The Tricks of Persuasion

How often a day do you persuade someone? You persuade your children to get up and get to school. You persuade your boss to sign important documents. You persuade your partner to watch the TV show you want to watch instead of her/his choice. While often times it may not feel like it, we actually persuade others several times a day in the smallest of ways. Sometimes we succeed in convincing them and other times we fail. So how do you improve your rate of success? There are several tricks of persuasion to get better which are the art of your convincing, whether they are your children or your CEO.

(Public domain vectors, n.d.)

Go Bigger, Go Badder

Start with determining your task and then multiply that task by five and ask for that. Let’s say you need your boss to sign off on one piece of paper. Start by asking your boss to sign five different papers. If he turns you down then ask for that one paper you actually needed. Chances are he will agree.

When people are faced with a monumental task out of the blue they are likely to turn it down or put it off. However, they won’t want to entirely disappoint you so they will take the smaller task to show that they are still on your side. Now, this may not work with your mortal enemy but it is likely to work with people you are around often whether you are asking for paperwork or for a child to eat their green beans.

Start Small and Grow

Now reverse going big and start off with a very small task that can be accomplished quickly. Then add a little bit onto that task. And then add a little bit more until you are at your final goal. Perhaps now you do need those five papers signed. Start with asking your boss to sign that one paper and then add on another two and then another two. Soon you’ve got all five papers signed.

(Tabaka, 2020)

This technique builds off the idea that people will stick to their behavior once they have started something. If your boss agrees to sign a paper then he will probably stick to signing papers because he already agreed to be able to sign papers. Once people commit, they stay consistent.

Now, this only goes so far so be careful. If you ask your boss to sign one paper and add another five hundred on top of that one, then you may be packing your desk. Keep the additions on top of you. The initial task seems small and unburdening and you will go far.

(taegan, 2010)

Join the Bandwagon

In this case, we probably aren’t talking about a sports team bandwagon but that completely depends on you. You could also refer to this as the peer pressure idea. It probably won’t be a great choice to convince your boss of something but you might be able to use it on your children. The idea behind this technique is to persuade someone of something by convincing them that other people are doing it too. This idea works well especially if you can identify someone who your target admires or someone important, and if you can show results from their actions. If you are trying to convince your child to eat their dinner, point out that their older siblings are eating their dinner and growing big and strong. Just take care not to lie because while it may persuade them at the time it may come back to bite you in the future.

Make it Limited Edition

Most people are more likely to take something or do something if it feels scarce or rare. If there are only so many things available and someone misses out on the opportunity, then it makes everything seem more special. Remember back to a time before COVID-19 for an example. A grocery store puts cookies out for anyone to sample. If the tray is full of cookies then people are less likely to take them because they will feel either the cookies are bad or other people aren’t taking them and they don’t want to stand out. If the tray is half empty people are more likely to take a cookie because it feels like they will be out of cookies when they come back because people are taking them.

This may be a more difficult technique to do with an idea or task than it is with a physical object but it’s a good thing to have in your back pocket just in case! People feel they may miss out on an opportunity if they don’t take it, then you are more likely to persuade them of something even if it’s not physical.

(Kreimer, 2019)

Now, none of these techniques are foolproof. There will always be those who don’t follow the same patterns as everyone else. There may be those who are just having a bad day and will fight you on everything. However, with these techniques in your knowledge bank, you have a higher chance of succeeding now! Good luck!

Sources Used:

Visual Bibliography:

https://www.colourbox.com/vector/limited-edition-stamp-vector-7770721