Small, Practical and Cost effective Principles of Persuasion in our daily lives.

These SMALL, PRACTICAL AND COST EFFECTIVE PRINCIPLES LEADS TO BIG DIFFERENCES IN YOUR ABILITY TO INFLUENCE AND PERSUADE OTHERS IN AN ETHICAL WAY... 

To harness the power of Persuasion, these principles are to be understood and employed ethically. 

1.RECIPROCITY 

2.SCARCITY 

3.AUTHORITY 

4.CONSISTENCY 

5.LIKING 

6.CONSENSUS 

I know we all are born persuaders, when was the last time a kid, your kid, your nephew, your niece, a cousin got you to do a thing for them? a thing you originally didn't set out to do, a thing you probably said to your self, "I wont give him/her this today, no matter what": or whatever it is you say to yourself in preparation for disciplining a kid. However we all fall for that innocence in their eyes, their sincere but false expressions, for parents, we see ourselves in these cute little creatures as they look directly into our eyes and ask for Favours, Permission and what not... YES WE ARE BORN PERSUADERS: as the earth rotates, you know, bringing about day and night, a few of us gradually transform into master persuades, as in any academic degree in the tertiary institution, all one need do is dedicate time into reading in-between the lines. To acquire a skill or some special knowledge, there is  nothing seven (9) months of intensive and diligent training can not do,think of it, what did you study in college for 4-5 years?, now assume there were no holidays, you had restricted fun time and there was a total eradication of irrelevant activities! you should had graduated in a year and dedicate the rest of your time into practicing. still have doubts? how long does it take to convert a full blown civilian at age 18-24 in to a soldier? takes even less to convert older civilians to privates and these guys are the heart of the military. 

For those who want to pick up tips that can be used immediately in family dealings, business transactions, negotiations, interpersonal relations etc, effective in 39 minutes, assuming you complete reading this post and pause in-between for it to sink, Two or three of the aforementioned are totally based on your abilities while others are based on the mind set of your targeted audience which is a good thing and it is what we want. 

1.  Reciprocity: The power of having someone thinking they owe you a favour is limitless. 

Most favours money won't earn. In other to receive more, you most likely should give. This is not to say that you won't receive if you don't give though.  

Here's an illustration in the Nigerian context: You go to an uncle to ask for funds tuition fees, he has it in mind to give you N35000 for a N31000 tuition fees, you get to his house with gift items worth less than N2000 as well as cakes and candies for the kids...yeah!  This goes to tell him you know what you are doing, you have some level of wisdom and courtesy and he thinks you are probably worth investing on. This goes on in his head without him necessarily processing it consciously. Automatically his mind is conditioned to change the figure, yes he was to give you your fess no doubt but by giving a little, it appeals to his consciousness and his subconscious to reciprocate the gesture, and almost immediately he goes in and comes out with a N50000(more or less) #wink.   This is applicable in different other sceneries,  the rest is up tou you really to think of a way of giving just the right kind of gestures to unlock the power of reciprocity.

2.Scarcity: Generally, people would want more of the things can have less of.  
Remember the aphorism, "Absence makes the heart grows "funder" ? Bozinga!!! Yes... That's as simple as it gets. Make your brand scarce by telling them what they stand to lose if there don't get on board asap.

Illustration: Once a deal goes online on an e-commerce site, dealdey.com, Jumia.com, konga.com yudala.com etc with a LIMITED TIME OFFER tag or a LIMITED STOCK AVAILABLE tag, sales of the item sky rockets. It tells the targeted audience you are trying to get (persuade) to buy your product  that there have a limited time to make up their mind and availability of stock is limited so they should skip the lengthy decision making phase and go ahead right to making a  purchase. For the Principle of scarcity to be effective your brand /proposal has to be unique as it is in personal relationship, you have to be unique to be missed, you have to be appealing, you have to be relatively good, the heart can then"consider" growing "funder "in your absence #wink.

3. Authority: People will instinctively follow the lead of a credible and knowledgeable expert.

In a civil dispute, who would you listen to? who would you be more comfortable handling the situation? a regular passer by, a police officer in uniform, a military personal on civilian outfit or a kings man/ states man?
Illustration: if you walk into two sales representative offices at different times and locations, for the first sales rep office, his 1 Billion worth of sales deals over 20 years displayed all across the room and at the other office, nothing of such... who would you go back to the next time you are looking to sell or buy? 

A lawyers office where his accolades are displayed vividly for all to see,  his list of all court cases won, all cases that didn't get to trials e.t.c. and in another lawyers office, not so much, what would your line of though be?

Identifying authorities gives you the utmost confidence in the abilities of whom you've come to or who you've choose to represent you. 

Quick question :
A two star-general and a one star-general with a medal of honour who would you pick to be a part of your security detail? Tough call?
For corporate organisations,SME's : get someone to blow your whistle for you while you spend more time in finding solutions and closing deals for your firm; a front desk executive should take calls and read out your portfolio to clients and prospective clients...
Illustration: Welcome to Puzzles... oh that, please hang on a second, I will put you through to our top sales representative, he has over 20 years experience in sales with over a billion naira sales under his belt.........
This alone brings comfort to the listener. 

4. Consistency: Whatever technique or tactic you employ,  be consistent with it.  

This helps defines your character and the content of your character is a major tool is Persuasion. 
illustration: if one is to begin and coordinate a "keep the University of Calabar clean" initiative, he passes a hand bill around for couple of weeks in support of the cause "keep the University of Calabar clean",for a month,  he comes again in the following weeks with another hand bill SAY NO TO CULTISM and a week or month later, yet another,  LET'S SAY NO TO TRIBALISM... Compare the response from his audience to one in which in the first week, he brings a "keep the University of Calabar clean" hand bill and the next month, he brings in a banner "keep the University of Calabar clean" and in the months to come, he set up a billboard with the same "keep the University of Calabar clean"message,  now you see diversity and creativity in his consistency yeah?

Quick question: how would his audience receive, treat and and support his initiative in comparison to the first? 

5. Liking: People often say let's go straight to business... time is money. 

While this is  time effective, it aids you lose potential clients before you bring them to the negotiations table even. If already at the negotiation table, this would prolong negotiations and few times unprofessional conducts from both parties.

Time is Money yes... However in the art of Persuasion, it's totally wrong.
What you want to do is: Exchange  pleasantries and personal information, identify similarities, ask for pictures of family members and their general well being, THEN BEGIN. always remember, Genuine compliments comes before you get down to business. 

6: Consensus: Rather than relying on our own ability to persuade others, use others peoples records to persuade. consensus totally rocks. we humans are uncertain. 

people will look into the actions and behaviors of others to determine their own

Using consensus in negotiations is an amazing tool especially when the persons we are in negotiations with are uncertain. 

 Point out to what many others are doing particularly what many similar persons are doing and how in turns helps the world, city, people (humanity) in someway. People will look to the actions and behaviors of others to determine their own. 

Illustration: the next time you walk into a road side eatery and see this post at almost every turn "70% of our customers show appreciation for our  services rendered by donating an amount equivalent to their satisfaction into this jar, donations at the end of the year is used to feed, clothe and pay bills of those in need"  What would your reaction be to this consensus post?
These SMALL, PRACTICAL AND COST EFFECTIVE PRINCIPLES LEADS TO BIG DIFFERENCES IN YOUR ABILITY TO INFLUENCE AND PERSUADE OTHERS IN AN ETHICAL WAY... 

Warm regards,
@dandaviddolph

inspiration: INFLUENCE AT WORK