#16: The power of influence, with Robert Cialdini

On this episode, we tap into the power of influence, with Robert Cialdini.

You can’t move people to a decision unless you have pull. That magic power, of course, is influence – but you can’t simply conjure it up by waving a wand. Influence can be found by following six simple principles laid out by Robert Cialdini.

[powerpress]

Those principles form the basis of his seminal book, Influence, considered a must-read for anyone in selling. But it's not just for sales; the book and its concepts are important for anyone who wants to influence someone else – and really, who doesn't?

Part of what makes Robert's ideas so engaging are the decades of science and observation that support them. Some of the principles are not surprising – but Robert gets under the hood and explains why things work…and how to supercharge sales performance.

SHOW NOTES:

02:30  Robert started by talking about how insurance producers and financial advisors can apply the six principles to be masters of ethical influence.

04:05  The first of Robert’s six universal principles of influence is what he calls “reciprocation.”

05:00  As far as insurance goes, there's somewhat limited scarcity, other than maybe a client who couldn't qualify for it. With that in mind, I asked Robert for some ways to apply scarcity to insurance.

08:25  Robert talks about the third principle: authority.

09:55  Some people are afraid or reluctant to talk about themselves – yet Robert says this is THE most important thing. So, how do they overcome that reluctance?

12:55  How do you establish your trustworthiness if you haven't done so before the meeting, and there’s no third party to vouch for you?

15:15  The fourth principle is commitment and consistency. Robert talks about how those two seemingly separate concepts actually work together.

18:40  An important lesson: People live up to what they write down.

19:25  When it comes to consistency, Robert has a theory. He insists that people hide inside walls of mindless consistency to protect themselves from their own thoughts. So the question is: How do you disrupt consistency?

20:40  The request for commitment seems like a good strategy for other situations. One prime example is a job interview.

22:45  The fifth principle is liking and rapport building. While we’ve all heard the notion that people buy from those they like, Robert says it really goes well beyond that.

26:50  Besides finding similarities, how else can you get prospects and clients to like you? Is it a mistake to think you can control that in someone else?

29:25  Robert’s sixth and final principle is social proof.

34:45  In summary, Robert says the key to effectively using the six principles is to use them strategically, as tools.