By: Rose-Marie Boylan
The Psychology of Influence: Cialdini
How can we leverage the psychology of persuasion to deliver results while maintaining integrity?
Robert B. Cialdini wrote a national best seller called “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.” When we work in a perceived to be "me-too" market with many products diverting attention, I think it is important to be diverse rather than boring and or predictable. There still needs to be a commonality. I think it is important to do contextual coaching and try to bring out what is different in the employee so they are a refreshing change for customers. Leveraging that with the other principles of influence can create an outstanding sales person.
For marketers, it may have been one of the best books written in 10 years when it was released. There are a few principles that I like to use and coach sales people on in the health sciences. I used these principles a lot in market access to obtain reimbursement especially authority, expertise. I find that one the most ethical.
I like the principle of "authority" having good evidence, expertise and connections to experts, "scarcity": the notion that when something is scarce it has more value. "Reciprocity" (paying back in kind what is given to you) and "Liking".
I am writing this book review because I think people in marketing, sales, coaching & business development may want to consider reading the book. I have summarized it for all of us so we have a reminder in the event you do not have time to read it.
I do not view it as a way to manipulate others except some people may mis-use the principles. If our personal brand makes us like everyone else, then consider leveraging tools of influence so our customer wants to see us and listen to what we have to say. I guess they are tools for making people want more of our product and/or us and what we bring to their day.
In Cialdini’s psychological inquiry on human persuasion, he came up with 6 principles that drive how we influence others in personal relationships, marketing, sales and market access. Leveraging these principles and understanding the cascade of influence that operates in a business model is important to driving influence and a change in behaviour. When we look at politicians for elections they rarely use all these techniques to win followers. They use mostly "social proof", "liking" and in the best of circumstances "Commitment & Consistency". In Cialdini’s work he cites there are several different principles of influence at our disposal. They include:
1). Reciprocity 2). Commitment & Consistency 3). Social Proof 4). Liking 5). Authority and 6). Scarcity.
When we think about the “cascade of influence” what comes to mind? How many of the above principles do people leverage to influence others? Most people only function on "liking" we act polite, friendly and deliver a marketing message the same way everyone like us does. That may afford us some time with a customer, but it may not change their behaviour. Time is our customer's most scarce commodity, we need to bring value or something different in presence, expertise and/or style.
Understanding the Psychology of Influence:
1). Reciprocity
“The old give & take”. There have been studies done on reciprocity. This is one of the most powerful forms of influence. The rule states that we should as humans try to repay in kind, kind gestures. “By virtue of the reciprocity rule, humans feel obligated to the future repayment of favours, good service, kind deeds done without personal gain so much so that we have replaced the term ‘much obliged’ with ‘thank you’ in many languages. What is impressive about “reciprocity” is it is pervasive across all human cultures. That includes physicians if we help them help their patients." (Cialdini, R. 2007).
2). Commitment & Consistency
“A Canadian study revealed that persons at the racetrack are much more confident after they placed the bet that their horse would win than before. It is the same horse, the same track, the same field, nothing changed.” (Cialdini, R. 2007). Yet their confidence to commitment and consistency increased just by putting their bet into reality. This is our desire to be and to appear consistent with what we have already done. For this reason customers who hold certain views about products and their use may be difficult to change. Understanding this law of influence can help us.
3). Social Proof
'Laugh tracks are annoying to everyone, yet people laugh at things they may not find funny because they are programmed to do so. Experiments have demonstrated that it works despite how ridiculous we all know it is. Social proof is what we do and how we act that we believe is consistent with what others find correct. "(Cialdini, R. 2007)
Ensuring we introduce new concepts that associate with other accepted modes of conduct and what is considered to be right is an important stage for moving customers and/or followers to trusting you. All persons have a “ tendency to see things and behave in manners that are consistent with what their peers believe is correct.” (Cialdini, R. 2007). Even if it is incorrect.
As a result of “social proof” pressure, customers can be easily convinced and fooled by fake evidence. That is when the rule of “Authority” for influence may be helpful to change behaviour and perception.
4). Authority
When we follow an expert, we feel better about the decisions we make. For products in the biosciences channeling the rules of influence with data, research, evidenced based information & credibility is paramount to convincing others that what you have is credible, represents integrity. People naturally trust authority figures on subjects, sometimes irrespective of available research & outcomes.
Understanding how to influence this cascade of association is very useful. Physicians who are considered too involved in pharmaceutical relations dilute their authority and credibility. If someone of Authority on a subject supports you and/your product you are in a good position.
5). Liking
We are naturally more responsive to people who are like us, than not. We generally as humans respond to persons who we know and like. It is the law of similarity. Whether right or wrong it is a reality. When we are not similar to our customer and or employees it is important to find common ground so they feel safe with us. Stephen Covey wrote a book called the “Speed of Trust” and trust for some reason is personified in “similarity”. This is especially critical in sales and in using the psychology of influence. If we look at how women sold Tupperware at parties it was based on the rule of liking and similarity. It worked. (Cialdini, R. 2007).
6). Scarcity
Apple is particularly skilled at this principle. G.K. Chesterton said “The way to love anything, is to realize that it might be lost.” In this principle sellers and marketers build up the value as a plausible scarce resource. Back orders create a heightened response in the human brain which triggers impulsivity.
While our product may not be scarce, our approach in sales and creating interest may be, making your presence a refreshing perspective and energy to your customer and/or employees day. If we are well differentiated in our market based on the service to customers we provide, we have mastered the art of “Scarcity” in sales using our personae/presence as a lever to ensure customers actually want to spend time with you.
References:
Cialdini, R.B. (2007). Influence: The psychology of Persuasion.
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