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| New thinking and new hope |
While endeavoring to execute our dream effectively and efficiently, the six weapons of influence discussed hereunder can be leveraged in our day to day life:
Principle #6: Scarcity: In fundamental economic theory, scarcity relates to supply and demand. Basically, the less there is of something, the more valuable it is. The more rare and uncommon a thing, the more people want it. Nearly everyone is vulnerable to some form of the principle of scarcity. Opportunities seem more valuable when they are less available. Hard-to-get things are perceived as better than easy-to-get things. For example, the object you have almost decided to buy is out of stock. The salesperson offers to check their other stores. And guess what? A store across town has one left! Do you buy it? Of course! Indian railway used this opportunity very well. Once the rail travel reservations were automated, the reservation window was initially used to open for up to 30 days and people therefore started to reserve their tickets within the first seven days of the 30 day window. Subsequently, the Indian railway authorities extended the reservation window to 60 days to provide more time for the passengers. Even then, due to fear of tickets being sold-out, tickets were being reserved well in advance. Effective from October’2012, the window has been further been extended to four months advance reservations due to which all tickets are being booked 4 months in advance due to said fear of scarcity while the cancellation fees has become a big source of income for the Indian railways.
Principle #5: Authority: People respect authority. They want to follow the lead of real experts. Business titles, impressive clothing, and even driving an expensive, high-performing automobile are proven factors in lending credibility to any individual. Most of us are raised with a respect for authority, both real and implied. Sometimes, people confuse the symbols of authority (titles, appearance, possessions) with the true substance. You can put this general principle to use by citing authoritative sources to support your ideas. Look and act like an authority yourself. Be sure others know that your education and experience supports your ideas. Dress like the people who are already in the positions of authority that you seek. Job titles, uniforms, and even accessories like cars or gadgets can lend an air of authority, and can persuade us to accept what these people say. One of my college friends happily put three designations to her title, while sending mails from her desk. I enquired ‘How can you manage such amount of work?’ She claimed that it was easy because people thought she was a big shot and they did her job more easily and additionally, it gave her opportunity to negotiate a better pay check. One study showed that 3 times as many pedestrians were willing to follow a man into traffic against the red light when he was merely dressed as an authority in a business suit and tie.
Principle #4: Liking: People prefer to say ‘yes’ to those they know and like. People are also more likely to favor those who are physically attractive, similar to themselves, or who give them compliments. People love to say ‘yes’ to requests from people they know and like. And people tend to like others who appear to have similar opinions, personality traits, background, or lifestyle. More people will say ‘yes’ to you if they like you, and the more similar to them you appear to be, the more likely they are to like you. Companies that use sales agents from within the community employ this principle with huge success. People are more likely to buy from people like themselves, from friends, and from people they know and respect.
Principle #3: Commitment and consistency: People do not like to back out of deals. We are more likely to do something after we have agreed to it verbally or in writing. People strive for consistency in their commitments. They also prefer to follow pre-existing attitudes, values and actions. We decide what is correct by noticing what other people think is correct. This principle applies especially to the way we determine what constitutes correct behavior. If everyone else is behaving in a certain way, most assume that that is the right thing to do. This principle of influence kicks in even more strongly when the situation is uncertain or people are not sure what to do. For instance, you would probably be more likely to support a colleague's project proposal if you had shown interest when he first talked to you about his ideas. Gorden Sinclair, a Chicago restaurant owner, was beset by the problem of no-shows—people who made table reservations but failed to appear and failed to call to cancel. He reduced the problem by first getting a small commitment. He instructed his receptionists to stop saying, ‘Please call if you change your plans’ and to start saying, Will you call us if you change your plans?’ The no-show rate dropped from 30% to 10% immediately.
Principle #2: Social proof: When people are uncertain about a course of action they tend to look to those around them to guide their decisions and actions. They especially want to know what everyone else is doing – especially their peers. Once people have made a choice or taken a stand, they are under both internal and external pressure to behave consistently with that commitment. When you can get someone to commit verbally to an action, the chances go up sharply that they will actually do it.
For example, before starting your next meeting, ask each person to commit to following the posted agenda. Then, if anyone goes off on a tangent, just ask them to explain how it fits the agenda. If they cannot, they will quickly fall back in line. One more example, we are more likely to work late if others in our team are doing the same, put a tip in a jar if it already contains money, or eat in a restaurant if it is busy. Here, we are assuming that if lots of other people are doing something, then it must be OK. Mass approach is the belief for a quality and sustainability. One researcher went door to door collecting for charity and carrying a list of others in the area who had already contributed. The longer the list, the more contributions it produced. We are particularly susceptible to this principle when we are feeling uncertain, and we are even more likely to be influenced if the people we see seem to be familiar to us. That is why commercial advertisements often leverage moms, not celebrities, to advertise household products.
Principle #1: Reciprocation:Reciprocation recognizes that people feel indebted to those who do something for them or give them a gift. All of us are taught we should find some way to repay others for what they do for us. You probably already use this principle, but it is much stronger than you suspect. You can build a sense of indebtedness in someone by delivering a number of uninvited ‘first favors’ over time. For example, if a colleague helps you when you are busy with an important health issue, you might feel obliged to support her ideas for improving their family. You might decide to buy more from a supplier if they have offered you an aggressive discount. Or, you might give money to a charity fundraiser who has given you a flower in the street. For example, according to the American Disabled Veterans organization, mailing out a simple appeal for donations produces an 18% success rate; but, enclosing a small gift in the form of personalized address labels boosts the success rate to 35%.
Concluding Recommendations: The six principles play an important role in all actions, challenges and opportunities of our day to day life. For instance, we might arrange a quick storage capacity and facility immediately if we are told that it is the day water will last. All these principles must be used with sense of improvement not otherwise. [Robert B. Cialdini Persuasion and Marketing, Influence]
