Influence . The Psychology of Persuasion is a book by Dr. Robert Cialdini , a renowned American social psychologist and author, who based his book on hundreds of studies of influence professionals. He even worked for three years "undercover" in various jobs such as selling used cars, charitable organizations, telemarketing firms and the like, in order to learn about real-life persuasion situations.
These principles are widely used by sales and marketing experts around the world, a powerful tool to create a strong business relationship with your customers.
Now, let's look a little at the 6 principles of influence through persuasion:
Reciprocity.
This principle ranks first because it is the most important: one of the most powerful weapons when establishing a relationship with a person or client.
Reciprocity refers to the need to restore balance in social relationships. This means that when we receive something from someone, we feel the need to give something back in return.
And this in turn makes it one of the principles of influence that makes us feel obligated to reciprocate favors done for us, even when we didn't ask for them.
One of the best examples of how the principle of reciprocity influences decisions is the c level contact list method used by members of the Hare Krishna religion to obtain donations: instead of simply asking passersby for donations to fund their cause, they devised a much more effective system: they gave each person a flower and prevented it from being returned. After receiving the “gift,” the request for a donation to their organization was hard to refuse. This method caused the organization’s income to skyrocket.
This principle not only allows for a different approach, it also creates relationships based on trust that over time can take the desired steps:
Converting a prospect into a customer
Gaining new allies
Getting new references
Mentions in media and public relations
Testimonials and goodwill
Consistency and commitment.
Also known as the principle of consistency and commitment, humans need to be consistent in what they do, what they say, and how they behave towards others. In an obsessive way, people have the desire to appear consistent with respect to others. When making any decision, there is a “pressure” to behave in accordance with the commitment.
This principle is based on the desire to be and appear to be a person with attitudes and traits such as: being logical, rational, stable and honest.
Consistency and commitment help us in many areas. An example of this is when the state of Iowa in the USA carried out a plan to encourage energy saving. At first, they tried to educate citizens, but they did not have the expected results. So, they tried a new method, where the names of the families who committed to saving energy appeared in a newspaper advertisement. In this case, the families were consistent with their public image.
