Robert Cialdini

Intrigued by what makes salesmen exercise influence and win over customers, Robert Cialdini embarked on an unlikely journey that put him on the path of remarkable discovery. He hasn’t sold a thing — barring more than three million copies of his book Influence: Science and Practice that came out of his research — but knows exactly how people can be influenced and is often regarded as the ‘Godfather of Influence.’ Among Cialdini’s clients are Google, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline and his latest book Pre-suasion has become a New York Times bestseller. His treasure trove of insights came from attending many, many sales training programmes across dozens of industries which revealed to him the nuances of different trades and gave him an opportunity to understand the winning ways under different circumstances and context of business. The six principles — reciprocity, scarcity, authority, consistency, liking and consensus — that he inferred as universal have proved to be timeless. Based on those very principles, Cialdini mesmerises us with how a small change in messages can cause huge increase in the degree of influence. Listening to the cool deliberations from the soft-spoken, Regents’ Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Marketing at Arizona State University was especially refreshing, amidst the 100°F heat in Tempe.

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Can you give examples of simple alterations in prose that can have profound outcomes?

Here’s one that I like very much because it occurs in a place that we all recognise, a restaurant. Owners of restaurants have a problem, at least in the United States: no-shows. People book a table and then don’t appear. There’s a restaurateur in Chicago, who figured out a way to tackle this problem. He just changed two words in what his receptionist said when taking the reservation. Previously she would say, “Thank you for calling Gordon’s restaurant. Please call if you have to change or cancel your reservation”. You’ve heard that many times, I’m sure. But Gordon asked her to add two words, “Thank you for calling Gordon’s restaurant, will you please call if you have to change or cancel?” Then, she was instructed to pause, let people say, “I will” and make an active commitment to it publicly. No-shows at Gordon’s restaurant dropped by 67% for those two words. What I like about that is how cost less it was. It’s a simple use of two words, but it wasn’t any two words though, like “Please, please call”. These two words engaged the principle of desire to be consistent with what we’ve committed ourselves to publicly.

Here’s another example only involving one word. Suppose, you have an idea for a new plan, an initiative or some change and you want to get the support of your colleagues or even your boss. You will often present an outline of your idea and ask for feedback. Frequently, we make a mistake asking that individual for his or her opinion. Turns out that psychologically, when we are asked our opinion, we take a step back, go into ourselves and introspect. We separate from the requester. But instead of asking for an opinion, if we ask for that person’s