On June 3, Professor Zoë Chance led a talk co-sponsored by ANY, FLY, WWN, and YLNG on Persuasion and Influence.
Zoë helps leaders learn simple ways to increase their influence so they can get more of what they want and do great things in the world. Her course at SOM, Mastering Influence and Persuasion, is one of the most oversubscribed courses at the School of Management, and she shares its practical wisdom with organizations and conferences around the world, including TEDx.
The foundations for influencing and persuading others are connection, understanding, and trust. During her presentation, she shared that people are 2-3 times more likely to say yes to an in-person request than we think they are based on the research by Flynn & Bohns (2012).
The talk was engaging and interactive, and several participants practiced persuasive asking. During her talk, Zoë focused five key topics on persuading and influencing others:
1. Moments of Truth – It’s important to know the right moment when people will be caring the most and be open to your side of the argument, that’s when they need to see your influence. Make it as accessible and easy as possible for people to take action and give an answer right away.
2. Standard and Labeling – Make the other party feel good about themselves and use love, respect and empathy. Ethical argument/sandbox always trumps processes or bureaucracy.
3. Anchoring – You can have more leverage in negotiating when first asking for something big and then asking for something of a smaller scale. Presenting the bad option first and then the good option is a proven strategy of successful negotiating that make the results a win-win for both parties.
4. Reciprocity – This is a tool that marketing and advertising uses such as giving free samples. There are givers, takers, and matchers who believe in fairness. Most successful and least successful people tend to be givers. The most successful people do small favors for a lot of people and expand the network. Least successful people tend to give in a way that is not sustainable to them. Matchers that believe in fairness and takers tend to be in the middle of the success ladder.
5. Scarcity – Scarcity strategies such as limited time, limited quantity, exclusivity, play hard to get, I don’t know if I am interested, are some of the ways that also influence and persuade for quick action to be taken.
When asking for something, put the topic out first - not the details. It’s important to keep a regular log with your progress of all your projects and at the end create a one page document where you ask to get what you want. Zoe recommended books such as Women Don’t Ask and Ask for It by Linda Babcock.
Zoe also talked about givers, matchers, and takers. Giving, taking, and matching are three fundamental styles of interacting with others, and they exist in every culture on earth. In our networks and relationships, are we aiming to claim, contribute, or exchange value? Although we all do a mix of the three, groundbreaking research demonstrates that we each have a primary style, or a default tendency. Click here to take the quiz.
For a copy of the slides, reading list, and g-force influence challenges, go to kiwilive.com and enter keyword “betterinfluence”. Click here to check out the event photos. Click here to check out the video clip.