When it comes to influence what are the principles that we can rely on?

When it comes to influence what are the principles that we can rely on?

There are six universal principles of influence. If we use them as touchstones, they will allow us to be significantly more successful in our influence attempts. They are:

• Reciprocation. Do unto others.... People give back to you the kind of treatment that they’ve received from you. If you do something first by giving something of value (more information or a positive attitude) it will come back to you, possibly in a different form.

• Scarcity. People will try to seize opportunities that you offer, especially if they believe they are rare or reduced availability. This is an important reminder that we need to differentiate. What we have to offer needs to be different from our rivals and competitors. In this way, we can tell people honestly “You can only get this product, service or feature from me.”

• Authority. People will be most persuaded by you when they see you as having expert knowledge and credibility on the topic. You’d be surprised how many fail to properly inform their audience of their genuine credentials before launching into an influence attempt. That’s a big mistake and leads to an uphill struggle.

• Commitment. People will feel a need to comply with your request if they see that it’s consistent with what they’ve publicly committed themselves to in your presence. The implication there is to ask people to state their true priorities, commitments and features of the situation that they think are most important. Then align your requests or proposals with those things. The rule for consistency will cause them to want to say yes to what they’ve already told you they value.

• Liking. People prefer to say yes to your request, in relation to the degree that they know and like you. No surprise there but a simple way to make that happen is to uncover genuine similarities or parallels that exist between you and the person you want to influence. That person is going to like you more and be more willing to move in your direction.

• Consensus. People will be likely to say yes to your request if you give them evidence that other people like them (good decision makers) have been saying yes, to it too. I saw recent study that showed if a restaurant owner puts on the menu “This is our most popular item” than it immediately becomes more popular.