Harnessing the Principles of Persuasion: Social Proof (Part 3)

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. Social Proof one of them.

Social Proof is that people follow the lead of others that are similar to them.

An easy way to understand social proof:

Imagine you are looking for a place to eat out. You discover two identical restaurants next to each other. One is full with a line outside and the other is open, but empty. Which do you choose?

Most people will choose the crowded restaurant. We a comfortable when others make the decisions for us.

In the same way, companies like to buy from the most popular.

Here are three examples of how we can leverage Social Proof to increase our influence:

  1. Tell Stories. The stories need to be about companies similar to the ones that you are meeting. They will be attracted in your business through similar companies that have chosen you.

  2. Find a way to show you are the category leader. For example you could say, when it comes to selecting accounting packages for schools, [INSERT COMPANY] is the most popular in this state.

  3. Host User Conferences for your customers and highlight the images on social media. Look at how popular we are! If you don’t have a large customer base, find a way partner with the big companies in your industry. If you are into technology maybe think about Amazon, Microsoft, Apple etc to gain social proof by association.

Harnessing the Principles of Persuasion: Reciprocity (Part 2)

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.

Reciprocation means People repay in Kind

Reciprocity means that people feel impelled to repay you back for an earlier gift. They are impactful when they are tailored for the recipient. Even when customers understand this law of influence, it still does not make them immune to its sway.

Two examples:

  1. Coffee meetings with customers: gifts do not need to be big. Giving someone an excuse to leave the office and to enjoy a coffee will be appreciated. If you bring valuable information with the coffins, your customer will believe their time was well invested. Do not try to pitch your business in this meetings. Instead seek to listen and add value. Business will take care of itself.

  2. Merchandise: Customers love merchandise. If it’s specific to them, you are likely to have a greater impact. They can also be humorous, such as giving branded sleeping eye masks for customers that get woken up early.

Harnessing the Principles of Persuasion: Liking (Part 1)

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.

Liking means people like (and buy from) those who like them.

A door-to-door salesman came to my house, offering to switch my energy (Electricity and Gas) suppliers for discounted rates.

He was in a hurry and I sensed he was an arrogant little jerk.

He showed no interest towards me.

If he could make my energy bills free, I would still say no. I wanted nothing to do with him.

In sales, empathy is one of our best traits.

We want to be understood before we trust others.

When you like your customers, they will feel it.

Over the years I have adopted my customers’ interests.

I want to make their lives better. They are awesome.

How Bob the Builder Saved My Bacon

I sometimes exhibit a fatal flaw when giving sales presentations.

At times when my confidence is less than 100%, my self conscious reaches out and tries to sabotage things.

My voice feels tight and I need to cough to clear the stomach acid building up.

For a long time I did not know what to do.

When the penny dropped, I could do something.

Firstly a sip of water would settle my upset tummy.

Secondly following the example of Bob the Builder’s Can we fix it? (Question). Have I done this rodeo before? Hell yes! Then Paul you can do this! (Advice came from Daniel Pink’s book, To Sell is Human).

Now I can better manage my anxiety and symptoms. Bob the Builder was right. We can fix this!

Story Arcs in Sales

Storytelling is everything in sales.

No story, no sales.

You light the path for your customers to solve their problems.

This blog by IDEO-U is a good explanation of Story Arcs: https://www.ideou.com/blogs/inspiration/how-to-choose-a-story-arc-for-your-presentation

[BTW I’m a big fan of IDEO. As a design agency they helped engineer the first computer mouse for Steve Job’s Apple in 1984. One of the requirements was that it needed to roll smoothly on Job’s jeans!]

My favourite Story Arcs in selling are:

  1. In Media Res (bit like a Pulp Fiction movie)

  2. The Hero’s Journey

In Media Res captures the audience quickly if designed well. I was on a 4WD bus from the pit to the mine camp, with two burly miners on either side of me. They were angry and sharing some very colourful language…

Hero’s Journey is classic. And most people like to listen to classic.

The Secret Proposal Structure

I want to share with you a secret.

Not “The Secret”.

But a tool that has enhanced my sales for the past 15 years.

It was introduced in first MBA class (Business Communication).

The secret is still out there. But you need to try it to comprehend its value.

This six-step pattern will improve your communication with anyone. I wrote the letter example.

You can connect with someone and bring them across, like a bridge to your side or perspective.

What you are offering is not free. Everything has a price.

If you can follow the pattern, you will be an influential person.

It could be applied to anything. A slide deck. A 200-page proposal, or a 30-second YouTube advertisement.

The options are endless.

Try it. Prove me wrong.

No Money… No Honey

She was confused about the company’s response to the proposal.

My friend was familiar with the company and had earlier provided smaller work packages for it.

The buyer expressed strong interest at the start. But they could not yet commit to a date. It was now slipping over three months.

When selling to a company, there are a lot of moving influences to track.

Miller Herman’s explains buyer influences through these terms:

  • UBI: User Buyer Influence

  • TBI: Technical Buyer Influence

  • EBI: Economic Buyer Influence

  • Coach

The important roles are Coach and EBI.

The coach unlocks the mystery of the buyer’s decision making.

The EBI is different in every company. Not necessarily the most senior person.

They pull the economic strings.

EBI’s can be hidden. Some people think they are EBI’s but they are only UBI’s or TBI’s.

Now getting back to my friend. She was confused about the mixed signals.

But she discovered one valuable perspective. When a buyer says yes to a small business, they should be ready to make a deposit. It should be in the non-trivial range of 50%.

It shows the small business operator they are committed.

You can then schedule your delivery plans.

Without a deposit opportunity is flapping in the breeze.

Another way of putting it: no money… no honey.

Your daily checklist will save your bacon

The beauty of being in sales is having the freedom to schedule and run your day.

Your manager has no idea of what you are doing, and neither does anyone else. So long as you are reaching your targets, they leave you alone.

It’s an awesome career if you think about it.

There will still be resentment from others who think you are overpaid. But having a sales target would be their worst nightmare.

Your big sales opportunities move along small hinges. I have enjoyed managing a detailed daily checklist to ensure I am focussed and get the results I need.

It gives me a thrill to mark each completed activity with a highlighter!

You need to do a lot of thinking and the checklist is a good way to manage that process.

Know in your mind where each of your top opportunities are. Do not make assumptions. Stay close to the customer until the deal is done. I love it.

Apart from being a dad, its the best job in the world!

Returning to the buyer that ghosted you

I decided to go back to a buyer who ghosted me receiving my proposal.

He did not seem the type to behave this way. But some people are uncomfortable about being open about how they really think.

I let it go for a couple of months. And this week I sent a brief email, thanking him for the opportunity and to ask for feedback.

Any response would be a positive.

And surprise surprise!

He immediately wrote back and said the decision was deferred. ¸This has now given me a window of opportunity to visit him next week and reestablish the relationship.

I still don’t know why he ghosted me, but it is good to be speaking with him again. When you have contact with the customer, you can have influence.

Storytelling Basics

One of the biggest mistakes companies make is communicating how good they are.

This can be obvious through their website and LinkedIn profile.

  • We are so good.

  • We are an awesome place to work.

  • We are the best in our category.

  • We know what you want.

  • You need us!

It’s a load of crap.

They fail to connect with their audience.

Their customer is the hero.

Billion dollar companies like Apple get it.

https://youtu.be/5sMBhDv4sik

It is always about the customers.

Their hopes and dreams.