#1. How can changing 3 words send sales skywards?
ANSWER: At the end of the blog post.

#2. How come ‘what motivates me” is the WRONG approach for marketers?
ANSWER: Half way down
Yes 50 Secrets from the science of persuasion

#3. Why must you get someone else to introduce you?
ANSWER: First up.

I’ve just listened to YES! 50 Secrets from the Science of Persuasion. One of the authors Robert Cialdini has been recommended on numerous occasions by ‘Growth Guy’ Verne Harnish and our speaking coach, Kevin Ryan amongst others.

Here are my two highlights from the audiobook!

THIRD PARTY ENDORSMENT IS ESSENTIAL

It should come as as no surprise, that “blowing your own trumpet” is not all that persausive. But then again people need to know why you are worth listening to or else they will not pay attention.

[ANSWER to QUESTION #3]
THE SOLUTION? Get someone else to sing your praises.

If you’re about to speak to an audience, ensure you have a pre-written bio that the MC can read out.

Or if you’re in a meeting or putting a call through to a colleague, make sure that you properly introduce that person & explain why they are worth listening too.

Too often, everyone in your organisation knows each others strengths, except the prospective client!

How we’ll implement this at Bluewire.
We’ll be conscious to introduce colleagues by their name, ‘native genius’ and how they will be valuable!.

eg. This is Lesley. Lesley’s been a web strategy advisor with us for 4 years and her native genius is “making ideas actionable through planning”. In fact, she’ll be able to help you implement your web strategy like she has for many other clients.

SOCIAL PROOF IS POWERFUL

Are you influenced by what other people do? Absolutely NOT.  This is the usual response to this question.

Yet all evidence points to YES. People have a natural tendency to do what other people are doing.

This is called “social proof”.  Think about how you behave in a library.   Or in a bar.

Marketers often ignore social proof

[ANSWER to QUESTION #2]
Marketers around the world FAIL because they ‘think’ people are motivated by what they assume motivates them.

For example, the ubiquitous hotel bathroom signs asking guests, “Please re-use your towel to respect and save the environment”.

This ignores the power of social proof and the fact that people are more motivated by what others like them are doing.

An experiment was conducted where that call to action was tested against one that read “The majority of our guests re-use their towels”.

33% more guests re-used their towels when the sign containing social proof was used.

How we’ll implement this at Bluewire.
We’re testing this line of copy of our invoices.

The majority of our clients are very good at paying invoices on time. Thanks in advance for your prompt payment.

And finally, to highlight social proof, what were the three words that sent sales skywards…

[ANSWER to QUESTION #1:] A call to action was changed from:

“Operators are waiting, please call now
to
If operators are busy, please call again.”

You conjure up completely different images with each statement, don’t you?

Your perception of other people rushing to the phone (social proof) creates much more urgency & this sent sales through the roof!

3 BONUS TIPS:
– Speak in layman’s terms. If you use confusing and complicated ‘jargon’ your audience will be less likely to understand you and more likely to dislike you.
– Own up to your mistakes. If you stuff up, admit it! People will trust you more, like you more & you will be more persuasive.
– Have morning meetings and coffee. The more alert people are, the receptive they will be to your persuasive arguments!

PS: It’s worth noting that the authors of this book strongly advise using their “persuasion toolkit” for good not evil.  Afterall, if you manipulate or trick someone once, you may have short term gain, but you’ll definitely suffer in the long term.

PPS. For more on social proof, go to Chapter 3.  For more on third party endorsements go to Chapter 24.

PPPS. You can follow @RobertCialdini on twitter.


Tags

influence, persuasion, robert cialdini, Yes


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