How to Coach Yourself and Others How to Influence, Persuade and Motivate | 页面 257

that they thought they would like to read the book, while students who
had not read the restriction expressed significantly less interest.[14]
Restricting access to information or material often makes it that much
more appealing. Although this topic typically brings to mind material of a
sexually explicit nature, scarcity can apply to anything. Consider a form
of censorship at the University of North Carolina. When students learned
that a speech in favor of coed dorms was banned, they became more
smitten with the idea of coed dorms. It is of great significance to realize
that, without ever having heard the actual speech, the censorship alone
heightened the students' interest. The students didn't even need to hear the
speech to be persuaded to support or become more committed to the
notion of coed dorms.[15]
Think again about the study conducted by the University of Chicago Law
School that was discussed in Chapter 4, The Rule of Obligation. The Rule
of Scarcity was also at work in this scenario. When the judge ruled that
evidence on the defendant's insurance was inadmissible, and therefore had
to be disregarded, the jurors actually increased the award amount. The
censored information was actually embraced even more, jumping the
damage payment by $13,000![16]
Additional Forms of Scarcity in Marketing
Consider the following "scarcity" tactics we see day-to-day:










Clubs and restaurants that create exclusive membership
requirements
Disney videos and DVDs that are offered for sale once every five
years
Airlines that only hold your seat for twenty-four hours, informing
you that "These seats might sell out"
Collectors who specialize in hard to find antiques and rare
baseball cards
Special "by invitation only" sales
Going-out-of-business sales
Offers "not available" in stores
Exclusive, one-time offers
Memberships in an exclusive club

257