A former coworker and good friend Nancy Edwardsshared an article from Southwest’s Spirit Magazine titled “Chasing Beautiful Questions.” In the article I came across a quote from Steve Quatrano of the Right Question Institute:
“A question is like a flashlight that we shine into the darkness, allowing us to move forward into the unknown and uncertain.”I loved the analogy of a question being like a flashlight because it’s so memorable! I also like it because asking good questions is a big part of being an effective persuader. When it comes to the principle of liking – it’s easier for us to say yes to those we know and like – questions are key to finding out what you have in common with another person. What we have in common with someone (similarities) is a proven way to engage the liking principle. Think about people you know who are from your hometown, have the same pet you do, enjoy the same hobbies or root for the same sports team. Studies show it’s easier for them to like you AND it’s easier for you to like them. The end result is it makes it easier for them to say “Yes” to you.You can learn these things a number of ways – ask people who know the person you want to persuade, Google them, check out Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. Or, when you’re with the other person you can shine the light of good questions to try and find out what you have in common so you can use those things to connect.Good questions also come in handy when you want to engage the principle of consistency. This principle of influence explains the reality that people want to be consistent in what they say, do, believe, etc. Typically people don’t resist their own values, attitudes and beliefs. If you know those things and can align your request to show the other person how what you’re asking lines up with those beliefs, values, attitudes, or past behaviors, it will be easier for them to say yes to whatever you’re asking.In much the same way that you discover similarities you can discover these things to engage consistency. Talk to people who know the person you’re tying to persuade, do an online search, and look at Facebook or LinkedIn.One last place questions come in handy is during the sales process, with scarcity. This principle highlights the truth that people respond more to what they might lose than what they might gain. Telling someone what he or she might lose by not going with your suggestion is effective persuasion but there’s a better way. Asking questions that highlight potential loss is a much more effective persuasion strategy. For example, in my industry, insurance, an insurance agent might ask the following of a prospective customer if they discover some deficiency in their insurance program: Agent – If you were to have a catastrophic loss, would you expect the insurance company to completely replace your building?Prospective Client – Of course I would. That’s why I carry insurance.Agent – I thought that would be the case but the reality is you don’t carry enough insurance to fully replace your building. You’d have to pay more than $200,000 out of pocket. Did you know that?Prospective Client – No, I thought I was fully covered!By asking the right questions the agent is shining the light on a dark place, a place the customer had not considered. When the customer voices what he wants that solidifies his desire even more. And this approach drives home the potential loss much more than the agent telling him what he might lose.So whether you want to connect with someone using liking, engage them with consistency or highlight possible loss, good questions are the way to go. They will shine a light to allow you to see things previously hidden and increase your chance for persuasion success. 
Brian Ahearn, CMCT® Chief Influence Officer influencePEOPLE Helping You Learn to Hear “Yes”.Cialdini “Influence” Series! Would you like to learn more about influence from the experts? Check out the Cialdini “Influence” Series featuring Cialdini Method Certified Trainers from around the world.
Why Nudges Work?
The inaugural Behavioural Exchange was held in Sydney, Australia earlier this month and it had a great line up of academics, policy makers, business leaders and everyone in between. Unfortunately due to previous commitments I was unable to attend but I have been following the news and articles that have spawned from the exchange, including one written by Ben Newell exploring the question of Why Nudges Work.
For the readers of this blog you are not new to the fact that Governments have been exploring the field of Behavioural Economics and how they can use them to change behaviour in the payment of tax bills, option taking in health care, and the use of energy. For the most part many of the articles I have read about the exchange have quoted the success of Behavioural Insights and how Nudge Units all over the globe are changing behaviour one nudge at a time.
The interesting thing about Newell’s article is he asks the question, why do nudges work? In a connected sort of way I delved into his article because this is the same premise behind my interviews with leaders, to find out not so much about what works but if they know why it works.
In the article Newell referenced Academic and author of Nudge, Richard Thaler and his reminder to the conference that the issue of failing to replicate successes and learning from failed nudges is critical.
Therefore knowing there are 6 Principles of Persuasion is one thing. But in understanding Dr Cialdini’s methodology behind them, knowing there are certain triggers for each principle and things that amplify thir use starts to get you into the why that Newell was discussing. Going deeper still though by understanding Dr Neidert’s Core Motives Model you now know when to use each principle and why it is more likely to work than not. So my friend, as a graduate of the Principles of Persuasion Workshop you are miles ahead of others who are just attempting to replicate what they read or observe. Because you not only know what is happening but why it is happening.
But before we pat ourselves on the back too solidly, let’s return to Dr Thaler’s comment about failure to replicate. It is great to have a persuasive success but how often are you delving into why it worked and even more importantly if you have persuasion failure why it occurred? When I speak to many POP graduates they are always happy to tell me about their successes and not so keen to explore the failures; and it is through asking questions that I have discovered and that many of them don’t know why a particular approach was not successful.
Error based learning is a fantastic tool to evolve and hone our persuasive skill set. To employ it effectively however you mustn’t just put your failure away in a drawer and blame the tools. Instead pull it apart, look at why your approach didn’t have the impact or result you were hoping for and dig into the “why”. It is this process of reviewing your persuasion activities and learning why things work and do not work that will make you an infinitely better persuader.
As Newell points out in his article “ It is worth remembering that much of the pioneering work of Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky – on which Behavioural Insights are based – focused on situations when people’s reasoning did not “work”.”
The key problem I see is all too often once something is seen to work there is a temptation to scrap the testing and measuring that identifies why it works or doesn’t work and in Newell’s words leaders just want to“run with it”. It is crucial, however, for the continued success of the field that these replications are done (despite the clear practical challenges), and that failures to replicate are reported.
Focusing a little more on the “why” and “why not” questions might just provide the kinds of insights necessary to nudge the field forward.
Thanks Ben Newell for writing a great and though provoking article. If you want to check it out have a look below:
Source: Newell, B (2014) Comment: ‘Nudging’ people towards changing behaviour, what works and why?
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/06/05/comment-nudging-people-towards-changing-behaviour-what-works-and-why
The post Why Nudges Work? appeared first on Social Influence Consulting Group.
Influencers from Around the World – You Think You Don’t Have Authority? You’re Wrong!
Our “Influencers from Around the World” post this month is courtesy of Hoh Kim. Hoh has been guest writing for so long I’m hard pressed to tell you something that hasn’t been said before so I’ll tell you this – I am very thankful I met him in January 2008 when we trained together under Robert Cialdini. Hoh and I have remained friends ever since and I’ve enjoyed our communication and getting to know each other even more. I encourage you to visit his website, The Lab h, and his blog, Cool Communications. You’ll also find Hoh on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. 
Brian Ahearn, CMCT® Chief Influence Officer influencePEOPLE Helping You Learn to Hear “Yes”.You Think You Don’t Have Authority? You’re Wrong?Do you ever find yourself thinking you don’t have any authority because you’re not the boss, a C-suite executive, a celebrity or something else like that? I’m here to tell you that you do have some authority! 1. Let me ask you this question first. Do you have experiences? Of course you have experiences. If you have experiences then you must have some expertise. Seth Godin, one of the world’s most respected marketing experts said, “Everyone’s an expert (at something).”So ask yourself, in what area do you have better, deeper and more experience? One good way to find your expertise is to write an “experience resume.” A typical resume will show you where you worked, which school you attended and what jobs you’ve held. An experience resume lists experiences, maybe up to fifty, you’ve had during your lifetime. It could contain trips, work, cooking, art, baby-sitting, reading, etc. You will find your expertise from the list by looking for patterns in the experiences or through connecting the dots among experiences. Here is a personal example; I like to teach and I like communication consulting in business as opposed to working as a full time teacher in a school or university. By combining those two I became a business coach. Also, I enjoy workshop facilitation and I like LEGOs so I learned LEGO Serious Play, a method of using LEGOs for business strategy development. Now LEGOs are one of the major teaching methods I use during my workshops.2. Once you identify your expertise you need to consider what evidence or symbols give other people proof of your expertise. Without having some evidence your expertise will not be perceived as such by your customers. Questions to be asked include: a) What advanced education or certification have you earned in your area of expertise? b) What awards or recognition have you earned? c) Have you written articles, books or contributed to other publications in your area of expertise? Don’t worry if you do not have enough evidence to support your authority yet. That means it should be part of your plan to obtain that evidence moving forward. Someone might say, “I don’t need evidence!” Perhaps. After all, neither Steve Jobs nor Bill Gates graduated from college. However, most of us are not Steve Jobs or Bill Gates! They now have tremendous evidence based on their amazing business results and great product innovations. That is the evidence to support the fact that each is a respected authority. Each of us has to have some evidence if we want to be recognized as experts in certain areas.3. Lastly, to build your authority you need to have E3 = Experiences, Expertise and Evidences. If you’re a manager here is one more very important tip. One of the key roles for managers is to help build their team member’s authority. Ask the above questions to your members and help them to identify their personal authority. If they need more evidence to support their authority you can come up with a plan to help them, including training or a project assignment. If you’re good at this you will be a successful manager.Here’s the bottom line – Authority is waiting for you to use! It just needs to be discovered then developed.Today’s column is based on my recent webinar “The Cialdini’s Influence Series for Managers.” In that webinar I talked about the principle of authority and while preparing I received help from two people with many experiences – Bobette Gorden of Influence At Work and Brian Ahearn. Thanks!
Hoh Kim, CMCT® Founder, Head Coach & Lead Facilitator, THE LAB h
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