Book Summary: Influence, The Psychology of Persuasion

Discussions - Public
#1

Ticket to Log Time

Hello Team!

Recently I had the opportunity to read the book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. It holds several interesting lessons that I think are worth going over, so I wrote an overview of it. I’d highly recommend the full volume if you’re interested in learning both how to influence others and how you are influenced by sales people and marketers every day. You might be surprised how much of your interactions are colored by these principles.

The principles in the book can also be used by us during sales/discovery, and I wrote up some specific notes on how we can do so in the future. However, I’d also be curious if anyone can think of other ways to apply them.

3 Likes
#2

Well, you persuaded me that I was the imposter in Among Us :stuck_out_tongue: so for me, this book should be amazing I will definitely give it a read. Thanks a lot for sharing.

The overview is amazing and I like the way it is structured so kudos for the effort. One question that I often struggle with is drawing a line between Persuasion and Manipulation, what is your take on it?

1 Like
#3

Thanks @Fox ! Very interesting, and you did a really good job of tying the points back to OpenCraft.

They would hand the flower to the travelers, refuse to take it back, insisting that it was a gift, and then ask for a donation.

Hah, the book may be decades old but this exact scenario still happens all the time around the world!

1 Like
#4

My take is that this is a bit fuzzy, and much like a legal determination, you’d look at several factors to decide if something is manipulation:

  1. Does this tactic result in your benefit at the other person’s detriment? That is, are they buying something reflexively that isn’t in their best interest to buy?
  2. Does your presentation present facts or information in a way that would lead others to believe falsehoods, even if those facts are not explicitly false?
  3. Does your presentation contain actual falsehoods? Are you making statements you don’t believe?
  4. Does your presentation require concealment of relevant information that would factor heavily into whether the client would buy?

These are all pretty good indicators of manipulative behavior. If you’re avoiding them, you’re probably fine. Things like ‘concealment of relevant information’ necessarily kick the can down the road a little bit ‘what is relevant?’ but this should still give you a general idea.

1 Like