researchers have been studying the
factors that influenced us to say yes to
the requests of others for over 60 years
and there can be no doubt that there's a
science to how we are persuaded and a
lot of this science is surprising when
making a decision it would be nice to
think that people consider all the
available information in order to guide
their thinking but the reality is very
often different in the increasingly
overloaded lives we lead more than ever
we need shortcuts or rules of thumb to
guide our decision-making my own
research has identified just six of
these shortcuts as universals that guide
human behavior they are reciprocity
scarcity Authority consistency liking
and consensus understanding these
shortcuts and employing them in an
ethical manner can significantly
increase the chances that someone will
be persuaded by your request let's take
a closer look at each in turn
so the first universal principle of
influence is reciprocity simply put
people are obliged to give back to
others the form of behavior gift or
service that they have received first if
a friend invites you to their party
there's an obligation for you to invite
them to a future party you are hosting
if a colleague does your favor then you
owe that colleague a favor and in the
context of a social obligation people
are more likely to say yes to those that
they owe one of the best demonstrations
of the principle of reciprocation comes
from a series of studies conducted in
restaurants so the last time you visit a
restaurant there's a good chance of the
waiter or waitress will have given you a
gift probably about the same time that
they bring your bill and the cure
perhaps or a fortune cookie or perhaps a
simple mint so here's the question does
the giving of a mint have any influence
over how much tip you're going to leave
them most people will say no but that
mint can make a surprising difference in
the study giving diners a single mint at
the end of their meal typically increase
tips by a
around 3% interestingly if the gift is
doubled and two mints are provided tips
don't double they quadruple a 14%
increase in tips but perhaps most
interestingly of all is the fact that if
the waiter provides one mints starts to
walk away from the table but pauses
turns back and says for you nice people
here's an extra mint tips go through the
roof a 23% increase influenced not by
what was given but how it was given so
the key to using the principle of
reciprocation is to be the first to give
and to ensure that what you give is
personalized and unexpected the second
universal principle of persuasion is
scarcity simply put people want more of
those things they can have less of when
British Airways announced in 2003 that
they would no longer be operating the
twice-daily London New York Concorde
flight because it had become uncanonical
to run sales the very next day took off
notice that nothing had changed about
the Concorde itself it certainly didn't
fly any faster the service didn't
suddenly get better and the airfare
didn't drop it had simply become a
scarce resource and as a result people
wanted it more so when it comes to
effectively persuading others using the
scarcity principle the science is clear
it's not enough simply to tell people
about the benefits they'll gain if they
choose your products and services
you'll also need to point out what is
unique about your proposition and what
they stand to lose if they fail to
consider your proposal our third
principle of influence is the principle
of Authority the idea that people follow
the lead of credible knowledgeable
experts physiotherapists for example are
able to persuade more of their patients
to comply with recommended exercise
programs if they display their medical
diplomas on the walls of their
consulting rooms people are more likely
to give change for a parking meter to a
complete stranger if that requester
wears a uniform rather than casual
clothes
what the science is telling us is that
it's important to signal to others what
makes you a credible knowledgeable
authority before you make your influence
attempt of course this can present
problems you can hardly go around
telling potential customers how
brilliant you are but you can certainly
arrange for someone to do it for you and
surprisingly the science tells us that
it doesn't seem to matter if the person
who introduces you is not only connected
to you but also likely to prosper from
the introduction themselves one group of
real estate agents were able to increase
both the number of property appraisals
and the number of subsequent contracts
that they wrote by arranging for a
section staff who answered customer
inquiries to first mention their
colleagues credentials and expertise so
customers interested in letting a
property were told lettings let me
connect you with Sandra who has over 15
years experience letting properties in
this area customers who wanted more
information about selling properties
were told speak to Peter our head of
sales he has over 20 years experience
selling properties I'll put you through
now the impact of this expert
introduction led to a 20% rise in the
number of appointments and a 15%
increase in the number of signed
contracts not bad for a small change in
formed from persuasion science that was
both ethical and costless to implement
the next principle is consistency
people like to be consistent with the
things they have previously said or done
consistency is activated by looking for
and asking for small initial commitments
that can be made in one famous set of
studies researchers found rather
unsurprisingly that very few people
would be willing to erect an unsightly
wooden board on their front lawn to
support a Drive Safely campaign in their
neighborhood however in a similar
neighborhood close by four times as many
homeowners indicated that they would be
willing to erect this unsightly
billboard why because 10 days previously
they had agreed to place us
small postcard in the front window of
their home that signaled their support
for a drive safely campaign that small
card was the initial commitment that led
to a 400% increase in a much bigger but
still consistent change so when seeking
to influence using the consistency
principle the detective of influence
looks for voluntary active and public
commitments and ideally gets those
commitments in writing for example one
recent study reduce missed appointments
at health centers by 18 percent simply
by asking the patient's rather than the
staff to write down appointment details
on the future appointment card the fifth
principle is the principle of liking
people prefer to say yes to those that
they like but what causes one person to
like another persuasion science tells us
that there are three important factors
we like people who are similar to us we
like people who pay us compliments and
we like people who cooperate with us
towards mutual goals as more and more of
the interactions that we are having take
place online it might be worth asking
whether these factors can be employed
effectively in let's say online
negotiations in a series of negotiation
studies carried out between MBA students
at two well-known business schools some
groups were told time is money
get straight down to business in this
group around fifty five percent were
able to come to an agreement a second
group however we're told before you
begin negotiating exchange and personal
information with each other identify a
similarity you share in common then
begin negotiating in this group ninety
percent of them were able to come to
successful and agreeable outcomes that
were typically worth eighteen percent
more to both parties so to harness this
powerful principle of liking be sure to
look for areas of similarity that you
share with others and genuine
compliments you could give the
you get down to business the final
principle is consensus especially when
they are uncertain people will look to
the actions and behaviors of others to
determine their own you may have noticed
that hotels often place a small card and
bathrooms that attempt to persuade
guests to reuse their towels and linen
most do this by drawing a guests
attention to the benefit that reuse can
have uninvited protection it turns out
that this is a pretty effective strategy
leading to around 35 percent compliance
but could there be an even more
effective way well it turns out that
about 75 percent of people who check
into a hotel for four nights or longer
will reuse their towels at some point
during their stay so what would happen
if we took a lesson from the principle
of consensus and simply included that
information on the cards and said that
75 percent of our guests reuse their
towels at some time during their stay so
please do so as well it turns out that
when we do this towel reuse Rises by 26%
now imagine the next time you stay in a
hotel you saw one of these signs you
picked it up and you read the following
message seventy-five percent of people
who have stayed in this room have reused
their towel what would you think well
here's what you might think I hope
they're not the same towels and like
most people you probably think that this
sign will have no influence on your
behavior whatsoever but it turns out
that changing just a few words on a sign
- honestly point out what comparable
previous guests have done was the single
most effective message leading to a 33
percent increase in reuse so the science
is telling us that rather than relying
on our own ability to persuade others we
can point to what many others are
already doing especially many similar
others so then we have it sick
scientifically validated principles of
persuasion that provide for small
practical often costless changes that
can lead to big differences in your
ability to influence and persuade others
in an entirely ethical way they are the
secrets from the science of persuasion
you