Ramon Thomas Blog

Ever heard of the Weapons of Influence? This is from an excellent book by Dr Robert Cialdini that every person should read at least once in their life. I have read this one 3 times so far.

Cialdini defines six “weapons of influence”:

• Reciprocity - People tend to return a favour. Thus, the pervasiveness of free samples in marketing. In his conferences, he often uses the example of Ethiopia providing thousands of dollars in humanitarian aid to Mexico just after the 1985 earthquake, despite Ethiopia suffering from a crippling famine and civil war at the time. Ethiopia had been reciprocating for the diplomatic support Mexico provided when Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1937. On a personal note if you invite people to a party at your house, you’re much more likely to get an invitation to a party at their house.
• Commitment and Consistency - If people commit, verbally or in writing, to an idea or goal, they are more likely to honor that commitment. Even if the original incentive or motivation is removed after they have already agreed, they will continue to honor the agreement. For example, in car sales, suddenly raising the price at the last moment works because the buyer has already decided to buy.
• Social Proof - People will do things that they see other people are doing. For example, in one experiment, one or more confederates would look up into the sky; bystanders would then look up into the sky to see what they were seeing. At one point this experiment aborted, as so many people were looking up that they stopped traffic. See conformity, and the Asch conformity experiments.
• Authority - People will tend to obey authority figures, even if they are asked to perform objectionable acts. Cialdini cites incidents, such as the Milgram experiments in the early 1960s and the My Lai massacre.
• Liking - People are easily persuaded by other people that they like. Cialdini cites the marketing of Tupperware in what might now be called viral marketing. People were more likely to buy if they liked the person selling it to them. Some of the many biases favoring more attractive people are discussed. Social proof is a specific way to create the impression that you are popular or liked by people. Sometimes I see rich old men, with young hot young women and I realise one of the unconscious reasons for this is they both gain influence.
• Scarcity - Perceived scarcity will generate demand. For example, saying offers are available for a “limited time only” encourages sales.

Robert Cialdini’s produces a monthly newsletter through his website, Influence at Work.

Anyway I wanted to share this with you because it’s one of my secret weapons these days. I do not go sarging any more. That’s way to much work. Instead befriend high quality women (i.e. women YOU are attracted to personally) to gain access to THEIR social circles. And through this mechanism you can create more and more social proof. So if you have a hot female friends make sure that you are seen with them when you are out. But do not cling to them. Instead leave them whenever you see an attractive woman. Go over to that other woman, strike up a conversation and later go back to your female friend. In many cases, my female friends have pre-sold me to a new woman I have just met.

David DeAngelo makes a very good case for this in his Mastery Program. And if you are on Facebook - USE IT - these hot women are advertising themselves. Go to the events that are continuously posted on Facebook and take advantage of the situation.

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¶ Thank you for taking the time to read Rober Cialdini’s Weapons of Influence. If you enjoyed this article then feel free to subscribe to this site's RSS feed. In addition, you can browse my related and recent posts below.