Sell More Research Using the Six Pillars of Persuasion
Sharon Livingston, PhD President of The Livingston Group for Marketing
Dr. Robert Cialdini is the Regent's Professor of Psychology at Arizona University
After years of research he developed a set of six principles of persuasion that
are scientifically proven tactics to leverage the likelihood that people will say "yes" to
requests and suggestions. These strategies work universally with our families, our co workers,
our clients. Most importantly, for our purposes, these are tools to influence someone to do
something different; to use our services or our clients products and services
Cialdini researched his first book, “Influence, the Psychology of Persuasion” for three years by
trying to learn what successful influencers know about how to motivate us to do what they
want us to. This included interviewing people, attending various forms of training in a variety of
fields, and reading sales manuals. The most fascinating research method was apprenticing
himself in the persuasion trades directly by answering ads for jobs such as encyclopedia,
vacuum-cleaner, portrait-photography or car sales, fund raising, recruiting, advertising, and the
like. He posed as someone who wanted to learn that job and immersed himself in whatever
environment, training and sales programs were offered.
“It became clear that if I was to understand fully the psychology of compliance, I would
need to … look to the compliance professionals - the people who had been using the
principles on me all my life. They know what works and what doesn’t; the law of survival
of the fittest assures it. Their business is to make us comply, and their livelihoods
depend on it … The compliance practitioners have much more than the vague and
amateurish understanding of what works than the rest of us have.”
Cialdini, a now recognized master of persuasion, says that 95 percent of people including
trained professionals, are followers and only five percent of us are leaders. Considering that
imbalance, the power and opportunities for persuasion become obvious. Taking the lead to
motivate others is what we have to do to impact another’s behavior to react favorably to our
requests.
One of the things that makes “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion” so exciting AND and
believable is the wealth of illustrative examples given. The book is full of great stories and
examples of psychological studies that support and explain the behavior he describes
throughout the book; what he calls automatic compliance to learned triggers.
Decision Making Short Cuts
Because of overwhelming cues for decision making, animals and people evolve to recognize
short cuts. When we encounter a compliance stimulus, we tend to react according to our
training. It’s Psych 101, stimulus – response conditioning. In general, this mechanism is actually
helpful. We developed these short cuts because they make our lives easier. Mostly, they
actually help us move through the day more smoothly than if we had to think about each and
every one of our actions. We’ve all learned to use decision making short cuts in order to deal
with the overwhelming amount of information we have to constantly process.
“The pace of modern life demands that we frequently use shortcuts.”
"We are likely to use these lone cues when we don't have the inclination, time, energy,
or cognitive resources to undertake a complete analysis of the situation. When we are
rushed, stressed, uncertain, indifferent, distracted or fatigue, we tend to focus less on
all of the information available to us. When making decisions under these
circumstances, we often revert to the rather primitive but necessary single-piece-ofgood-evidence approach."
And, with so much information overload in our world, which continues to accelerate at
breakneck speed, short cut thinking will probably become even more common in the future.
Just Because . . . The Favor Short Cut
A principle of human behavior says that when we ask someone to do us a favor we will be
more successful if we provide a reason. People simply like to have reasons for what they do.
Cialdini cites a 1989 study by Harvard social psychologist Ellen Langer to demonstrate how one
of these short cuts work. Langer demonstrated the unsurprising fact that people are likely to
grant a favor if we have a reason for asking. She instructed a researcher to approach people
waiting in line to use a library copying machine with the following:
“Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I’m in a rush?
The effectiveness of this request-plus-reason was nearly total: 94% percent of those asked let
her skip ahead of them in line.
Compare this success rate to the results when she made the request only:
“Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine?”
Only 60 % agreed when this approach was taken.
It would appear that the critical difference between the two tests was the reason given,
“because I’m in a rush.”
Langer demonstrated that there was something else in operation here with a third experiment.
It seems that it was the “because,” that made the difference. Instead of including a reason for
compliance, Langer’s third type of request used the word “because” and then, adding nothing
new, merely restated the obvious.
“Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I have to make
some copies?
Amazingly, nearly all, 93% agreed, even though no real reason, no new information, was added
to justify their compliance.
Cialdini’s “Weapons of Influence”
Cialdini’s research led to the development of a set of six pillars of influence. When you hear
them described, you’ll immediately recognize the approaches. They are rampant in sales and
messaging as well as interpersonal communications. Learning and using these strategies will
definitely lead to positive head nods from the people in our lives – clients, customers,
prospects, family and friends.
The Weapons of Influence
Reciprocity - returning a “favor”
Commitment and Consistency - honoring a previous agreement or statement
Social Proof - doing what other people are doing
Authority - doing what the person with the highest title/rank, the fanciest car, or the nicest
clothes says
Liking - following the advice/instructions of people you like or are attracted to
Scarcity – acting out of fear of loss of an opportunity - perceived scarcity generates demand
All of these share:
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A nearly mechanical process by which it can be activated
Tremendous power that can be exploited by anyone who knows how to use it
People consistently underestimate how effective each is
They work even when we know they’re in operation.
Because these techniques work so well, Cialdini emphasizes how vulnerable we are to anyone
who knows and uses them.
Reciprocity:
If someone does you a favor, you'll probably try to return it. You'll feel obliged. If they give you
a gift, you feel compelled to give one back. [I wonder if Langer followed up with that tendency
in a second experiment on the experimenter!]
“Each of us has been taught to live up to the rule and each of us knows about the social
sanctions. . . applied to anyone who violates it. ... Because there is general distaste for
those who take and make no effort to give in return, we will often go to great lengths to
avoid being considered one of their number.”
As an experiment, a behavioral researcher sent Christmas cards to a group of complete
strangers. In return, the researcher received a flood of reciprocating cards, though none of the
people sending the cards knew the researcher. Moreover, the researcher was frequently added
to the recipient’s ongoing list of Christmas cards, continuing the new tradition for years to
follow, including newsy Christmas letters of what was happening in their families’ lives .
One intriguing outcome was reported years later when one of the recipients needed a place for
her daughter to stay while interviewing at a university in a city near the experimenter. The
recipient remembered the address and contacted the experimenter [her “old friend”] to see if
the experimenter might board and keep an eye on her daughter during her college visit. The
experimenter reciprocated by picking up the teen at the airport, boarding her and helping her
get through the experience!
When we feel indebted, we'll even act against our own interests to escape our disapproval of
ourselves for breaking the reciprocity rule.
Charities that send us unsolicited free labels printed with our names and addresses are more
likely to get donations. Homeless people who wash our car windows get rewarded. Hare
Krishna people were notorious for extracting charitable donations in airports after handing
passers bye a single rose [which they recycled after the recipient tossed it in the trash.]
Skilled negotiators use the reciprocity hook to get their way. Their opening move may be to try
to sell a very expensive product or ask for an oversize sum as a donation; when they back down
from their initial scheme, the target feels [s]he’s been given a favor and becomes willing to
spend more than ever planned.
When the reciprocity trigger sends us down this compliance path a couple of remarkable things
follow, both counterintuitive: 1) although we've been manipulated, we feel we had a
responsible part in making the agreement and want to fulfill it; and 2) we are likely to get
satisfaction from whatever we agreed to.
Commitment and Consistency:
The concepts of Commitment and Consistency can be extremely effective in reminding people
of their beliefs and getting them to follow through. The key is to prompt them to make an initial
public commitment that is consistent with the idea. People strive to appear consistent,
especially in social, political and business contexts. Interestingly, a high degree of consistency is
associated with intelligence and character. Once a person has committed to an idea, product,
or service, they will look for justification to validate that commitment.
This is how 12 Step Programs work. Trying to quit drinking or smoking? Join a support group,
and your chances of success go way up. Even better, make personal commitments of
abstinence to people you admire and respect. The thought of letting those people down will
provide a great deal of encouragement when the going gets tough.
“Will you buy the car if I can get you this price?” asks the car salesman. “Write it down on this
piece of paper and I’ll take it to my manager for approval.” Bet you bought the car, even when
the “manager” had a slight objection.
A restaurant was having problems with large numbers of patrons who neither honored their
reservations nor called to cancel them. The owner came up with a simple effective solution. He
had the receptionist change from saying, “Please call if you have to change your plans,” to
asking, “Will you call if you change your plans?” The question caused people to commit to
calling if they could not keep their reservation. The no-show rate at the restaurant fell from 30
percent to 10 percent.
Likability:
This one’s a no brainer. Increased Likability = Increased Likelihood of Response. Several cues
and approaches lead to liking.
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We like those who are similar to us.
Authentic praise; compliments endear us to others.
“Cute” captures hearts
Increased familiarity through repeated contact with a person or thing is yet another
factor that normally facilitates liking.
Mutual and successful cooperation in a task fosters liking and attachment.
Similarity - We like people like ourselves. If we want people to like our marketing efforts,
appealing to “alikeness” can go a long way. This “liking of alikeness” is the underlying power of
using groups of people that resemble your target market in photos, emphasizing aspects of
dress that are recognizable icons, matching body postures that are definitive, or graphically
highlighting the verbal style of the audience.
Flattery and compliments -- even when we know someone wants something from us, cause us
to like the flatterer and compliment-giver in return (i.e., How could they be wrong?!?). And
liking the messenger causes us to be more receptive to the message.
JetBlue leverages of likability. The tagline in their ads is, “We like you, too!”
How do we translate that into visual appeal. Showing a high-end luxury item and calling it “your
dream whatever” implicitly compliments the viewer’s choice. Then there’s the classic “Man in
the Hathaway” shirt ad created by David Ogilvy, wherein the Hathaway man was a debonair
fellow with an eye patch. This ad was a wild success, and Hathaway attributed tripled revenues
to it. Why? The man was attractive, certainly, but the real draw was snob appeal that translated
into flattery of the shirt buyer’s choice.
If you eat the food of kings, you must be a king. If you drink the drink of alluring women, you
must be an alluring woman. You get it.
The Cute Factor - We’re easily won over “cute.” That cute panda that melts your heart is likely
to maul you if you disturbed it while it was eating its lunch. The real “Happy Feet” penguin is
only waddling to conserve energy, but we find it adorable. There is a long list of cute cues that
we respond to, which are common to human babies and toddlers, puppies and kittens: Round
face, awkward limbs, low-set eyes, roly poly body, teeter-totter walk – characteristics we
ascribe to babies that bring out the care taking instinct. We’re hard wired to like cute to keep
the species going.
The marketing lesson is that cuteness have a huge positive halo effect in marketing efforts. I
send pictures of my shih tzu to my clients for the “awww” factor. Stewie has his own business
card and email address.
Familiarity - Repetition and increased contact with something usually facilitate familiarity and
therefore liking the subject in question. But you also need positive association.
You can make your product or service more familiar and therefore likable by making positive
analogies or allusions, depicting positive outcomes, or using popular celebrities. We even tend
to associate our credit cards with the good things we can get at the moment we want
something, which is why placing credit card logos on an order form can increase spending on
everything from a charity contribution to a catalog order.
Authority
People in positions of authority or with clear expertise in a field have more credibility and are
more persuasive than others. But authority can also be ascribed to one who looks the part.
Cialdini conducted an experiment using the appearance of authority as a variable. A well
dressed man of “authority” stepped out into the street when the light was red. The same man,
dressed casually repeated the test. When he wore a suit, 3 times as many people followed him
to cross against the signal as compared to when he was in jeans.
In the classic demonstration of the power of authority and just how little authority is required,
Cialdini reminds us of the Stanley Milgram's Obedience experiments at Yale in the early 60's. On
the instructions of an experimenter in a white lab coat, numerous people were asked to
administer a series of shocks to a person in another room each time the subject incorrectly
answered (or failed to answer) a question about word pairs. The shocks went up to 450 volts.
The subjects were told afterwards that no electric shocks were actually used, and that the
groans of pain and cries of agony were all recorded.
Psychiatrists were asked to predict how many subjects would actually go up to 450 volts. One
tenth of one percent were predicted to go all the way to 450 volts. That actual number was
approximately 65%. Further, every subject went to at least 300 volts. The power and authority
of an actor in a white lab coat apparently was enough to overcome the subjects vehement
objections to administering powerful shocks to other people in two out of three cases.
“Conforming to the dictates of authority figures has always had genuine practical
advantages....Early on, these people (for example, parents, teachers) knew more than
we did, and we found their advice beneficial....As adults, the same benefits persist for
the same reasons, though the authority figures now appear as employers, judges, and
government leaders. Because their positions speak of superior access to information
and power, it makes great sense to comply with the wishes of properly constituted
authorities. It makes so much sense, in fact, that we often do so when it makes no sense
at all.”
Social Proof
When people are unsure of what to do, they look at what similar others have done or are doing
We look to others for evidence of what is right, what to believe.
Some examples:
 Stores used to hire people to stand and stare in the windows
 Opera houses hired “clappers” to applaud
 Professional mourners attended funerals to help others cry
 Early in his career, Frank Sinatra’s publicists paid girls to scream and faint at his concerts
 Despite the fact that everyone knows that laugh tracks are canned laughter, programs
that use laugh tracks are consistently rated "funnier" than shows that do not (even the
same show)
 The wide spread use of Testimonials supports the effectiveness of Social Proof.
There’s an interesting story about a bank that was located close to a bus stop that
demonstrates the power of social proof.
One day the bus was considerably late and a very long line of annoyed people had formed. It
looked like the line was at the bank. People became frightened that there was a run on the
bank and panicked, creating an actual run on the bank forcing it too close.
Sales and motivation consultant Cavett Robert reflects this principle clearly in his advice to sales
trainees: "Since 95 percent of the people are imitators and only 5 percent initiators, people are
persuaded more by the actions of others than by any proof we can offer.“
The manner in how we can apply the principle of social proof in the sales process is to give our
clients examples of similar people and organizations who complied with the particular request
we are making of them. The principle of social proof is especially effective during times of
uncertainty and when similarity is evident. So, if we are attempting to help individuals who are
deciding to buy, we should ensure that these examples that we cite as social proof are similar
to the target audience in as many ways as possible.
Scarcity:
Put simply, the law of scarcity states that when something is hard to come by or is only
available for a limited time, then its value increases dramatically. People want more of what
they can have less of. “…opportunities seem more valuable to us when their availability is
limited."
 Act now while supplies last!
 Only two spots left
 Time is running out, get your early bird discount now
“...Because we know that the things that are difficult to possess are typically better than those
that are easy to possess, we can often use an item's availability to help us quickly and correctly
decide on its quality ... [Additionally,] as opportunities become less available, we lose freedoms;
and we hate to lose the freedoms we already have....So, when increasing scarcity...interferes
with our prior access to some item, we will react against the interference by wanting and trying
to possess the item more than before.”
During the early 20th Century there was a famous baseball player called Honus Wagner. At that
time tobacco companies produced baseball cards and included them with their cigarettes as
collectibles. Wagner was anti-smoking and therefore, in 1909, he made sure the tobacco
companies removed his card from the set. Because of his putting a stop to the distribution of
his cards, only about 60 Honus Wagner baseball cards are in circulation and only a handful are
considered to be in mint condition. Last year, one the mint Honus Wagner cards sold for a sum
of 2.35 million dollars!
There are two aspects of the law of scarcity. These are:
1.
The rule of Limited Quantity.
2.
The rule of Limited Time.
1. The Rule of Limited Quantity.
The rule of limited quantity exists when there is a limited number of items available. Limited edition
cars are sold at a premium. Limited seats at a conference drive up their value. The fact that only a
few are left allows marketers to create a sense of urgency, the aforementioned, “Act now while
supplies last!” approach.
Most people are afraid of missing out on something. Knowing there are only a few can be a
compelling call to action.
2. The rule of Limited Time
Similarly, limited time offers – restricting the length of time to take advantage of an offer – increases
response. Deadlines create urgency to act before the offer is taken off the table. The closer the
deadline, the more intense the call to action. A common application of limited time is the discount
offer which is only available for a short period of time.
The Pillars of Persuasion in Action
In the Direct Marketing world:
Direct marketers both mail and internet were among the first to adopt Cialdini’s learnings.
Here’s how some internet marketers apply the principles:
Every good sales letter includes as many influences as possible. In a standard sales letter
they might be used as follows:
1. Reciprocation - Give visitors a free report or software with valuable contents. You may
also simply give them value within the sales letter and invoke this influence.
2. Commitment and Consistency - The letter is written from top to bottom to get them
nodding their head the whole way down. This builds commitment and then at the end, they
have to remain consistent by buying.
3. Social Proof - Testimonials, quotations, stories of others with positive experiences.
4. Liking - True stories showing your human side, that you're "just like them". You might
also take the "anti-something" position... joining together with them against a common
enemy.
5. Authority – Cite your own qualifications with past successes, education, experience,
friends, etc.
6. Scarcity – Create one time offers, "Must act now", "Limited to the first 500",etc.
Time Share Example
A friend and colleague recently visited Puerto Vallarta with her husband. They love to vacation
in exciting locations. This was the first time they visited Puerto Vallarta in Mexico.
The Weapons of Influence were unleashed on them as soon as they arrived at the airport.
My friend, another appreciator of Cialdini’s principles, outlined her experience according to the
six pillars:
Reciprocity
At the Puerto Vallarta airport, on the way to the taxi, a man came up to us and asked what we
were looking for. We said a cab. He sent us to a desk which turned out to be the Time Share
desk. They said they’d pay for the taxi to the hotel and back if we agreed to go to the
presentation for 90 minutes.
They also gave us lots of gifts that included things we were going to do anyway:
 All day boat tour for 2 that took us to:
o a place where we could snorkel – they provided the snorkeling equipment
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o lunch on the beach
o a beautiful waterfall where we could swim; hike or go horseback riding
o There was all the alcohol you could drink
All day city tour for 2 to different scenic sights
o Famous sculptures
o Churches
o Tequila tasting at a tequila farm and factory
o Beautiful setting for lunch over looking river with wild parakeets and view of Cliff
Divers
½ price on a romantic island dinner package (which we had previously planned on
doing)
½ price on a zip line adventure through the jungle (which we had previously planned on
doing)
A free massage at a spa
Great transportation included from place to place
Sumptuous gourmet, buffet brunch
Free taxi to and from hotel from the airport
Free taxi to and from the Timeshare presentation which included a free breakfast buffet
and would only take 90 minutes, total
During the selling part of the presentation we were first offered a timeshare package that cost
$55,000 to buy in. By the end, we were down to an attractive package that had a $10,000 buy
in.
Commitment
At the beginning our sales representative, in a friendly get-to-know-you conversation, got us to
commit to/admit several things
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We owned other timeshares and were extremely happy with them
We loved to travel
We took lots of vacations
We loved the beach
We loved the weather in Puerto Vallarta
And we would keep an open mind while she told us about the timeshare opportunity
Consistency
Then she told us about the timeshare in concert with what we had admitted to earlier.
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This timeshare was in the top 10 timeshares in the world
You could trade easily because it was highest rated
The owners always get a room overlooking the ocean [turned out to be untrue]
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Very easy to rent it out if you weren’t going to use it that year [turned out to be untrue]
Best one in Puerto Vallarta – which it was
Social Proof
At the end of a lovely tour of the property, we were taken to a large room which had at least
100 round tables in it.
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Every table looked full and these were all people who were doing the same thing as we
were.
They looked engaged and happy and the hubbub in the room gave the impression that
lots of deals were going through.
Popped a bottle of champagne every time someone signed
Liking
Our rep was a woman with a similar sounding accent (even though we were in Mexico, she was
clearly a North Easterner like us) who was about our age, attractive, well dressed in classy
resort wear. She was very outgoing and friendly. We had breakfast with her, took a tour of the
resort with her and chatted with her the whole time. There was no talk about money or buying
in this first part of the interaction. We just had conversations about how beautiful the place
was and how great the weather was here and how much she loved living in Puerto Vallarta.
She was very likeable.
o Bubbly personality
o Very outgoing
o Someone we wanted to be friends with
o Cute hair cut
o Dressed like I like to dress in a feminine soft flow-y top and heels
Later when we were deciding whether or not to buy the timeshare (and we were close to doing
it) we were feeling bad about how we had wasted her time and how she could have made a
sale if she had been working with someone else. She was so convincing. She gave us the
feeling that she was genuinely disappointed that it didn’t seem like we were going to buy. Her
boss also came over at another point and we felt like we didn’t want to make her look bad.
Authority
Our rep was extremely knowledgeable about timeshares. She had worked for other ones, she
knew about all the ones in the area. She knew all about the “trading value” of timeshares. She
lived in the area. She knew the prices of things and how much it cost to stay in a hotel in the
area. She was very generous with her knowledge and even gave us some tips about how to
trade weeks with our current timeshare. She also praised us on getting such a good deal on it.
Scarcity
At one point, our rep left us for a few minutes to check on one special unit that was left in
another building that was a bit cheaper. She wanted to see if it was still available. When she
came back, she said it was but she had to check with her boss to see if she could show it to us.
Her boss came over and said no because a rep at a different table looked very close to selling it
to another couple. So we felt like, damn, we should have acted faster. Maybe we should hop
on the ones she was trying to sell us with the good price she offered, before those units were
gone also.
My friend returned without a new time share acquisition. They learned later that there were a
considerable number of untruths in what they were promised and decided not to buy. To work,
the promises must be authentic.
So how can these principles be applied to marketing your research?
Here are a few ideas to consider.
Reciprocity
Give what you can
 Information
 Free advice on whatever
 Lunch and learns
 Research your clients’ interests and give small gifts in keeping with their preferences
Commitment and Consistency
Ask Socratic questions which get clients to take a position consistent with the need for the type
of research you think they should do and you can deliver
 “Do you already know all the criteria your prospect uses to make a buying decision?” (If
not, they can’t use a closed ended quantitative survey because they can’t lay out the
attributes without a qualitative study to build the list)
 “How important is knowing the emotional end benefits in your category?”
Social Proof
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Gather testimonials from EVERY satisfied client the moment they express satisfaction.
(Send “can I get your feedback?” email … then ask if you can quote)
Use prweb.com to regularly send out inexpensive research tidbits. Use Google Alerts to
capture every public mention of your name … get reprints and keep a LONG list on your
website, use in proposals, etc
Keep a LONG list of clients and display it on your website
Liking
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Gently point out similar interests, tastes, clothing, experiences, beliefs, etc.
Be honest and genuine (with all above, as well as when giving compliments)… don’t fake
it, people can tell
You need frequent and consistent contact to develop familiarity and a solid relationship
… stay in touch, especially when there’s no project in the works
Authority
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Dress for success when first being introduced to your clients to establish authority
Publish articles and send to your client list
Seek speaking engagements
Maintain a newsletter, podcast, and video-cast on your expertise
Take charge when necessary. Better to be a “focus group doctor” than a “puppet in the
front room.”
Scarcity
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Use a “take away sale” (examples “just wanted to give you the opportunity to book this
because another client asked for my time” – or –
“need to start recruiting tomorrow if we’re going to be in the field by ____”)
By A Nose
The good news is that products and services only need a slight edge to beat the competition.
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The winner in a horse race just has to win by a nose
The ruling lion who gets to eat as much as he wants just needs to be a little stronger
All that has to be done is to demonstrate slight superiority in a few of the pillars of influence.