How to Coach Yourself and Others How to Influence, Persuade and Motivate | Página 203

This technique reduces dissonance and makes it easier for prospects to say
yes to your final proposal. Even if it is a watered-down, easy request,
getting a yes to any request makes it easier to evoke the same response
down the road. Close with a series of questions — ideally six — that all
end with a yes. Desire increases with each yes, and decreases with each
no. Every time we say yes to a benefit, our desire goes up.
Voluntary
When getting commitments, start small and build up to larger
commitments later. You cannot force commitments. Long-term approval
has to feel like it comes from your prospects' own will, something they
want to do or say. They have to volunteer to test drive the car, write on the
contract, or request more information. When they make a commitment,
you can make the action more voluntary and solidify the commitment by
saying things like, "Are you serious? Do you really mean that? You're not
just pulling my leg, are you?"
Effortful
The more effortful and public the commitment is, the more commitment it
will create down the line. The more effort your prospects exert in making
the commitment, the more it seals the deal. You don't want to ask a
prospect to do something extreme but you do want them to exert extra
effort.
Remember the car dealer example? Car dealers often offer a great deal on
a car just to get people in the lot. The prospect then makes a commitment
to come in and look at the car only to find that it's already been sold.
Already committed to being there, they browse the lot and find another
car they like. They then start to fill out the paperwork, talking terms and
completing forms. These are all small effortful commitments that later
lead to full commitment. Many times, the car dealer will continue
obtaining these small commitments only to come back and say he can
only give $2,000 for the trade in instead of $2,500 like he promised. At
this point, the buyer has exerted so much effort and has created so many
small commitments that the extra $500 won't break the deal.

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