Risk & Business Magazine General Insurance Services Magazine Spring 2018 | Page 13

PRE-SUASION
“YOUR WEBSITE—
ESSENTIALLY
YOUR COMPANY’S
“CALLING
CARD”—IS THE
FIRST PLACE
CONSUMERS GO
TO LEARN ABOUT
YOUR BUSINESS.”
approach nearly doubled that of the first,
scoring a whopping 55 percent positive
response rate.
A third way of communicating
information prior to the introduction
of your message is through context. For
this example, a French experiment was
conducted in which an attractive male
approached a woman walking through a
shopping mall and boldly asked for her
phone number to arrange a date for some
future time. This gentleman didn’t score
too badly on this task, with around 13
percent of women offering their phone
numbers when the invitation took place
in front of an ordinary clothing boutique
or shoe store. But would his results
improve when the request was staged
in front of one of the most romantic of
shops—a flower store? You guessed it.
Our tester received phone numbers from
24 percent of the women he asked in this
scenario, nearly double that of the first
scenario. Essentially, the study found
that even a hint of romance can beat risk
under the right circumstances.
I experienced this effect firsthand some
years ago when approaching a contract
renegotiation with a particularly thorny
vendor. As usual, the meeting was slated
to take place at the vendor’s office with
groups in attendance from each of our
two companies. Arriving early for the
meeting, I made one simple change that
dramatically altered the tenor of the
meeting from contentious to cooperative.
What was that change? Rather than
our team sitting in a row on one side
of the table, leaving the opposite row
for the vendor’s team, we alternated
seating, leaving spaces available for
them in between our own chairs. What
resulted was a complete sea change in
how we worked together to get the job
done—an approach that stemmed from
a feeling of collaboration rather than
contentiousness.
One person that does this better than
anyone is the business tycoon Warren
Buffet, who in many of his letters to
shareholders will issue a “mea culpa,”
taking responsibility for some mistake
he has committed during the previous
investment period. The effect of such a
disarming statement is to immediately
instill a sense of trust in the reader, as
in, “If he is admitting to his mistake up
front, he must be an honest guy.” Once
he has connected with his reader in this
humbling way, Buffet could practically
sell his reader the next Brooklyn Bridge.
The takeaway from my research is that
advertisers and other businesspeople are
missing out on a golden opportunity:
those critical moments before you
actually deliver your message. Everyone
with something to sell—and that’s all of
us, frankly—should invest in some simple
research to see what messages motivate
our customers to buy. Would a change in
your website bac kground images do the
trick? A new headline for your advertising
campaign? What kind of trigger words,
images, and situations do the best job in
getting your prospective customers to
convert?
The answer will be different for every
business, but it’s worth it to spend some
time trying to unlock the code that works
best for yours. And while you’re doing
so, here’s another tip. In vetting your
next campaign idea, ask your co-workers
for their advice, not their opinion. That
small change in wording will suggest
collaboration and teamwork rather
than essentially asking your colleague
to turn inward to formulate a response.
In working together to brainstorm and
experiment with new marketing ideas,
you can hone your skills of “pre-suasion”
and soon see some very real results—
right on your bottom line. +
PRE-SUASION:
A Revolutionary Way to Influence
and Persuade
What separates effective communicators
from truly successful persuaders? Using
the same combination of rigorous
scientific research and accessibility
that made his Influence an iconic
bestseller, Robert Cialdini explains how
to capitalize on the essential window
of time before you deliver an important
message. This “privileged moment for
change” prepares people to be receptive
to a message before they experience it.
Optimal persuasion is achieved only
through optimal pre-suasion. In other
words, to change “minds” a pre-suader
must also change “states of mind.”
BY: DR. ROBERT CIALDINI,
CEO AND PRESIDENT,
INFLUENCE AT WORK
Dr. Cialdini is CEO and President of
INFLUENCE AT WORK; focusing on
ethical influence training, corporate
keynote programs, and the CMCT.
Dr. Cialdini’s clients include such
organizations as Google, Microsoft,
Cisco Systems, Bayer, Coca Cola, KPMG,
AstraZeneca, Ericsson, Kodak, Merrill
Lynch, Nationwide Insurance, Pfizer, AAA,
Northern Trust, IBM, Prudential, The
Mayo Clinic, Kimberly-Clark, The Weather
Channel, the United States Department of
Justice, and NATO.
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