We have exciting conversations for you today with Dr. Cialdini, the author of Influence, The Psychology of Persuasion and Pre-Suasion. Dr. Robert Cialdini is an incredible teacher and fan of human behavior and this is the ramp up to our Top Dog event in October.
Top Dog is an annual event we always look forward to hosting. This year we have Jon Taffer from Bar Rescue speaking, we have Dr. Cialdini, Chase Hughes the author of The Ellipsis Manual, and celebrity trainer Matt Baiamonte. Even though it’s been a couple years because of COVID, it’s been extended and it is all going to happen in October, if you don’t already have your tickets, make sure you go to ChrisCollinsInc.com to get your tickets!
Dr. Cialdini gives us one little secret about how somebody got a job offer for every interview. He went just by doing one simple thing and he talks about much more.
So here is our interview with Dr. Cialdini coming up right now on the Service Drive Revolution.
I went back and found my original version of the book Influence. I was looking through my notes where I’ve highlighted. What I noticed here is that Robert Cialdini actually dedicated this book to me. Can you imagine my excitement?
Dr. Cialdini is a legend and icon in the Automotive Industry, we can say he’s the godfather of persuasion.
I asked Cialdini if he could tell us how he got into studying persuasion.
Dr. Cialdini replied and told us he’s always been interested in human behavior and this particular aspect of persuasion. There’s not a single person he’s ever met who isn’t interested in being more persuasive or how to recognize when people are trying to persuade us and they might want to be aware of what exactly that person was doing. Dr. Robert Cialdini always thought that this was fascinating. He started studying it as a researcher at his University, using college students as his subjects for the studies. He then realized that this research may be showing me how this works on college students, however, it didn’t tell him how it works in the real world. What’s most powerful now is the knowledge behind people whose profession involves getting others to move in their direction and he says that this is the most important aspect of Persuasion.
However, Dr. Cialdini understood that his research patients were not going to share their secrets because it is proprietary. Robert began enrolling in as many training programs as possible. He learned how to sell insurance from an office, how to sell portrait photography over the phone, how to sell nutrition supplements door to door, how fundraisers get us to say yes, and how military recruiters get us to say yes.
I asked Robert Cialdini,
“What did you find taking those training programs and what surprised you most about what you discovered?”
Dr. Cialdini goes into detail about his findings and tells us,
“What I found that surprised me most is that there were only 6 universal principles of influence that were taught in every training program of every profession. I decided that people would want to know what those are. Then I put those principles to each chapter in that book that you showed us at the beginning and it has sold more copies than I could have sensibly imagined because people are interested in persuasion”
Furthermore, I was moved by Robert Cialdini’s reply and I know that he plans on covering each of the principles in more detail during our Top Dog event. But I was curious if there is something else that he’s going to include in his coverage of those universal principles of persuasion? Dr. Cialdini tells us that the smallest change we can make in our persuasive appeal, will produce the biggest success in our persuasive outcomes for each of the six principles he described in the book.
He got me really excited about his principles, so I asked Dr. Cialdini,
“Can you give us an example of the small/big for one of the universal principles?”
Robert Cialdini goes into detail and tells us,
“One of the principles is commitment and consistency. People want to be consistent with what they have already committed themselves to publicly. If they’ve said or done something after that point, they want to be seen as consistent with what they’ve said or done. They don’t want to be seen as a liar or somebody who is wishy washy or doesn’t know what, you know, what they said before and so on. So they want to be consistent.”
Dr. Cialdini then tells us a story of his friend who uses this principle to get 3 better jobs when applying. His friend would go into job interviews, where there were more than one evaluator that would ask him questions and see if he’s suitable for the job. Dr. Cialdini told us that his friend was having no luck at all and then he read the chapter on commitment and consistency, and he started doing one small thing differently while interviewing.
He would always say, “I’m very glad to be here. Thank you for inviting me and I want to answer any question you have for me,”
That’s what he would always say this time around. What was it about my resume? About my candidacy?”
Dr. Robert Cialdini’s friend would hear them discuss, commit themselves to his strengths, all the things that were positive about his candidacy, and how it fit with the job descriptions. As a result, those evaluators were committed to him and they would be consistent with that throughout the remainder of the interview. Dr. Cialdini says that his friend has gotten three better jobs doing it this way. First, by getting them to make a commitment to his strengths and the things that were positive about him.
Dr. Cialdini also shares another insight on the power of persuasion during an interview, he says,
“If you’re evaluating somebody and you want them to really think well of you, you can ask the question, “What was it about our dealership that brought you here? What is it about us that you see as a good fit?” Now, this person is making a strong commitment to you and will continue to feel that way compared to rivals that he might be interviewing with”
Hearing these stories amazes me and this brings me over to my next point of curiosity which is about his book Pre-Suasion. I asked him to further explain what this book is all about!
Dr. Cialdini tells us that Pre-Suasion involves arranging for people to be in a state of mind that fits with the recommendation, request, or proposal that you have yet to send to them. He tells us that you put them in a place as a state of mind that is congruent with the message you want them to adopt.
Additionally, Dr. Robert Cialdini focuses his book around how we can put customers in a state of mind that focuses on the quality of a service rather than its price. The thing I love about Robert Cialdini books Pre-Suasion and Influence is how they’re just based on case studies.
Dr. Robert Cialdini will be at Top Dog.
I asked Dr. Robert Cialdini who he dedicated the book to and he gave me this sweet answer, he told us,
“I dedicated it to my grandchildren. We’re now at a point where I have grandchildren and here’s what I did to put myself in a mindset to write the best possible book I could write. I put a picture of my grandchildren next to the computer screen. Where I was writing the book and every time I looked over there, they were looking at me and I knew that I dedicated this book to them.”
I told Dr. Robert Cialdini that what he did was extremely sweet.
His grandchildren are lucky to have you put that much love and care into writing the book with them in mind. It’s definitely something super special.
Dr. Cialdini tells us that his main concern is for people to have takeaways from this presentation that they can use the next day.
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