Saturday, February 12, 2011

Beyond Rationality and Authority: Influencing tricks that Work

The quest for techniques that enable one to influence others to do what one wants (especially when there is no formal authority or unquestionable rationale backing the expectations) is near universal.
Several researchers from behavioral sciences, experienced management professionals and successful executives have discovered or realized few tricks that seem to work. These tricks have proven effective in different contexts: increasing sales, garnering support for social cause, or driving transformation agenda within an enterprise. 

Let us consider the most common five tricks:
  1. Anything Limited has unlimited appeal : Limited editions/designs, trial period, discount window etc. accelerate decision making and often to desired outcome. The potential loss of perceived missed opportunity seems to enhance appeal. Fear of Loss provokes action more often then scope of potential gain. Deadline tactics restricts procrastination game– another natural tendency with most of us. Make it scarce, it will be perceived valuable.
  2. Associate inferior comparative to get chosen : The easiest way to look slim, without dieting, is to select a fatter friend. It is all about being relatively better. On a school 25 th year reunion, if you choose the silent character near the bar than the one in the centre of the room tasting wine to all, that will make you feel good about your accomplishments and go home feeling good about life spent so far. So to sell something that has no off-take, it may be worthwhile to consider introducing an inferior option than a better one - experiments seems to suggest so!
  3. Unleash the irresistible allurement of FREE : Zero cost upsets all calculations and comparisons and fail all economic rationale decision making. We seem comfortable to pick-up trash if it is for free (recall pencils and pads you brought along from last conference you attended) but will do sufficient due diligence if it costs even one cent or may choose a costlier option, even if we have to pay extra. We can accept any quality of tea as long as it is free, but will walk to nearest Coffee Shop if canteen charges even Rs 2 for it. There is no downside associated with something that is for free and so there are not much performance expectations either. But loosening purse strings comes with lot more due diligence, no matter how meager is the amount.
  4. Leverage power of passion, commitment and guilt if you can not pay enough: We live in two worlds simultaneously- one run by market rules and another driven by social norms. Position the request in right world to get compliance. When attending party thrown by too affluent, gifting bouquet is safe, for flowers are priceless and best wishes are too valuable! Provoke emotions of being responsible citizens that care for the city, to get lakes cleaned up through voluntary kar seva, if you can not afford to pay everyone sufficient for their labor. Ask doctors for free service to the poor but not discount on their consultation charges - off-course they will like to pay back to society that has given them so much.
  5. It is all about “give to get” : Treat reciprocation as given, for the receiving parties can not sit idle till it has returned the favour you have done to them- even in cases where the favour was thrusted on them in unsolicited manner. We have all seen sudden endorsement on social website for us from someone we barely know, and beware this comes with hidden expectation for reciprocation. Worst is the exchange of concessions; if you seek concession for being late to the meeting, rest assure other party would expect you to gloss over their minor mistakes related to quality aberrations.
Now that these tricks have been pointed out, I am sure on reflection, you may be able to appreciate their wide spread application in our daily personnel and professional lives. You may also be using some of them, may be intuitively then in a designed fashion!

Share interesting instances, where you have seen these tricks being applied, and what are the effective counter-strategies. I will also be happy to hear from you any other tricks that you realize work well in enhancing compliance power,

Lets Reflect!

( Readers serious about enhancing their influencing power are suggested to read: Influence- The Psychology of Persuasion by Dr Robert B Cialdini )

2 comments:

  1. Like the points...

    Wanted to share some real world examples of influencing:
    1)Screaming "New Improved": A Washing powder brand comes to mind, Rebranding by Consulting firms, corporates

    2) Negotiation Tactics like Threat of walking Away, Integrative bargaining etc, Threat of non desirable consequences

    3) Emotional Attacks and Tactics - some are subtle (The coffee in the shop outside was good.. I picked up one while I was waiting for you... to ....What would your parents say.."

    4)Information Sharing: I agree with you but have you considered that things are going to happen.

    5)Asking Questions: What is the possibility ? Do you really believe that it will happen? What will happen If this happens?

    6) Making statements which nobody can test - Keeping long nails will get you Boyfriends (Angelina Johnson's comedy on you tube):-)

    7) Confusing people with diparate sets of data and concealing data selectively: Budget will increased cost of cars, Banks will increase interest rate so buy car now

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi nice Article -

    Just a few examples of my childhood that i could relate to immediately -

    1. Anything limited - there were these adverts about Britannia biscuits having limited stocks of gifts in breads....so i got my parents to buy 3 breads at a time :) - in today's owlrd this works brilliantly for premium luxury products - Pens (Mont Blanc gandhi collection), cars (limited editions by Audi and even Ferrari and Rolly Royce), watches (tag heuer and omega with thier limited editions)etc
    2. My mom would always ask me to drink mil and be strong unlike the next dorr neighbour kid who was very thin and mostly not feeling well... :)
    3. Allurement of Free - wont give any examples of childhood - since every purchase that had some gift free was driven by our greed as kids :)...in today's world its the Soaps industry that literally thrives on this concept of extra grammage and/or a free soap..in fact its become a norm now for the indian soaps industry...normally this free concept is also promoted when you want to capture the share of wallet of a consumer in the FMCG market...can be used effectively to capture his month's planned expenditure on a particular category - specially in a frame of mind that the average Indian consumer is :)...
    4. I have seen this work brilliantly in our own society with cleanliness drives and contributing to the overall welfare of the society as they encourage professionally qualified members to help them with the affairs of their office free of cost :) and are successful :)
    5. I think the example you have taken is very very apt - happens many times that we end up giving such endorsements ourselves just in order to expect and receive one in return that solves our end objective :)...

    Overall i really love the Tricks you have mentioned - even though, as is rightly pointed by you, we use these in our daily lives...

    ReplyDelete

 
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