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Persuasive Writing

Do you like receiving bills in the mail?  When you see one does your heart miss a beat fearing the loss the envelope may contain?  Do you enter a period of denial and leave the bills to one side and make a deal with yourself to open them later?

Do you have to send letters to others and suspect that this is their reaction to receiving the letter from you?

What is it about a bill or a formal letter that triggers this type of response?  Is it the window in the envelope?  Your logo? The generic typeface?

It appears that Danish mortgage bank BRF Kredit were sending letters to cash strapped home-owners to help them out of their situation but most were failing to respond.  BRF believed the fear the recipient had of the envelope was contributing to the non-response.

So what did they do?

Persuasive Writing

BRF replaced the standard fear inducing envelope complete with logo and replaced it with a normal plain envelope; one where the recipient’s name and address was handwritten onto it.

By using this approach across 1300 cases BRF state that it has been able to get 9 out of 10 home-owners back on their feet because they are engaging with the bank saving them and the bank between 100 and 150 million Danish kroner (18-27 million USD).

As the article doesn’t articulate whether any split testing was done (i.e. some envelopes sent with handwriting and the logo; handwritten with no logo; typed with no logo; and we know typed with logo resulted with no-response) we don’t know which attribute was more persuasive in having home-owners open the letter and subsequently read the offer of assistance provided by the bank.

While in the case of BRF we don’t know if it was the personalised address we do know that research conducted by Randy Garner in 2005 found that when a post-it note with a hand written request for the recipient to complete a survey was used, the response rate was significantly higher when the post-it note was attached and personalised.

The post-it note draws attention to the request and the personalisation triggers Reciprocity.

Fellow CMCT Brian Ahearn used this tactic to get $700,000 repaid after an accounting error and the UK Government used handwritten notes stating “This message is important” to boost tax compliance that they estimated for every dollar spent on handwriting returned $2000.

Don’t you think it worth a try!

So this week what will you handwrite?  Write the card, the envelope, the post-it note.  Show the effort and reap the rewards.

 

 

 

Sources:

http://politiken.dk/oekonomi/privatoekonomi/ECE1509255/haandskrevne-kuverter-faar-skyldnere-til-at-aabne-brevet/

Garner, R (2005) Post-It® Note Persuasion: A Sticky Influence. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 15(3), 230-237.

Ahearn, B (2012) http://influence-people-brian.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/700000-great-reasons-to-use-yellow.html

Freakonomics: http://freakonomics.com/2013/04/03/the-tax-man-nudgeth-full-transcript/

The post Persuasive Writing appeared first on Social Influence Consulting Group.

How To Influence A Crisis

Influence A Crisis

A recent post on the Harvard Business Review Linked In Group by Anastasia Bagryantseva was simply titled “A crisis is a terrible thing to waste”. 

Members obviously resonated with the comment as it attracted 458 comments and 237 Likes (I didn’t bother looking at the Likes on the Comments or Comments on the Comments – that would just be crazy!)

But here is a question for you:

What does the comment “A crisis is a terrible thing to waste” mean for you?

For me I reflect on all sorts of events in my life that could qualify as a crisis.  I have experienced periods that were traumatic and required a critical decision to be made.  I have experienced a number of turning points that qualify as a crisis.  I have experienced emotionally stressful events that due to the heights of conflict and tension required me to deal with it head on and resolve the situation so I continue on.  Each and every crisis required me to do something different.

In the HBR group Helmar Schmidgall offered a different comment “wars bring havoc as well as major breakthroughs in technologies and changes in society”

Helmar is absolutely correct.  Why is it that in war, a terrible crisis, are new technologies created and society evolves faster that it does normally?  The answer is war is the trigger.  It creates an opportunity for people to make a decision, to be influenced to do something different and/or to exert influence over others.

We have all experienced a crisis of one sort or another.  But regardless of the size, a crisis by definition is a crucial stage or turning point in the course of something.  Therefore whether the crisis is real or perceived it is a great opportunity to influence others because of the situation it creates – think of a crisis as a trigger for change!  Yes at times it will be a big hairy unwanted trigger but a trigger none the less.

A crisis as a trigger for change! 

Therefore if a crisis hits you or your organisation I can guarantee it will bring a healthy dose of uncertainty with it.  You often won’t know with certainty what you should do to resolve the crisis.  Therefore the use of Consensus and Authority will be extremely powerful in moving people in your desired direction.  If you are the one experiencing the crisis look outside of yourself toward the actions of those most like you or seek the advice of a recognised expert.

If the crisis involves others then look to the relationship.  This is the perfect time to build, repair or enhance your relationship with them – why because in a crisis no one wants to be alone!  Identify the things you have in common.  Work together to get through the crisis.  Praise them for what they are doing well.  If it is significant for them give them the gift of your time, expertise, network or effort.  Whatever you decide to do, show people they are not alone and don’t be afraid to throw the pronoun “we” around.  “We” is the fastest and easiest way to describe a relationship.  If it is you that is in crisis look to friends or those you have a working relationship to help you work your way through it.

Finally, be mindful of your reaction to the crisis.  If you, your organisation or someone else is experiencing a crisis, be careful of just focusing on the impending loss.  If Scarcity is at play and loss is a reality (hence the word crisis) be sure to show the other person the clear steps to move away from the loss.  If it is you, look to the steps you can take to mitigate loss and move out of the Scarcity mindset into a problem solving, action focused solution.

The biggest thing is breath.  Slow down and think about the opportunities you have to influence a crisis.

Here’s your chance!  Tell me about how you influenced (or could have differently influenced) your way out of a crisis!

 

 

The post How To Influence A Crisis appeared first on Social Influence Consulting Group.

LinkedIn Endorsements: Reliable or BS?

If you’re on LinkedIn then no doubt you’re familiar with the relatively new feature where you can endorse someone for his or her skills and expertise. This feature is akin to Facebook’s “Like” option.
Not too long ago I connected with someone on LinkedIn who I’d previously had no interaction with whatsoever. The person reached out to me because we shared a common interest. Within hours of connecting he endorsed me for the following skills: management, training, marketing, leadership, and business planning.
Now don’t get me wrong, I appreciate someone taking the time to endorse me but this struck me as odd because management and business planning are far from some of my stronger skills. There are things I’m much more skilled at, like persuasion, influence at all levels, coaching, sales, and sales management to name a few.
So why did I get these endorsements? Several reasons.First, my profile is pretty robust and creates a good impression (authority).Second, lots of other people have endorsed me (consensus).Third, LinkedIn makes it easy to endorse me for lots of skills.Now here’s the rub – a lot of the endorsements are BS. I say that because of the last point I made. LinkedIn has made it so easy to endorse people that it’s becoming meaningless. Recommendations are a far better gauge of someone’s skills and expertise because they mean the recommender has some direct experience with the person they’re recommending. Writing a recommendation takes more time and effort but didn’t our parents tell us things that take time and effort are worth more? I have nearly 1,600 contacts and the vast majority have never sat through my training, worked directly with me or even met me.

Another reason I think the endorsements are BS is because LinkedIn suggests them. By default many people just go with most or all of the listed skills even if they don’t have any real basis to make the endorsement.
Finally, consensus becomes unreliable. For example, my new contact endorsed me for management. It was suggested and now that he’s endorsed me, as have others, it creates the impression that management is one of my better skills. The more people that see that, the more they will endorse me. Do you think that makes me skilled at management? I don’t.
Reciprocityis yet another reason the endorsements should be taken with a grain of salt. Many people feel obligated to return the favor after having been endorsed. I visited my new contact’s home page when LinkedIn asked if he has the following skills: management, marketing, business planning, economics and macroeconomics. I don’t have any real idea and therefore can’t in good faith endorse him just because of what’s on his LinkedIn page and the pull of reciprocity.
For all the reasons noted above, I rarely endorse people. When I do, I do so because I have some basis for making the endorsement, not because LinkedIn asks me to or because I feel obligated to return the favor. I’ve actually declined to give recommendations when asked. I did so because I’d never worked directly with those people or even sat on a committee with them. In other words, I had no basis for making the recommendations.
If you’re considering hiring or doing business with someone undoubtedly you’ll check out their LinkedIn home page. After all, it’s the equivalent of a resume on steroids. When you notice their endorsed skills and expertise, if any apply to why you may do business with them, then here’s my simple suggestion: have several solid interview questions ready to help you determine if they’re all they’re cracked up to be. In other words, caveat emptor, buyer beware.