Influence Science and Practice written by Dr. Robert Cialdini

Transcription

1 Influence Science and Practice written by Dr. Robert Cialdini Dr. Robert Cialdini is a former professor at Arizona State University. The work outlined in this book is backed by research and science. That is why I was interested in this book. Sales is a profession that drives every business. You need to know how to sell. Just like the great former heavy weight champion boxer George Foreman said, if you can sell then you will always eat. 1

2 Why is this important to me? Unfortunately, the sales profession has negative connotations. Think about the word salesmen and what pops in your head? Typically when I ask this question, people mention words like: liar, thief, shyster, money hungry, and here today gone tomorrow. This is the case because people go into sales as a last resort waiting for their real job. This behavior wreaks it for the true professional. I can tell you that sales is an excellent profession. Bad sales people are created because companies hire people, give them a desk, phone and yellow book and tell them to sell. Their training is all of 5 minutes. For the professional organizations that want to be successful, it is imperative to understand Persuasion and Influence. Dr. Cialdini reviews the research in this book. 2

3 There is a ton of information packed in the book Influence. For the sake of time, I will touch on each of the Influence buckets in this summary. 1. Reciprocation This is the old adage of giving. When you give then people feel compelled to give back. In the book Dr. Cialdini chats about a study on tipping. Research shows that when waiters/waitresses gave one mint to each person, their tips increased and when they gave two mints per person, their tips increased dramatically. Reciprocation is very powerful in sales. When you first seek to understand and then be understood, your hit rate will increase 10X. 2. Commitment & Consistency This is critically important in life in general. Basically what this means is that people who do what they say and say what they do, are consistent and respected. When people say something and then do something different, they are seen as NOT honorable. Toy companies had a real problem in that January and February sales were always terrible after all the families leveraged their credit cards for Christmas. To remedy the problem, they used the power of commitment & consistency. Basically, they would advertise the hot new toy BEFORE Christmas to create demand so all the little Johnnies would want it. They would ask their parents and the parents would COMMITT. The next move was brilliant. They would create a shortage of the toy. Now parents would still have to buy toys for Christmas but not the new toy that was promised. Needless to say, January and February sales increased because parents promised 3

4 their kids that particular toy. I guess this is why there is no shortage of money on Madison Avenue.. 3. Social Proof Basically this means that people want to know that other people are doing it. In my profession, we sell enterprise software to police departments all over the country. These customers ALWAYS want to know who else has our stuff. They are looking for social proof. In the software business, there is an old saying that nobody ever got fired for buying IBM. This is the essence of social proof. 3

5 4. Liking This one is pretty obvious but people like to buy from people they like AND that are LIKE them. Remember that people in general are pretty I Centered. This is by design for human survival. Knowing that, when people have things in common and are alike, it is much easier to do business. The cheesy Jerry Maguire move line that says People don t care how much you know until they know how much you care. This is absolutely the case. 5. Authority People feel comfortable when dealing with an expert. This is the one reason Big Pharma makes so much money. I never seem to understand why people buy drugs that are advertised on TV. Basically you have a doctor telling you how great ABC drug is then in the next instance they tell you that a side affects may cause your head falling off, bleeding out of your eye sockets and death. Regardless of all this, people still buy and ask their doctors for the name brands. As you can see, authority works in both ways. When doctors tell patients they need something then people for the most part listen. This is the essence of authority. People are persuaded by doctors, lawyers, PHD s, CPA etc. 6. Scarcity This in my opinion is the grand daddy of them all. Creating scarcity demand creates unlimited wealth. Why do people line up at the APPLE store to get the latest IPHONE? Why did people line up and camp out to get a copy of Windows 95? The concept of scarcity. You also see this in Hollywood movies. 4

6 Basically the dump boyfriend gets bored with his girl and starts ignoring her and they break up. Once he gets wind that she is interested in somebody else, then he is all over her and wants her back. In selling, this is called Negative Sell or the take away. This is the strongest technique and creates the most demand. 4

7 Influence is a great book and I suggest you read it. Influence and persuasion are the keys to any business and wealth creation. You can have the best product in the world but if you can not sell it then it will die. Apple has more money in the bank than the U.S. Government and the reason is that Steve Jobs is a master at Influence and Persuasion. One quick note I believe that sales is the greatest profession out there. True professionals want to help their clients and understand that business is circular. That is why the most successful sales people are honest, trustworthily and people of great integrity. I hope you have found this short video summary useful. The key to any new idea is to work it into your daily routine until it becomes habit. Habits form in as little as 21 days. One thing you can take away from this book is the rule of reciprocation. According to Emerson s law of compensation, if you want more than give more. When you truly give, you will see your whole world change of the better. If you enjoyed this video then please do not hesitate to pass it along and if you want more detail then click on the link and purchase Dr. Cialdini s book - Influence Thanks for watching and have a great day! 5