Prior to writing his groundbreaking book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, the author, Robert Cialdini went undercover to understand why people say “yes”, and what techniques can increase compliance (getting to yes) with others. His book uncovered six principles of influence. “Authority” is one of them.
We use “Social Proof to outsource our decision making to the crowd.
Authority is when we outsource our decision making to the “experts”.
These experts have unique qualifications and/or experience to solve given problems. For example, we see a doctor when we are sick and a dentist when we have a tooth ache.
Here are examples on how we can enhance our authority:
Whitepapers: Reports may be influential with customers when compared with advertising. They need to be balanced and not directly be selling your products. For example if you produce a business software that reduces administration, write a whitepaper on improvements to the workplace and cite five different examples (including your product).
Partnerships: If you have a small business, leverage the brand awareness and capability of much larger companies. For a systems integrator, become a Microsoft, Amazon or Oracle “Gold Partner”. Their magic will rub off.
Customers Testimonials: Use customers to speak about how they utilise your product/s. Customers who are respected in the industry will carry significant authority which will influence your buyers.
