Why did I choose a book on persuasion and influencing others as my first book to review?
For my first book review, I’ve decided to use “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. Why would I use a book that is primarily focused on marketing? The reason is that while this book may be a marketing book, its real value lies in three things:
1. This book makes you aware of the tricks that clever marketers use to persuade you to buy, in very subtle ways.
2. This book lays out how to guard against the tools of persuasion presented within.
3. Enable you to use these tools to become better at sales and persuasion.
#2 is very important and easily represents the most important parts of the book. Knowing and being aware of these simple tricks is the first step to defending against them, then the book lays out the how of doing this. Knowing the motives and methods of those who would influence you is helpful advice that will enhance your life as you become more whole.
There are six "pillars of persuasion" that affect our decisions, often without our awareness.
The six “weapons” of influence that Dr. Cialdini goes over is as follows: Reciprocity, Commitment and Consistency, Social Proof, Liking, Authority, and Scarcity.
Reciprocity is the human drive of wanting to return favors done to us. Do someone a favor, and once they accept, they have an unspoken commitment to return it. If you’re thinking that this sounds similar to how “nice” people act, you’re right. The difference is that a favor accepted by a stranger will make anyone want to return the favor assuming that they’re decent people, “nice” or not. It’s simply the right thing to do. So, when someone is looking to influence you to take a certain action (such as buying a product), this is powerful. It will compel the other person take that action.
Commitment and Consistency is the drive to follow through on commitments and stay consistent to those commitments. If we agree to something small in order to appear a certain way, we will want to stay commitment to the fronts we put up. The example of an attractive young saleslady is used to illustrate how powerful this is.
Social Proof describes the tendency to take cues from other people to decide how to behave and what to actions to take in different situations.
Liking is the simple fact that we will tend to comply with the wishes of those people that we look upon favorably.
Authority is persuasive in that we tend to trust those in authority positions such as a policeman, businessperson, doctor or even anyone wearing any kind of official-looking uniform.
Scarcity is the very human trait of valuing products and opportunities more when it’s made scarcer. Telling someone “while supplies last”, is invoking the weapon of scarcity. FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) is an example of scarcity that many people are aware of.
Dr. Cialdini has a fun, engaging writing style that makes this a very entertaining read. You will nod your head in agreement at the examples and scenarios that are detailed, because you can easily think of events where you were in similar situations. The fact is, marketing is everywhere, and clever marketers are not above using any technique that they need to so that sales can be made. I ended up reading through this book over the course of a week and found it to be a highly enjoyable read. I was engaged and wasn’t bored in at all, even though marketing isn’t my forte.
This is one book that is as entertaining and fun to read as it is informative, eye-opening & thought-provoking!
As stated earlier, the gold in this book is how it details how you can protect yourself from these weapons of influence. While you certainly don’t need to be hyper-vigilant of these things every time you leave your home, it helps to be aware of the ways that you be influenced. It’s handy to know what’s going on the next time you’re looking to buy something, or when someone else is looking to persuade you into taking any form of action. Of course, it’s not limited to strictly selling. It can be any situation where you’re being persuaded in an ever-so-subtle, such as when you hear a laugh track in a sitcom, you are urged to sign some political petition (very likely at this time, given that it’s an election year.), or scanning through an ad on a newspaper or website.
Dr. Cialdini knows his stuff, and carefully lays out research studies that verify the effectiveness of these weapons of influence and a very entertaining way. I was expecting this book to be a bit on the bland, boring side, but I had a lot of fun and ended up reading multiple chapters at every sitting. There are all sorts of footnotes and everything has been professionally cited. The information is important for everyone to know, and while this isn’t a self-help book per se, the information within can certainly foster personal growth.
And any book that can help you grow as a person, is fair game for a review. I highly recommend it.
The author’s website, Influence At Work, can be found here.
For purchase on Amazon and other book retailers.
Rating 9.5 out of 10 – Highly recommended.