are more motivated to act if we think we are going to lose something, than if we are to gain something.
  • Save $50 a month on ...’ is not as effective as ‘You are losing $50 a month on ...’.
• An item that is scarce is more desirable than one that is freely available.
• Examples:
  • Limited time offers - A certain product is in short supply that cannot be guaranteed to last long
  • Deadlines like Black Friday
  • When you’re told that you have to buy NOW or the price will go up very soon (Ex: buying a car, joining a gym, etc.).

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