“The best persuaders become the best through pre-suasion – the process of arranging for recipients to be receptive to a message before they encounter it.”
- Pre-Suasion, page 4
"Do not seek dishonest gains, dishonest gains are losses."- Hesiod, Pre-Suasion, page 214
We all know that the most important part of building a house is creating a solid foundation. Trust is the strong foundation upon which successful influence is built. When customers and employees can trust the ethics of an organization, they are more likely respond to an organization’s influence.
Cialdini offers three recommendations that he believes all organizations should adopt:
By focusing attention on ethics, an organization can elevate the perception of trust, and ultimately become more influential. Sounds like an ideal win/win!
"Unfortunately, the great majority of scientific data on persuasion goes unused by practitioners – even valuable findings such as this."- Pre-Suasion, page 81
Pre-Suasion includes countless examples for how to influence behavior. Here is a baker’s dozen of ideas for you to use. One of these is not true. Which one?
If we want them to:Then we should first:Buy a box of expensive chocolates
Arrange for them to write a much larger number than the price of the chocolates
Choose a bottle of French wine
Expose them to French background music before they decide
Agree to try an untested product
Ask whether they consider themselves adventurous
Do better on a math exam (high school senior females)
Ask them to record and reflect on their year (but not their gender), and have female monitors instead of male
Feel warmly toward us
Hand them a cold drink
Be more helpful to us
Have them look at photos of individuals standing close together
Be more achievement oriented
Provide them with an image of a runner winning a race
Make careful assessments
Show them a picture of August Rodin’s The Thinker
Trust us
Reference the weakness of your offer or idea up front
Deepen their loyalty
Ask them to recommend your brand to a friend
Be helpful
Ask them first if they consider themselves to be a helpful person
Change a behavior (e.g. lose weight)
Create If/when… then plans (e.g. When I’m hungry at 2pm, then I will reach for an apple)
Gain interest in your presentation or article
Begin it with a mystery
So did it work? Did posing the mystery up front (i.e. “Which one is not true?”) engage you?
The answer of course, is number 5: If you want someone to feel warmly towards you, give them a warm drink, not a cold one.
"It is possible to learn scientifically established techniques that allow any of us to be more influential."- Pre-Suasion, page 12
To illustrate the power of timing, Cialdini shares the story of how his publication deadline was pushed back by a year. While he was preparing to go to another university for a semester to work on his book, the dean of the school called. He described the wonderful office he had for Cialdini, the new computer, staff support etc. Cialdini was pleasantly surprised. It was even better than he expected.
Then came the ask. One of the professors was ill. Would Cialdini mind teaching just one class? He immediately saw his precious writing time slip away as he pictured all the time needed to prepare, teach, and work with the students. Yet he said yes. Why? On reflection, he realized it was classic influence. The Dean had offered the favor of an unexpected and delightful surprise. So when he asked for a favor in return, he had to say yes.
But as Cialdini reflected, he realized that had the Dean called the next day, he would have graciously declined. It was all in the timing. The most powerful reciprocation effect is immediately after the favor. As time passes, its potency declines.
To illustrate the power of your environment, Cialidini describes his challenge writing for a general, rather than an academic audience. He had two desks from which he would write; one in his office at the university with shelves of professional books and a fabulous view of imposing scholarly buildings. The other desk was in his apartment with a view onto an ordinary city street, filled with ordinary people doing any of a thousand ordinary things.
From which desk do you think he had greater success writing for a general ‘layman’ audience? Yup! His desk in the city. There the background cues in his physical environment guided his thoughts and helped him think from the perspective of his audience.
I work with pharmaceutical professionals, helping them be patient-focused influencers who partner with healthcare professionals to create better patient outcomes. So it makes sense that I should encourage my clients to have pictures of patients in their offices (action shots rather than head shots work better), videos of patient stories to watch, or podcasts about patient outcomes to listen to each day.
Surprisingly, Cialdini tells us, some of the behavioral science researchers have never seen implications of their amazing studies put into practice. What a pity. These researchers are doing great work – showing us better ways to influence. We just need to put that learning into action!
Dr. Robert Cialdini has spent his entire career researching the science of influence earning him an international reputation as an expert in the fields of persuasion, compliance, and negotiation.
