Wanted to share a link with you to a very interesting post by Alex Moskalyuk as he summarizes the book Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive by Noah Goldstein, Steve Martin, and Robert Cialdini.  I’m definitely going to pick this one up.

Some of the items I found most interesting are below.

5. Too many options necessitate selection, and hence frustration, when brain decides it’s unnecessary work.

This is an interesting one, and something that I’ve read about in other books, for example Made to Stick. For some reason people can’t process that much information and would rather make no decision at all.  The example in Made to Stick dealt with selling Jams, and having only a few flavors yielded much higher sales.  How can you reduce the number of options you’re providing your users to ensure conversion?  Do you need a dozen different products or license options?  In a time when it seems like everyone wants different options, it’s interesting to see that simple is still effective.

17. Writing things down improves commitment.

I agree here, but would emphasize one of the points that seems to have gone unnoticed in the post.  While writing it down will improve commitment, writing it down and being accountable to someone is what will significantly increase commitment.  Writing down something and keeping it to yourself helps, but it’s too easy to rationalize why you don’t have to follow through.  Even if the other person provides no other consequences than just to have known about the commitment it still has significant impact.  Have your customers and employees write down their commitments, and give them to someone.  In addition, if you want to force yourself to do something, use the same persuasion on yourself.  Just look at this blog.  By writing my commitment to posting twice a week, and making myself accountable to the readers (regardless of how many there are! ) helps persuade me to stick to it.

28. Admitting your wrong makes people trust you more.

This has been true for me in many situations.  So many people are too worried about their appearance that they will not admit when they’re wrong, even when everyone else knows it.  A simple apology can go a long way, and builds significant trust because if they know you will tell the truth when it’s difficult, it’s easy to trust you on the easy things.  Trust is the foundation for power and influence, so anything to help build it is worth the uncomfortableness of admitting a mistake.

47. Face time still beats email time.

This one is fascinating, especially with all the online communication today.  I’m curious what the demographics were of the control study, and whether younger subjects would produce the same results.  Either way, what can you do to gain the additional cooperation and effectiveness of face time if you really are distributed across the country?  For me, teleconferences have always been an effective way to build that additional relationship.  While not extremely common among business yet, video conferences will further narrow the gap when face time just isn’t feasible.

Which items stick out to you?  How can you use them in your daily life to help in your influence with others?  Do you have other tactics you use for persuasion not listed?  Do you think it’s “unfair” to use some of these tactics on others?  Let us know.