Key Messages
Learn How To Influence Anyone By Understanding What We Want Is More Important Than What Makes Sense Rationally – The Art Of Influencing Anyone By Niall Cassidy
If you’re looking for ways to influence the people around you, The Art of Influencing Anyone by Niall Cassidy is here to provide clear instruction.
Contrary to popular belief, when we’re looking for opportunities to persuade somebody, what we want matters more than what makes sense logically.
Cassidy explains his techniques that help with making friends, family members, colleagues and customers believe in yourself or your product.
He reveals secrets such as creating the perfect alibi and studying the techniques used by fortune-tellers.
Cassidy even provides an example of how a football club earned money through hiring actors.
Overall, if you’re looking to become more persuasive in life then definitely consider getting this book and reap all the benefits it has to offer!
The Power Of Personality: Why We Place More Value On Style Over Substance
Persuasion is not just about logical arguments, but instead it’s about the presentation and how you communicate your message.
This was made evident through a common scenario of two people making a business proposal to their boss.
One presented a logical argument, while the other person was enthusiastic without providing any real logical evidence – and guess who got chosen as project leader? The Boss chose the person who was more engaging and ambitious with their words.
We also see this in article selection for academic journals where researchers submit their findings.
The editors look at the author’s name first, then content quality next.
An interesting study done by a professor proved this theory when he sent an article which was utter nonsense to various academic journals – to their surprise, the article was published because he mentioned his PhD.
So if you want to be persuasive, don’t rely solely on pointing out facts and figures.
Pay attention to how you present yourself and your message, as it can often be more important than what you are saying itself.
Using Charm And Detail To Make An Unreliable Alibi Appear Credible
If you want to be convincing and trustworthy when speaking about a particular topic, it’s essential that you come across as warm and friendly.
This will help to convince people of your knowledge even if what you say is untruthful or only partially true.
The Art of Influencing Anyone book offers this advice – if you’re in a situation where you need to create an alibi, such as during a bank robbery case, having someone provide detailed information will make them appear more knowledgeable.
Plus, being charming and friendly helps to conceal any gaps in the knowledge of the person who is giving the alibi.
This approach was famously used in an experiment with an actor who pretended to be a professor.
He focused on sharing amusing anecdotes and appearing warm and affable, which helped him appear credible despite occasionally repeating himself or providing contradictory information.
People appreciated his presentation as he kept them engaged with his behaviour and therefore felt like they were learning something new.
We can learn from this example that being warm and friendly will always help us appear more trustworthy when we are trying to convince people of something – whether it’s true or not.
How Businesses Can Use Persuasion To Win Customers – Structure Your Information Into Categories And Limit Choices To Get Results
The key to influencing people is simplifying and organizing information in a way that makes it easier for them to understand.
For example, if you are a salesperson and you are addressing a customer, limit their choices to two items or services.
That way they don’t get too overwhelmed by all the options!
When presenting information, like the advantages of buying a specific washing machine, present it in categories instead of randomly listing them out.
This will help the customer make an informed decision that suits their needs as they can easily compare and assess different options.
For example, when discussing how great this washing machine is, label categories such as “environmental advantages” (saves water, requires less energy) and “efficiency” (faster than other machines, bigger so you can wash more clothes in one load).
Doing this will help simplify and structure your message so the customer doesn’t get overwhelmed by the vast amount of information.
Organizing and simplifying information can make all the difference when you’re trying to influence someone’s opinion – it makes everything easier for them to understand and comprehend!
How To Use The Cold Reading Technique For Business Success
Do you want to give customers the impression that you know more about them and their needs than perhaps you actually do? The cold reading technique is an effective way to make your customers think that you understand them and their needs.
All it requires is for you to make some vague statements, statements which can be interpreted in a variety of ways, to get your message across.
For example, start off by making a general statement about an issue which most people can relate to.
Something simple, like “doing laundry is really a pain isn’t it?” This will get your customer off on the right foot by allowing them to agree with what you’re saying.
Building on this relationship gives out the impression that you know more about their situation even if you don’t.
For instance, try referring to a specific situation and your customer’s personal circumstances in particular.
For example: “I’m sure that, just like everybody else, you’d love to spend less time doing laundry.” This statement doesn’t require any mind-reading skills but rather shows understanding of the customer’s problems and conveys empathy towards their situation.
You can further this feeling of understanding by adding phrases such as “it’s important for me as someone who works in homeware to really understand what customers like you need.” Again, this statement doesn’t give away anything concrete but allows your customer to perceive that you fully understand who they are and what they’re looking for in terms of products or services from you.
In conclusion, talking vaguely means that your customers think that you know more about them than perhaps what is true – making them feel much more at ease with investing in your services over someone else’s!
How To Get Consumers’ Attention Through Surprising Statements
Capturing anyone’s attention is key to successful persuasion or selling, as recent research has found that 1 in 5 people will actually read past a headline when they come across an advertisement.
Therefore, sparking curiosity is essential if you want to get someone interested.
But how do you do this? One suggestion is to start off the conversation using something humorous, surprising or controversial – anything that will spark curiosity – and then explain yourself afterwards.
These tactics can also be used within commercials – consider the commercial where a little boy plays tennis against an adult – and viewers are left shocked by the boy’s skills!
This ad piques people’s interest and makes them want to keep watching to find out why the child is so good.
The takeaway here is that igniting curiosity with something unique, funny or even crazy will make your customer curious enough to listen up and see what you have to say or offer next.
This tactic of creative surprise will help you convince others more effectively than just diving straight into your argument!
Making Your Customers Desire Your Product: How Altering Self-Perspective Can Lead To Confident Buying Behavior
It’s a well-known fact that people don’t always buy what they need, but instead what they want.
We can easily relate to this when we think about seeing a commercial for an amazing new smartphone and still being tempted to buy it, even though you already have a great phone.
What salespeople don’t realize is, trying to give customers exactly what they need isn’t necessarily the most effective way.
It can be much more successful to understand what the customer wants and tailor their experience to those needs.
For example, why do teenagers smoke? We could say it’s because of the nicotine, however that isn’t the main reason.
Instead, teenagers are looking for acceptance from their peers and smoking provides them with that sense of fitting in – even though rational arguments may not work when trying to explain why smoking is terrible for them.
This idea applies beyond just selling products too – by changing someone’s perspective regarding their self-perception, you can alter how they think and behave.
To illustrate this point further, researchers asked people at a swimming pool about their water-saving habits before secretly timing how long they stayed in their showers after getting out of the pool.Surprisingly enough, those who had been asked about their attitudes beforehand took significantly less time showering than those who hadn’t been questioned!
It goes without saying then that understanding what your customers want is far more important than giving them precisely what they need – if you’re able to evoke desire for your product or service then customers will buy regardless of whether or not there necessary needs are satisfied.
Leverage Social Proof And Covert Storytelling To Increase Sales
The Art of Influencing Anyone is based on the idea that true influence doesn’t come from desperation, but rather from learning how to cover up one’s true intentions.
For instance, in sales success, it’s better to get customers to do the selling for you than trying too hard yourself.
This means making people think they came up with an idea or decision on their own.
A great example of this was when an English football club implemented a service whereby people could pay money in order to receive text messages every time newsworthy events occurred.
But since taking advantage of this cost money, only a few people registered for it.
So what did they do? They hired actors posing as customers and placed them in pubs and bars before each match so they could engage other fans about this amazing service – resulting in increased subscriptions from 20 to 120 people!
In practice, you don’t always have to rely on someone else for influence – it can be you who does the talking!
Social settings are great paths for delivering your business story in such a way that is not too obvious.
It should make listeners think it’s natural and spontaneous conversation, with small talk helping rather than hampering progress.
It pays off to have a good story prepared ahead of time and memorize it so when such an opportunity arises you can fully utilize it without blowing your cover and appearing desperate.
Surprising Behaviour Can Help You Gain And Keep Attention When Selling Something
When it comes to influencing people, you should never fight their resistance directly.
Instead, try to understand and utilize it.
This is a lesson that every salesperson should take to heart.
When customers reject our product or don’t immediately find its features appealing, they may be defensive and guarded against our attempts at persuasion.
To successfully influence them in this situation, we need to show that we understand their concerns and use those concerns as a starting point for discussing the merits of the product.
For instance, imagine you’re selling a car that your customer feels is too small; instead of fighting their opinion and attempting to convince them otherwise, why not agree with them? Once they trust you more, you can then explore options that make the car easier to park or otherwise more suitable for the customer’s needs.
By doing this, we demonstrate our understanding of their position and provide an honest assessment of how our product might work for them – something that’s much more likely to result in a purchase than confrontational tactics ever could be!
Wrap Up
The Art of Influencing Anyone explains how anyone can improve their ability to persuade.
The key takeaway is that effective strategies in our interactions can help us influence not just the people around us, but also the products and services we are trying to sell.
Some of the actionable advice offered in the book includes being surprising and controversial when engaging with customers as well as agreeing with them when they point out a product’s disadvantages.
By using these tactics, you have a better chance at getting a favorable outcome from influencing anyone!
