8 Persuasion Techniques That Will Help You Get What You Want!

Today’s post is going to introduce you to some persuasion techniques typically used in marketing that you can employ strategically in your personal life.

Give Me a Minute Before We Start…

Crap! Before we get to those persuasion techniques, I need to go book a flight home for my Dad’s retirement party this summer.  There were only 3 seats left at the price I was willing to pay. I need to book now before they are gone.  Be right back!

Ok, I’m back.  Sorry about that.  Flight to Toronto booked!  Whew, I almost missed out!

Hey, I Need Your Opinion on Something…

We will get to the persuasion techniques in a minute but first I need your advice on something. Both these girls hit me up on Tinder, which one do you think I should go out with, Vixen A or Vixen B?

A	B

You took too long to respond so I ended up choosing Vixen B – the one in red.  There was just something about her that was more attractive.  By the way, thanks for nothing.

Right, on to the persuasion techniques…

But First, About the Girl in Red…

We went to dinner last night, it was good. Food was good, she was very sweet and alluring, but something unusual happened when it came time to pay the bill. I am usually a good tipper but for some reason, I had the urge to tip even more than usual.  I wonder if it had something to do with the 4 mints that were placed on the bill? Maybe the server had an idea of the ‘festivities’ to come later that night and wanted my breath to be on point. Good looking out Sasha!

Oh, one last thing before we get to the persuasion techniques.

Vixen B Told Me One of the Reasons She Was Attracted to Me Was…

Even though we ‘met’ on Tinder, we had seen each other around.  After a couple glasses of wine, she really opened up and told me that one of the reasons she was so attracted to me was because she had seen me out with some other cute girls recently. Hmmm, interesting.

Next thing I know she dropped a bit of a bomb…

You See, Girls with More Than 2 Cats Are Usually a Big Red Flag to Me

But for some reason, the way Vixen B acknowledged and took responsibility for her cat obsession seemed to endear her to me that much more.  I am still trying to figure out how she did it because, in the past, multiple cats (she has 5) have been a real deal breaker for me…

Enough about Vixen B…Finally, let’s move on to the persuasion techniques!

Hang on, I forgot to do something…

I have a bunch of Howie’s weekly videos I need to edit, but I just remembered the free 30-day trial for the video editing software I am using ends today. It is pretty kick ass and I don’t want to go through the learning curve with a different piece of software. So, give me a minute while I go online and buy the lifetime access.

When it rains, it pours! Sorry about this, the phone is ringing. I think it’s Howie.

Give Me A Minute, I Need to Answer It…

You won’t believe this.  He wanted my advice on buying matching Yoda backpacks for Bri and Andrew for their wedding gifts as they are on sale for $36.99 – (the original price was $47.99).

My advice? Buy them you should. Love them they will!

I feel bad, I keep promising to get to the persuasion techniques, but I keep getting distracted.

Actually – that isn’t quite true.  All 7 persuasion techniques I wanted to cover in today’s post have already been covered, I sneakily worked them into my story above.

Let’s quickly summarize them and discuss how you can use them.

Use It or Lose It – Persuasion Techniques

Scarcity and Urgency – Persuasion Technique #1

The airline saying there were only 3 seats left at the price was a textbook example of scarcity and urgency.  The idea is to create scarcity and urgency to persuade people to purchase before they miss out.

How You Can Use It:  When dating, don’t be too available. Create a little scarcity and get a life!

Psychology of Color – Persuasion Technique #2

Vixen B from Tinder persuaded me by wearing red to look more attractive and it worked, I picked her.  In fact, color does have an enormous impact on our behavior.  According to a study, people decide on a product within 90 seconds and according to this study, color is responsible for between 62-90% of their decision!  FYI – red, orange and yellow are associated with energy, excitement, power, and happiness.

How You Can Use It:  According to studies, wearing red makes both men and women more attractive to the opposite sex.  So, ‘get your red on!’

Reciprocity Principle – Persuasion Technique #3

By leaving the mints on my check, the waitress was employing the reciprocity principle which simply states that doing something for someone else will make them want to reciprocate and do something nice for you.  Interestingly, a study done showed that a mint left on a check increases tips by 3.3%, and if the server looked them in the eye and gave them a second mint while telling them it was just for them – tips skyrocketed to 20% more than the usual tip.

How You Can Use It:  Be a nice person and give to others without expecting anything in return. The reciprocity principle says that a lot of times you will, in fact, get something in return.

Social Proof – Persuasion Technique #4

By seeing me with the other girls, the vixen in red was persuaded by social proof that I must be a real catch if other girls wanted to hang out with me. Another one fooled, ha! Social proof is exactly that, many times we base our opinions on the opinions of others, if enough people like something, it must be good. Think about it – would you rather go to a restaurant that is busy or one that is empty? It’s also the reason many nightclubs have lines!

How to Use It:  If you are trying to get your sons to eat their vegetables, tell them that ‘the Rock’ eats vegetables, so if they want to get big muscles like him they need to eat their veggies.  If you have a little girl, I suppose you could use Kim Kardashian as an example, wait, on second thought…

Highlighting Your Flaws – Persuasion Technique #5

By telling me about her cat obsession Vixen B made herself a bit vulnerable which made me want to trust her more. I’m glad she told me, that way meeting Mr. Whiskers, Snowball and the rest of the ‘purrfect’ posse on my first trip to her condo wasn’t too much of a shock.

How to Use It:  Just another reason to always be your real and authentic self. People appreciate realness, it makes us more trustworthy. We are all flawed and in many cases, it’s what makes us unique and more endearing.

Foot in the Door – Persuasion Technique #6

The video editing software getting me to sign up for a free-trial was a classic example of foot in the door. They gave me a free-trial, got me to use it and like it and then I ended up buying it because the switching costs were too high.

How to Use It:  If you need to ask someone for something and are uncomfortable with the big ask right away, ask for something smaller first and work your way up to the bigger ask.

Anchoring – Persuasion Technique #7

The 7^th and final persuasion technique was the ridiculous Yoda backpacks that Howie got ‘Briandew’ for their wedding gift.  The first price you hear anchors you to the value you think it’s worth, then they get you with the lower price.  By the way, if Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez were ‘Bennifer’ then Brianne and Andrew are ‘Briandrew’ – or Yoda 1 and Yoda 2 if you prefer.

How to Use It:  When negotiating, always go higher to anchor the other person so that they rely too heavily on the first piece of information.

 Well, that’s it for today’s post on persuasion techniques!

“But wait!” you say, “you said in the title that you were going to teach us 8 persuasion techniques, that’s only 7!”

Ok, ok – hold your horses. You are right, I did forget to give you the 8^th one.

And I will, but first I need a quick favor from you.  You see those social sharing icons on the bottom of this post?  I would really appreciate if you clicked on one of those bad boys and shared this post with people that you care about who you think would enjoy it.

Also, see the persuasively colored ‘red’ box below here? If you haven’t already, please do me a second favor and subscribe to our weekly blog posts summary. That way you will get a summary of our posts from the week in your inbox every Saturday morning!

Note: if you have already subscribed you won’t see the little red box, so just ‘visualize’ it being there!

That brings us to…

The Ben Franklin effect – Persuasion Technique #8

Which is what I just used on you.  It states that we like people more if we do them a favor.  So, I just killed two birds with one stone – I got you to like me more, while hopefully getting you to share this entertaining and actionable blog post.

How to Use It:  Don’t be afraid to ask people to do you favors!

Until next time…‘with you may the force be’, and as always…PYMFP!

–        Rick

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