SIX Principles of Persuasion

Persuasion is a skill, which means we can all aim to learn this skill. After all this skill plays a significant role in sales.

If it’s that relevant let’s understand there are six principles that influence buying decisions, which means you can use them to your advantage when trying to persuade others to take a specific action or buy a specific product.

There are six principles -: Reciprocity, Scarcity, Authority, Commitment and Consistency, Liking and Consensus (or Social Proof) are based on the book “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion”

The first of the Six Principles of Persuasion is Reciprocity.

Humans value equality and balance to some extent. This means we don’t like to feel that we owe other people. Generally speaking, when people have these social obligations they try to settle them. In the world of work, it’s possible to use this principle of reciprocity by doing favours for others, helping people, publicly praising others and generally working in such a way as to build up a bank of social obligations owed to you. Each of these obligations will be settled at some point, probably to your advantage. Of course, if you’re too over the top with this type of behaviour, it will cease to work.

Reciprocity sums up to “I’ve scratched your back, now you scratch mine”.

The second of the Six Principles of Persuasion is Scarcity.

The less of something there is, the more people tend to want it. This holds true for experiences as well as for products. There’s not really much more to say about this one.

From a persuasion and influence perspective this means that to increase interest in your product or service, you may benefit from reducing its availability (or at least creating a sense of scarcity).

The third of the Six Principles of Persuasion is Authority.

Individuals who are authoritative, credible and knowledgeable in their fields are more influential and persuasive than those who are not. Part of the reason for this is that authority and credibility are some of the core building blocks of trust. When we trust people we are more likely to follow them.

What this means in the world of work is that building trust and credibility is very important, but it’s also possible to build some of that sense of authority through recommendations. It may be worth asking others to recommend you, or recommending others so that they feel a social obligation to recommend you in return.

The fourth of the SIX Principles of Persuasion is Commitment and Consistency.

People like to be consistent with their identity or sense of self-image. In other words, if I’m a person who thinks of myself as a “healthy” person, then I am committed to undertaking actions that I consider to be “healthy”.

From a persuasion and influence perspective, this means that if I can convince you to act in a minor way in relation to something, then you’ll think of yourself as that type of person and be more likely to act in that way again in the future.

The fifth of the Six Principles of Persuasion is Liking.

It might seem totally obvious, but people are much more likely to be influenced and persuaded by those that they like, than those that they don’t. The key here, though, is that you need to build these relationships and garner this “liking” before you try and influence others.

We see this principle played out often in the world of marketing and advertising. Nearly every advertisement you see will feature individuals designed to appeal to the product’s target market.

The last of the 6 Principles of Persuasion is Consensus or Social proof.

Humans are social by nature and generally feel that it’s important to conform to the norms of a social group. This means that when it comes to decision-making, we often look around us to see what others are doing, before making our mind up.

By managing your reputation and your personal brand, you can build social proof that favours you/your products/services.

There is a 7th one as well, in 2016 Cialdini announced the Principle of Unity. Which talks about the shared identity of the influencer that he/she shares with the influence. It’s going deeper than the liking principle, it’s about shared identities. For example, nationality, family, social groups, race, religion etc. Members within can influence the esteem of the others within these groups. And I personally think this is one of the powerful ones in the current scheme of world events.

Suffice it to say, understanding some of the techniques used to influence others will be useful. These techniques can help you in your efforts to persuade others. Alternatively, they can also help you in your efforts to resist influence from others. Just be clear in your motivations and your conscience when you use these skills.

This article is adapted from the book “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion” written by Robert Cialdini. In it, he explores factors that affect the decisions that people make, particularly in relation to sales and purchasing. Hope you find this read meaningful.