Physical Movement
Making your audience physically move can also affect the way your message is received. Involvement can be something as simple as getting people to say ‘‘yes,’’ to raise their hands, or even just to nod their heads ‘‘yes.’’ The more movement and involvement you can create, the greater your ability to persuade. Great persuaders look for times when they can get affirmation from their audience. They engineer their persuasive message to get as many verbal, mental, or physical ‘‘yeses’’ as they can throughout their presentation. And there is good evidence to support this practice. One study brought in a large group of students to do ‘‘market research on high-tech headphones.’’ The students were told that the researchers wanted to test how well the headphones worked while they were in motion (while wearers were dancing up and down and moving their heads to the beat of Linda Ronstadt and the Eagles). Following the songs, the researchers played an argument about how the university’s tuition should be raised from $587 per semester to $750 per semester. One group of students had been told to move their heads up and down throughout the music and the speaking. Another group was told to move their heads from side to side. A last group was told to make no movements at all.
After ‘‘testing the headsets,’’ the students were asked to fill out a questionnaire about not only the headsets, but also the university’s tuition. Those nodding their heads up and down (yes motion) overall rated a jump in tuition as favorable. Those shaking their heads side to side (no motion) overall wanted the tuition to be lowered. Those who had not moved their heads didn’t really seem to be persuaded one way or the other.[7] In a similar study at the University of Missouri, the researchers found that TV advertisements were more persuasive when the visual display had repetitive vertical movements, for example, a bouncing ball.[8]
Contact
Engaging customers with human contact also works well for retail stores. Human beings are naturally drawn to other human activity.[9] The sight of other humans in motion attracts people—and increases sales. Studies show that the more contact employees make with customers, the greater the average sale.[10] In fact, any contact initiated by a store employee increases the likelihood that a shopper will buy something.[11] A shopper who talks to a salesperson and tries something on is twice as likely to buy as a shopper who does neither. Talking with an employee has a way of drawing a customer in closer and actively involving them.
The Power of ‘‘Yes’’
Use questions that will create ‘‘yeses.’’ As you create your marketing and persuasive presentations, you must engineer the number of times you get your audience to raise their hands, say yes, or nod their heads. How many verbal yeses are you getting? One easy and effective way to get more affirmative responses is to engineer questions that will receive a positive answer. For example, when a word ends in ‘‘n’t’’ it will bring a ‘‘yes’’ response. Consider the following phrases:
Wouldn’t it?
Isn’t it?
Couldn’t it?
Doesn’t it?
Shouldn’t it?
Won’t you?
Can’t you?
Wasn’t it?
[1]David Sears, J. Freedman, and L. Peplau, Social Psychology (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1985), p.154.
[2]A. C. Elms, ‘‘Influence of Fantasy Ability on Attitude Change Through Role Playing,’’ Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 4 (1966): 36–43.
[3]A. Pratkanis and E. Aronson, Age of Propaganda (New York: W. H. Freeman, 1992), pp. 123–124.
[4]Les Giblin, How to Have Confidence and Power in Dealing with People (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1956), p.120.
[5]W. L. Gregory, R. B. Cialdini, and K. M. Carpenter, ‘‘Mediators of Likelihood Estimates and Compliance: Does Imagining Make It So?’’ Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (1982): 89–99
[6]N. Christensen, The Art of Persuasion and Selling (New York: Parker Publishing, 1970), p. 20.
[7]G. Wells and R. Petty, ‘‘The Effects of Overt Head Movements on Persuasion,’’ Basic and Applied Social Psychology 1, 3 (1980): 219–230.
[8]Ibid.
[9]P. Underhill, Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999), p. 37.
[10]Ibid.
[11]Ibid.
Taken From : Maximum Influence : The 12 Universal Laws of power Persuasion
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