Do You Want to be More Influential? Most People Do.

Influence......One Thing We All Would

Love to Have More Of

Jason Riemens recommended!

Credibility
Thirty-five years of rigorous, evidence-based research along with a three-year program of study on what moves people to change behavior  resulted in the book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Dr. Robert Cialdini.

Via this book - which I personally put in my top two most practically useful self-development books - Cialdini determined six universal principles (often referred to as "weapons of influence") on how to become a skilled persuader and how to defend yourself against them.

PRINCIPLES OF PERSUASION

• Reciprocity
• Scarcity
• Authority
• Consistency
• Social Proof
• Liking

Yes, I Use Them....and Wish Dearly That I Used Them Better
I make my best effort to utilize these principles as often as possible and observe whether others also use them.  Anecdotally, I will note that I often see local businesses advertise or offer a service (usually of great value per my account) that virtually becomes useless due to - the promotion thereof - not utilizing these principles. 

Quite often it is perceived that no one values the service.  If these business just added a statement similar to "Did you know that 75% of our customers use ......?" then according to the principal of social proof, sales would skyrocket.  And I for one believe them (but ironically believing is not necessary, as the studies show that most people were influenced by these tactics while vehemently denying they would be).  

For more detail, go read the book, but below is a cheat sheet.

This is certainly a topic I will return to and revisit due to what I consider its importance and the value it adds to us as both people and professionals.


Enthusiastically scribbled by, 
Jason Riemens