Define and discuss the 6 principles of persuasion. Next, describe a situation, e

Question

Define and discuss the 6 principles of persuasion. Next, describe a situation, either fictional or real-life, where you were tasked with persuading an individual or group at your place of work to do something that you wanted them to do or help you with. Remember that this should not include a situation in which you, the boss are telling your subordinates what to do; the communication should occur between equals. Describe how you used thee 6 principles during the persuasion process. Were all 6 of the principles applied to the process of persuasion? If not, what was missing from your argument? PLEASE PROVIDE REFERENCES TO HELP ME OUT

Explanation / Answer

persuasion is an act or process of outlining arguments to shift, motivate or change the receiver (McLean, S. 2010). The persuasion principle is an effective tool in dealing with coworkers, clients, bosses, etc. Social psychologist Robert Cialdini offers six principles of persuasion that are powerful and effective,

Reciprocity is the expectation for exchange of value or service between both parties. It recognizes that people feel indebted to those who do something for them or give them a gift. This builds trust and develops relationship. For example in marketing, the reciprocation principle explains why free samples can be so effective, people who receive a free, unexpected gift are more likely to listen to a products features.

Scarcity is the feeling of not adaptable supplies or limited resource. Perceived scarcity will generate demand. The more the rare and uncommon a thing, the more people want it. An example of how to use scarcity when you’re only selling one product, such as an eBook.

You could sell it only until date X, Give limited bonuses to Y buyers and give extras to people that buy before Z date.

Authority is the full and gainful knowledge in a field, research or a product, this allows to have authority over the topic. People will tend to obey authority figure, even if they are asked to perform objectionable acts (Cialdini, R. 2009). People respect authority; they want to follow the lead of the real experts.

Commitment and consistency: Being consistent and committed is essential.if people commit orally or in writing, they are more likely to honor their commitment because of establishing that ideal or goal as being congruent with their self-image. People do not like to back out of deals; people strive for consistency in their commitments.

Consensus ,Principles of consensus are testimonials, to me, reviews from personal experiences with a product or service. Seeing a positive feedback from other people can be really persuasive. For example, when people are uncertain about a course of action, they tend to look at those around them to guide their decision and actions. They want to know what everyone else is doing,

especially their peers.

Liking : This principle is very simple and based on liking, which brings a feeling of safety and belonging. Most times one feels more safe and secure when we perceive that we are being liked and accepted, for this reason we tend to communicate with them. For example, an attractive person could be assumed to be honest, intelligent and successful. It could also happen by closeness and familiarity: if you have something in common with another person, you could assume that that person is like you and be more open to his influence.

In my personal experience, I deal with marketing of Energy Saving Jikos. Recently, I had approached a close family friend of mine, whom I would closely regard as a brother. We are colleagues, working in the same NGO. I wanted to increase my sales and I saw him as a viable opportunity. Due to our friendship relation, I was informal as we could make a joke or two.(liking)I explained to him the advantages of using the jiko : how economical it was cause it was cheap, how fast it cooked meals and it was also environmental friendly, as other customers who had recently purchased it had confirmed the benefits to be true.(social proof).

Furthermore, I went ahead to inform him that such a jiko was not distributed all over. This was because the jikos were only getting famous in the market thus the need to avoid a huge supply that can result to losses.

Not all the principles were applied in the persuasion. From my argument , I could not be able to give him a sample of the jiko cause at the mean time I did not have one hence lack of visuality of the object being sold. Also, due to our relation, I took advantage of the fact that he was my companion hence avoided the need of being committed and having persistence.

"In brief, we are inclined to go along with someone's suggestion if we think that person is a credible expert (authority), if we regard him or her as a trusted friend (likability), if we feel we owe them one (reciprocity), or if doing so will be consistent with our beliefs or prior commitments (consistency). We are also inclined to make choices that we think are popular (consensus), and that will net us a scarce commodity (scarcity). We follow these general rules because they usually work to lead us to make the right choice. But because we often use them unthinkingly they are commonly exploited by compliance professionals and con artists, many of them wearing nice business suits, religious robes, or reassuringly friendly smiles. “(Douglas, T. 2012)

References

McLean, S. (2010). Business Communication for Success. This text was adapted by The Saylor Foundation under a Creative Common Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensee.

Cialdini, R. (2009) Influence: Science and Practice. Boston, MA: Pearson Education ISBN 0 - 205-60999-6

Douglas,T. (2012) The 6 Principles of Persuasion

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