Paul Shrimpling outlines how to ethically exert your influence over clients and prospects.
Your influencing skills will determine your financial results and your quality of life, so how good are they? First of all, who do you want to influence and why?
- Your team: Do they actually do what you want them to do?
- Your customers and prospects: Do they buy what they need from you? Appreciate the value you provide? Happily pay prices that reflect the value you deliver?
It pays to get better at ethically influencing everyone around you more effectively.
The six tools of ethical influence
Robert Cialdini’s ‘Influence – the science and practice’ is a profoundly brilliant and memorable exposition on the art and science of influence, and offers six principles of ethical influence:
- Reciprocity (give and take)
Be the first to give. What you get back can easily be worth ten times what you initially give. Here’s why this works: How do you feel when you get a Christmas card from someone who you have failed to send a card? You feel pressure to respond and send a card back. Our ‘poppy appeal lady’ is brilliant at using reciprocity. She’s always in a rush when she comes to our door, she can’t stay to collect the cash but wants us to have the fistful of poppies before she shoots off shouting back that she’ll call for the money another time. She does, and I reckon she gets twice the funds she would have got if she took the money first.
I’ve seen reciprocity work when reducing a team bonus system. I’ve seen it win me new clients. I’ve seen it get me a great new job. I bet you’ve got your own examples springing to mind? Make reciprocity a component of your new and improved skills of ethical influence.
- Scarcity (the rule of the rare)
Emphasise genuine scarcity – of time, of places, of availability. What happens at the petrol pumps if there’s a likely fuel shortage? Everyone buys more! That’s scarcity at work! Similarly, emphasise unique features and exclusive information. It works.
- Authority (showing knowing)
Establish your positioning through professionalism and industry knowledge. Make sure your credentials show up. Dress like you’re in charge and people will assume you are. Various research studies prove that it is the doctor’s ‘getting better’ comments that are more powerful than any drugs prescribed; if they say we are getting better we believe them. Strangely enough, it also helps to admit your weaknesses first (this also connects with reciprocity).
- Commitment (the starting point)
Start with small commitments and build the scale of the commitments you ask for. Have them request a free report first; ask for a subscription to a free newsletter second; ask them to attend a free event third; ask them to attend a series of events fourth or join you for a one-on-one meeting; ask them to test your service fifth; ask them to buy something small sixth; then ask for the big decision about changing their accountant. People are happy to take small steps - then they’ll take bigger steps.
- Liking (making friends to influence people)
Identify and bring attention to similarities (e.g. dress in a similar way to them, use similar language to them). Seek opportunities for genuine compliments (not flattery) and opportunities for cooperation and involvement. People like to be with and work with people they like; work at it.
- Consensus (people proof, people power)
Unleash people power by showing how others respond (a show of hands, polls and research studies). Show past successes (testimonials and case studies). Advertisers use the phrase ‘best selling’ because it influences the sales of their products; the phrase ‘best selling’ demonstrates that others have already bought - and they can’t all be wrong.
Read Cialdini’s book and you’ll become an expert in the art of positive influence overnight and you can start to test the six steps above for yourself.
Post your experiences of seeing these tools of influence at work below.
Paul Shrimpling is managing director of Remarkable Practice and author of a whitepaper entitled ‘The 7 big mistakes that accountants make that costs them a fortune in lost sales, lost profits and lost personal cash’.