I experienced some interesting lessons in persuasion personified lately. So I thought I would pass them along to you.
The other day my wife tells me that she is going to buy flowers for the two kids teachers.
My cheapo-kneejerk reaction was to say, "don't spend more than about $20 each". She replies immediately, "It isn't like I am going to spend $60 each for goodness sake".
I remember my brain going into a wierd spin and agreeing with her without any choice.
What she did of course (unbeknownst to her) is deframe my point of reference thru a psychological technique that is used in sales all the time. Tony Robbins calls it "Comparing and Contrasting". We see marketers use this pricing structures all the time.
And another distinction was a telemarketer calling me today for a survey about the state of the business climate from a small business persepctive. I told her, "I work too many hours as it is, I really don't have time".
It then struck me. Most small businesses that are doing well will probably not have the time to take the survey. So the only people that do answer will be small businesses that think the state of the business climate is bad.
Again as to take from Tony Robbins, and I paraphrase, "The power of the answer comes from the question."
