CHAPTER NINE
THE ROKIA TECHNIQUE
Another powerful tool in your persuasion toolkit is stories. Stories are very powerful and persuasive. A story can be so successful because it aroused people’s emotions. People make decisions based both on emotion and logic.
The stories are powerful when it comes to persuading people, but what exactly are the elements of a persuasive story?
Simply, a persuasive story contains:
Characters - At least one or more people must be a part of the story.
Conflict - The characters must be encountering some kind of conflict/difficulty.
Cure - There must be a cure that helps the character overcome the conflict/difficulty
Change - The characters must change as a result of having overcome the conflict
23: THE ROKIA TECHNIQUE
Now, let’s look at an experiment conducted by Deborah Small, George Lowenstein and Paul Slovic. In the experiment, the participants were given a questionnaire to fill out and handed a $5 reward for doing so.
Now, here comes the interesting part of the experiment. After the participants had received the $5 bill, they were given information about a food shortage problem and asked how much of their $5 they wanted to donate to help solve the problem.
However, not everyone received the same type of information. One group (we’ll call them
Group A) received the following information:
“Food shortages in Malawi are affecting more than three million children. In Zambia, severe rainfall deficits have resulted in a 42% drop in maize production from 2000. As a result, an estimated three million Zambians face hunger. Four million Angolans one-third of the population have been forced to flee their homes. More than 11 million people in Ethiopia need immediate food assistance.”
The other group - Group B - received the following information:
“Any money that you donate will go to Rokia, a seven-year-old girl who lives in Mali in Africa. Rokia is desperately poor and faces a threat of severe hunger, even starvation. Her life will be changed for the better as a result of your financial gift. With your support and the support of other caring sponsors, Save the Children will work with Rokia’s family and other members of the community to help feed and educate her, and provide her with basic medical care.”
Which group do you think gave more money? Was it the group that received the statistical
information about the seriousness of the problem? Or was it the group that received the
story about Rokia?
Well, let’s have a look at the experiment results.
It turns out that that participants in Group A (the statistics group) donated only 23 percent of their earnings whereas participants in Group B (the story group) donated more than double that, 48 percent. The story about Rokia’s struggle with hunger elicited a much more powerful response from people than statistics about the problem.
While statistics do add credibility to your persuasion attempts, stories are much more powerful when it comes to persuading people to take actions. Once you arouse people’s emotions, they’ll be open to taking the recommended course of action. So here’s the key takeaway lesson. Next time you try to get someone to do something for you, use a story to persuade them.
CHAPTER TEN
CLEAR NEXT STEP
An important part of getting people to say “Yes!” to your requests is make it clear what next step you would like your prospect to take. Be very clear and specific about what it is that you want your prospect to do.
If you do not make your next step crystal clear to your prospect, then you might end up losing the sale. If your prospect is even slightly confused about what to do next, he will say “No!”
If you’re an employee persuading your boss that you deserve a raise, at the end of your persuasion attempt politely ask the question, “So, can we increase my remuneration to X amount?”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
THE COUNTERINTUITIVE PERSUASION
TECHNIQUE THAT WORKS!
Of all the persuasion techniques I have come across, the following is one of the simplest and easiest to implement techniques. According to research, it can double the chances that people will comply with your requests.
25 – THE BYAF TECHNIQUE
“Please don’t feel obliged to fill out the form, but I would appreciate it if you did.” This is called the “BYAF” (“but you are free”) technique.
Using the BYAF technique can double your chances of getting a “yes.”
Why?
Because people don’t like being pressured into making decisions - telling someone they have to do something causes psychological reactance in your prospect:
“It is assumed that if a person’s behavioral freedom is threatened or reduced, they become motivationally aroused. The fear of loss of further freedoms can spark this arousal and motivate them to re-establish the threatened freedom. Because this motivational state is a result of the perceived reduction of one’s freedom of action, it is considered a counterforce, and this is called ‘psychological reactance.’” -Wikipedia
when you reaffirm your prospect’s freedom to choose, you avoid psychological reactance. You remove any pressure associated with the request, which makes your encounter - from your prospect’s point of view - much more pleasant. Does the actual wording of the BYAF technique matter? No. You can use whatever phrase you desire - “you are free to choose,” “don’t feel obliged,” “you are free to say no.” As long as you reaffirm your prospect’s freedom to choose and say no, you will - ironically - increase your chances of getting a “yes.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
WHAT TO DO IF YOUR PROSPECT SAYS NO
What if, after all this, your prospect still says no?
What should you do next?
How do you move forward from there?
26 – THE POWER OF “WHY NOT?”
What exactly is the “why not?” technique?
As the name suggests, the “why not?” technique refers to you asking your prospect, “Why not?” after he/she refuses your request. Listen carefully to your prospect’s objection, and then address it so that it is no longer an objection. If you can address the objection, most people will comply with your request because they have no reason not to. The other benefit of the “why not?” technique is that it gives you useful information to create a better pitch for the next time you try to persuade a similar prospect.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
WRAP UP: YOUR PERSUASION PLAYBOOK
Persuasion is an art as well as a science. In this book, you’ve picked up tools and techniques on the science of persuasion. It is up to you to go out and apply the techniques - to master the art of persuasion and learn which techniques to apply in which situations. While not all of your persuasion attempts will be successful, I encourage you to keep on persevering. I once read that “the more ‘no’s’ you get, the closer you are to a ‘yes’.” If something is important enough to you, you should keep persevering.
Let’s go through a quick recap of the tools and techniques covered in this book. Applying these techniques to your life - whether you are debating with your spouse about where to go on vacation or trying to persuade your boss to give you a pay raise - these techniques will increase your odds of getting your target to agree with you. Next time try to persuade someone:
-Qualify your prospect. Make sure that he/she is, at the very least, willing to hear you
out. You can’t persuade someone who’s unwilling to listen to you.
-Make sure your request will be perceived as reasonable.
-Present an offer that will genuinely benefit the person whom you’re trying to
persuade.
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