How to Coach Yourself and Others How to Influence, Persuade and Motivate | Page 238

doing the wave at sporting events; going to popular dance clubs when you
don't enjoy the surroundings; being afraid to raise your hand in class to
ask a question; franchise owners having their athletes sign their contracts
in public; stacking the top ten most popular books right in the entryway of
a bookstore; choosing restaurants according to which have the longest
lines or the most cars; choosing movies according to which ones everyone
is talking about; washing our hands in public restrooms only when
somebody else is watching; and restaurants seating their first patrons near
the window for everyone else to see.
Sometimes theaters even employ "professional audience members," or
claques, to start laughter, clapping, and even standing ovations! When
audience members see others stand and cheer or applaud, they are more
inclined to do so. Performers commonly "salt the tip jar" by placing some
money in the jar themselves. When people see that others have already
made contributions, they assume this is the appropriate and acceptable
thing to do. Salting the tip jar is a common practice among pianists,
bartenders, bus drivers, and even the homeless on the street. Even in
churches, the practice of "salting the collection plate" is often employed.
People are more inclined to donate if they are passed a plate that already
holds some bills.
Researchers from Arizona State University reported that before one of
Billy Graham's televised crusades, his organization had coached
thousands of volunteers on when to come up front, when to sing, and
when to clap, all to give the appearance of great, religious intensity.[5] In
televised fundraisers people manning the phones are instructed to pretend
they are talking to someone when the camera turns their way, to make it
appear that there is a huge volume of calls. This gives social validation to
the at-home audience that this charity is popular and an acceptable
organization to which to donate money.
Your video rental stores use social validity as a means of increasing
rentals on high-profit movies. Older movies return the highest profit for
video rental stores. When storeowners noticed that many customers check
the return stacks to see what videos other people were watching, they had
workers put older movies into the return bin. Social validation increased
the rentals of the older movies significantly.
Do you recall MCI's "Friends and Family" campaign? The result was a
gain of ten million customers in less than ten years! If we believe friends
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