A vital factor in any business from the one-off entrepreneur to the largest global corporations is the ability to influence people’s attitudes, perceptions, and ultimately their behavior. Before you can practice your abilities to influence people, you must understand the power of influence and persuasion. The first step in the process is to understand the definition of influence.
The best definition is offered by one of the world’s leading experts on influence, persuasion, and negotiation Dr. Robert Cialdini as told in his interview for Guy Kawasaki’s great book “Reality Check.” Dr. Chialdini, a psychology professor at Arizona State University and Ph.D defines influence:
“Influence means creating change in some way. Change can be in an attitude, it can be in a perception, or a behavior. But in all instances, we can’t lay claim to influence until we can demonstrate that we’ve changed someone.”
Six Universal Principles of Influence
1. Reciprocation: People give back and treat you the same way you treat them
2. Scarcity: People are motivated to “seize the opportunities” of a limited offer that you provide to them if they realize the supply of this offer is rare or in dwindling availability
3. Authority: The greater your knowledge and credibility on a subject is the easier it is to persuade people
4. Commitment: People will feel the need and obligation to “comply with your request” if it is consistent with what they have publicly agreed (committed) to in your presence
5. Liking: The degree to which people know and like you is the main factor in their preference to say “yes” to you
6. Consensus: People love company in most decisions. If you give them evidence that others, just like them, have said yes to you, they then “will be likely” to say yes to you more often than not
