Here it is, your big break – you have a meeting with the Donald! That’s right, Donald Trump has agreed to give you 15 minutes to pitch your idea. How will you go about persuading him to get a yes answer?
This week we’ll take a look at how best to persuade someone who is a pragmatic or driver personality. In my mind, Donald Trump is an off-the-charts pragmatic because he’s someone who is more task-oriented as opposed to relationship-focused and he likes to control situations and others. The following describes this personality type:
Pragmatics generally want quick results; are more focused on getting things done than chatting with people; prefer taking control of situations; sometimes act before thoroughly thinking things through; are assertive; not afraid to take risks; appreciate getting to the point quickly.
Because pragmatics are not relationship-oriented it will come as no surprise to learn in my online survey they chose answers that engaged reciprocity and liking far less than did the expressive and amiable personality types, two personalities that are people-focused much more than task-oriented. Some persuasion advice when dealing with a pragmatic:
Don’t be rude but don’t spin your wheels using the liking principle because they don’t care much about being your friend. Do you think Donald cares more about being your friend or possibly closing the deal? I bet he wants to close the deal.
Don’t try to pull the reciprocity lever by doing favors with an expectation that it will be a difference maker because it probably won’t help too much. Donald will gladly accept what you offer but it’s doubtful it will be top of mind for him to think about how to repay the favor.
Uncertainty can be bothersome for pragmatics so when they’re not sure what to do they tend to respond to a couple of principles more than others.
Pragmatics generally don’t care what everyone else is doing but it can be persuasive to tell them what others just like themare doing. While they don’t respond to the principle of consensus as much as other personalities it was nonetheless one of their top choices. Donald Trump doesn’t care what the run of the mill businessperson is doing but he cares what respected peers are doing so do some research and incorporate your findings into your presentation.
Sharing hard data or using the advice of perceived experts is the most effective route with this group.
Influencers from Around the World – The Crazy Effect
This month’s Influencers from Around the World post comes from
Social Proof in Social Media
Not long ago, as I scanned through my social media sites one morning, I came across a blog post where someone shared six reasons why they decided to give up alcohol. Curiosity got the best of me so I clicked on the link to find out why the author made that choice.
All of his reasons were valid and probably the best choice for him. What caught my attention more than his reasons were the comments that ensued. At the time I read the post, all 15 comments were from people who had also given up alcohol. There wasn’t one person who took the opposing view.
I decided to post a comment about why I choose to drink alcohol. To every point he shared I could make the opposite case as long as the drinking was in moderation. Despite the fact that according to a 2012 Gallup Poll 64% of Americans drink alcohol on occasion, I felt odd posting my comment because I was definitely in the minority.
It shouldn’t have surprised me that despite the fact that two out of three Americans drink, all the readers said they didn’t drink. As I thought about it two reasons came to mind.
The first reason was social proof (aka consensus or peer pressure). This principle of influence tells us the more people do something the more inclined others are to join in. In other words, we get our cues for socially acceptable behavior by looking at how others are behaving in the same situation.
This was a classic case of social proof in action because the more people posted about their experience, the more others felt free to do the same thing.