50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive

In a world of hyperbolic claims of what people "feel" like would be productive, "Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive" is research; just research. No platitudes or theory; just practical and proven ways to positively influence people without manipulation but with solutions to resolve both conscious and unconcious resistance to decision and commitment.

The book was a quick read, not heavy considering all the references to research. Certainly all the authors referenced are happy to be cited bi Cialdini. Makes each point quickly and clearly. If you have read Cialdini before, this is a good complement, if not you should read influence before this one.

50 powerful, memorable and practical new ways to understand and influence those weird folk called humans.
Born out of science not Bulls***, and written in a generous way that values your time (and trees) above their egos.
Just the best book of its type ever

In short, this book and Robert Cialdini's Influence are absolute Must Reads if you have any interest in decision-making, persuasion, etc. Academically supported and enjoyable to read, Yes! has a more practically based approach than Influence, which reads like a bit more of an academic treatise on the topic. That said, I think the overlap between these two books isn't enough to recommend one over the other. I love both of them, but if you are looking for something to help your business, then Yes! would probably be where I would start, but I'll be re-reading both books for years to come.

A well-written book, with some interesting real-world research. However, after finishing it, you're left thinking "is that it?". There just isn't enough there to feel like you learnt anything substantial, and at least 50% of the quoted research really has no practical application.

Great pop psychology for those of us who are interested in the subject but not interested enough to become experts. Some of the tips are directly relevant to things I do every day, and I've been testing them out recently. And many of them actually work! Highly recommend for insights into how to bring people nicely around to your side.

Very informative, thorough and easy to read and understand. I highly recommend it! As someone who is about to embark on a new, solo business, I found the ideas put forth in this book extremely valuable.

This was the most fascinating book that I've read in several years. I found it to be very helpful and I've begun to implement some of the ideas already at work. The short and easy to read chapters were perfect for me.

The book has very attractive title and very attractive chapter titles. Unfortunately the content is not clear enough and the writing style is not concrete enough. I expected far more from the content.

Great book, very insightful and backed up with experimentation.

I think it is the fact that these are all experimentally verified that makes this book so valuable. Many books on this subject seem to be just some guys idea of what will work. Many of the results are counter intuitive.

Evolution has not effected outwardly visible aspects of our morphology but it has effected outwardly visible aspects of our behavior.

This book is a neuroscientific update on Dale Carnegie with an emphasis on the why in relation to the persuasion of others.

Because much of this book is already common knowledge, I'll focus on few tidbits that may seem counter intuitive:

Free dinner mint...according to this book, a free dinner mint will have a better chance of correlating with a tip if that mint is delivered personally by the wait staff to the customer. Why? It implies a reciprocity between the giver, the wait staff and the customer.

Dennis the Dentist...this book reports a correlation between an individual's name and their ultimate choice of profession. As alluded in this caption an unusually large number of dentists (out of proportion to their numbers in the population) have chosen to become dentists. Additionally there is a high correlation between the first letter in the person's name and their choice of profession. Why? The suggestive power of naming.

He's got my same birthday I like him...This book also notes a correlation between meaningless similarities and our propensity to be influenced by them such, you guessed it, having the same birthday as someone else.

Back to the restaurant, again...This book shows a correlation between the act of waiter repeating the order and getting the customer to give a higher tip. Why? It shows that the customer was being listened to.

If these four have peaked your interest, there's another 46 waiting for you in this short, accessible and fascinating book.

For those who like this book I would also suggest Preditably Irrational and Sway which also track the same issues and with a similar difficulty level.

If you haven't read "Influence" by Robert Cialdini then I would strongly recommend skipping this one for now and starting with that one. Cialdini's original book was one of the best psychology books I have ever read. This one is more like a sequel and like most sequels, it is not as good. In Cialdini's "Influence", he talks about 6 weapons of influence:

1) Reciprocity
2) Liking
3) Social Proof
4) Authority
5) Scarcity
6) Commitment and Consistency

This book consists of 50 short chapters where these weapons are at work. Very entertaining and insightful, but I felt that the authors violated some of their own advice by having so many chapters and not organizing them in any particular way. For example, the chapters each demonstrated one of the weapons of influence at work and perhaps the book should have been organized more formally into 6 parts with each part representing one of the weapons. I was very entertained but I am not sure if the book will have any long lasting educational value unlike "Influence".

This is a quick read and I highly recommend it AFTER you have read Cialdini's "Influence".

My appreciation of this book is beyond words. Read the passages below and judge it yourself whether I had over praised it. Simply a must read!

Social proof can pay big dividends...."Join countless others in helping to save the environment" is likely to be received much more favorably. Pg13
While taking RSVPs for the luncheon....just be sure to tell them that if your phone line is busy, they should keep trying. Pg14
No longer should your message read, "Receive a free security program." Instead, "Receive a $250 security program at no cost to you." Pg37
When the far producing message describes danger but the audience is not told of clear, specific, effective means of reducing the danger, they may deal with the fear by "blocking out" the message or denying that it applies to them. As a consequence, they may indeed be paralyzed into taking no action at all. Pg42
You would be wise to accompany your statements to management with at least one viable plan of action the company could take to avert the potential disaster. Pg44
Give gifts that are significant, unexpected, and personalized. Pg55
Foot in the door technique...after agreeing to the request, the residents came to see themselves as committed to worthy clauses. Pg65
Labeling technique...assigning a trait, attitude, belief, or other label to a person, and then making a request of that person consistent with that label. Pg69
Change "Please call if you have to cancel" to "will you please call if you have to cancel?" made no show rate dropped from 30% to 10%, for customers committed themselves to calling by saying yes to that question. Pg74
Commitments that are made active (by writing down goals) have more staying power than those that are made passively. Pg76
Inconsistency can be emotionally upsetting, and older people have greater motivation to avoid emotionally upsetting experiences. Pg 80
To ensure our message is optimally persuasive, we need not only to free them from their previous commitment, but also to avoid framing their previous decision as a mistake. Perhaps the most productive method is to praise their previous decision as correct "at the time they made it" Pg81
Those who were asked to do the favor for the experimenter rated the experimenter more favorably than did those who were not asked....People are strongly motivated to change their attitudes in ways that are consistent with their behaviour. Pg85
Even a penny will help approach.....just an hour of your time will help....just a little more clarity will help.....even a brief initial phone call would help...pg88
Lower starting price can actually lead o a higher final sale price for..1 lower entry barrier 2 increase in traffic..social proof 3 the early bidders are likely to spend more time and effort updating their bids. Pg91
Having a skilled third party who will set up your initial presentation can be a very productive and worthwhile strategy for conveying your expertise in an area. Pg95
Watson and Crick won the Nobel for finding DNA. Watson said one of the reasons: they were not the most intelligent scientists pursuing the answer. Watson went on to explain that the most intelligent person working on the project in those days was Rosalind Franklin, a British scientist who was working in Paris at the time. "Rosalind was so intelligent that she rarely sought advice. And if you're the brightest person in the room, then you're in trouble. Pg99
But it's the process of seeking input that leaders should engage in more collectively. Those who arrange for regular team input can expect to achieve better outcomes, better relationship and rapport. A leader should ensure each view, while perhaps not the deciding factor, will be considered in the process...so avoid the risk of bruised egos and lost motivation if an idea is rejected.
Build a team who are encouraged and persuaded to offer insights, cooperate and collaborate with each other.
Blaming internal, potentially controllable failures makes the organization appear to have greater control over its own resource and future. They also suggest that the public response to an organization's internal focus to explain failure might be to assume that the organization has a plan to modify the internal features pg120
Potential clients may thus be more receptive to a sales pitch from a salesperson with whom they share similarities in any number of domains, including names, beliefs, hometowns and alma maters....(same for program, initiative, product names) pg126
Mirroring technique....just matching customers' verbalization....great effect...pg134
Loss aversion...instead of "take this opportunity to try our...at 20% discount", use "Don't miss out on this opportunity to try our new ...."pg148
Instead of presenting that idea as a saving, more persuasive if you frame the initiative in terms of losing the same amount if it fails to get adopted. Pg149
Fluency of an experience......give yourself a competitive edge by asking your audience to generate many reasons in favor of your rival's offerings. Pg157
People will be more likely to stick with programs and tasks if you can first offer them some evidence of how they've already made progress towards completing them. Already 2 in 12 slots better than 0 in 10 slots. Pg173
Products with unexpected descriptive and ambiguous names were in fact regarded as more desirable than were those of the other two category types. Pg175
Emotions lead people to become less sensitive to differences in the magnitude of numbers. Pg189

Yes! could have been more appropriately titled as Influence 2 because the book is simply a series of brief examples that illustrate Professor Robert Cialdini's key principles described in his book, Influence (social proof, authority, commitment/consistency, scarcity, reciprocity, and personal liking). If you loved that book and want to dive deeper into its lessons, Yes! is a perfect choice.

If you haven't yet read Influence, I recommend that you read that book before this one. Without Professor Cialdini's explanations of why these principles work, the case histories in Yes! don't seem so special and interesting. Otherwise, you will probably just see Yes! as a bunch of unrelated stories, many of which don't apply to your marketing challenges. I would expect most people who read Yes! who haven't read Influence to rate Yes! with three stars.

When you do read Influence, be sure to get the latest edition (the fifth edition came out in August 2008). Otherwise, you'll miss out on insights.

I hired Professor Cialdini to speak to one of my research organizations, Share Price Growth 100, a number of years ago and the members rated him very highly for being able to apply the lessons of his research to the financial markets. I was intrigued to see some financial market examples in Yes!

Be more persuasive in getting an ethical point across!

Having written what has probably become the most cited book in interpersonal skills literature, Influence: The psychology of persuasion, Cialdini assembles a team and produces Yes. This is easier reading than the earlier book, yet at the same time there are a number of stories that illustrate how Cialdini's persuasion principles can influence us in more subtle ways than those presented in `Influence'. I'll offer couple of examples from the many presented in this book:

We learn that if we tell people not to do something that everybody else is doing because they are threatening the extinction of a species/ causing global warming/ endangering their own health etc., we are in fact sending out conflicting messages, one of these messages permitting them to continue their habit on the grounds that `everybody else thinks this is okay' - social proof is working against us. We also learn that if we start a sale with a low price we will get more people bidding, and having started bidding, these people will become heavily committed to `winning' the sale. Because of this they will continue to bid as the price rises, and being driven by commitment (consistency) and fear of loss (scarcity), they will buy at a higher price.

Cialdini presents an abundance of interesting stories to illustrate how his principles work, often in a very curve-ball manner, and we are left aware of the more subtle implications of his ideas. We can understand the outrage that many people expressed when Coca Cola tried to introduce Coke with a new taste, we understand the Duracell bunny boomerang, and we are left with a smile on our faces as we are presented with more and more quirks of human nature.

This book is every bit as useful as Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (Collins Business Essentials).

Robert Cialdini's new book "Yes!" succeeds as a practical guide to scientifically-based, ethical marketing practices. It is a quick and engaging read with 50 short chapters, each focusing on a persuasive technique.

"Yes!" engaged my curiosity and gave me practical ideas that I will definitely try out. If you have a product, service, or idea to market, any one of these strategies could pay off in a major way. I am giving the book four stars because I would have preferred even more information, depth, and variety among the chapters.

Readers who want more background on the psychology behind the techniques will enjoy Cialdini's classic book Influence: Science and Practice (new edition being released in August). For those interested in marketing and communication I also recommend Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die.

In 1984, social psychologist Robert Cialdini published Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. He did his research by studying car salesmen, Hari Krishnas, telemarketers, and other master persuaders, cataloguing the tricks of their trade and distilling the underlying psychological principles. The result was a field guide on how to apply -- or resist -- the bait-and-switch, the lowball, the reciprocity effect, and the other tools of the persuasive class. An instant classic, the book is still taught in Psych 101 courses everywhere. Now, in Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive, Cialdini -- along with his research collaborators Noah J. Goldstein and Steve J. Martin -- revisits the same terrain, bringing to bear the latest advances in the science of mind. As it turns out, the laws of influence don't work the way we think. Take social proof -- the fact that when we see other people doing something, we want to do it, too. It's why product testimonials work so well. But it also explains why some marketing campaigns backfire: One anti-littering campaign bears the slogan, "This year Americans will produce more litter and pollution than ever before." By communicating that littering is common, these ads actually make the problem worse. For the same reason, a sign warning that a national park was threatened because so many people were removing pieces of petrified wood resulted in a tripling of the rate at which people stole. Presented in short, engaging chapters, each illustrating one principle of persuasion, the book is filled with similarly jaw-dropping insights. It also provides concrete suggestions on how to harness this wisdom in real-life situations. Like Influence before it, Yes! will no doubt prove indispensable for anyone curious about the art of persuasion.

Another great book on the subject is The Emotional Intelligence Quick Book

I picked up Yes! at an airport bookstore before a long flight. I read it cover to cover on the flight out, and read it again, this time with highlighter, on the way home. The short chapters, each on a different facet of human social behavior, backed up with empirical evidence and focused on persuasion techniques, are entertaining, and a great read. Moreover, it's all information that readers from any and every discipline should find valuable.

I run two businesses, and refer to Yes! constantly, in working with salespeople, in developing marketing materials, in dealing with clients, in supervising employees. I find I think differently about my process, with information that might sometimes seem counterintuitive, but demonstrably WORKS.

I'm planning a sales meeting this morning, and the book in front of me is Yes!

I have read Robert Cialdini's previous work on Influence. The entire thought process changed once I was exposed to the 6 principles of influence. Most of my past experiences as well as the present ones where clear to me. Experiences that related to my behavior or responses towards certain events, person or anything.

The fantastically explained Click and Whirr theory still goes on in my mind continuously and I keep watching responses of people in everyday life. So, in other words I keep evaluating people's responses based on those 6 principles and Click and Whirr. And it works "everytime", even if it is for sometime.

This book is exactly about the practical responses of people, how the Fixed Action Patterns are Triggered in everyday life. Again, all the examples of researches are based around those 6 principles. So, its more like a practical guide that tells you about why does a certain behavior takes place if it does.

One advice would be to not to jump to this book straightaway without reading the basic "Psychology of Influence" *because* each and every chapter refers to any of the Reciprocation, Commitment and Consistency, Scarcity, Authority, Liking and Social Proof. Otherwise you would keep wondering about those principles and their references in this book.

Before I close, I must mention why I say "everyday" life here though the books has mostly the researches. There is one example of using Post It notes over the envelops ... We had been already using that process to fasten up the activities within our office and it works perfectly "always".

Thanks for the book. Thanks for all the examples.

Any social psychologist will tell you Dr. Cialidini is a thought leader and esteemed researcher in the study of influence. This book brings his knowledge to all in a highly readable format which includes plenty of humor. In one word: Digestible.

Each short chapter highlights and weaves together practical influence tools and tips. This is as simple as you can get in influence research. Yet it maintains its usability. The book provides specific, easy to use tools. It includes countless ideas for sales professionals, marketers and public communicators of all types. Much of the advice also will serve you well in your personal life, too.

Pick this up today for a quick yet very useful read. And make sure you accompany your read with a list of what tips you are going to start implementing TODAY!

Mollie Marti, Ph.D.
Author, The 12 Factors of Business Success

Yes! is an entertaining book - to match the title, it's a blast! Noah J. Goldstein, Steve J. Martin and Robert B. Cialdini provide, as the subtitle indicates, 50 distinct examples, explanations or techniques to help you become more persuasive. They present the general principles of persuasion and discuss an abundance of specific, detailed uses. The authors offer numerous studies (their own and others'), hypothetical situations, and elucidations of what to do and what not to do. They advocate the idea that you can and should test persuasive strategies. They are convincing, and they write wittily and breezily. getAbstract recommends this useful book to anyone engaged in persuasion, including executives, marketers, trainers and salespeople.

Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to be Persuasive, written by Goldstein, Martin and Cialdini, takes the scientific research and studies done on persuasion over the past 50+ years and presents an easy to understand book on how to convince people.

According to the authors, "The central purpose of this book is to provide the reader with a better understanding of the psychological processes underlying our efforts to influence others to shift their attitudes or behavior in a direction that results in positive outcomes for both parties."

The authors go to pains to convince us that persuasion is a science, not an art. They believe that, unlike books on business, economics and so on, there are not many books on persuasion because most people believe they already know how to convince people. which is a mistake, according to them.

They begin with the 6 universal principles of social influence:

* Reciprocation
* Authority
* Commitment/consistency
* Scarcity
* Liking
* Social proof

What follows are 50 mini-chapters. Each refers to scientific studies, but the chapters are breezy and easy to read.

Here are some examples:

* When pursuasion might backfire, how do you avoid the magnetic middle?
* when does a bonus become an onus?
* Does fear persuade or does it paralyze?
* What is the active ingredient in lasting commitments?
* What's the hidden danger of being the brightest person in the room?
*When is a loser an winner?

Insightful and thought-provoking, this book is useful for both social and business situations.

By the author of the award winning book,
Harmonious Environment: Beautify, Detoxify and Energize Your Life, Your Home and Your Planet.

This is concise, focused, and practitioner oriented. Being well organized into 50 short chapters (one per technique), it is worth keeping on your bookshelf as a troubleshooting reference.

The authors performed a valuable service by organizing so much into so few words. Great job! I'm giving this 4 instead of 5 stars just because there were no new ideas that I'd not heard previously elsewhere.

If you'd like to read further into marketing, I'd recommend Philip Kotler's books, if you have the time, and if you do, start with the short one: Philip Kotler, According to Kotler: The World's Foremost Authority on Marketing Answers All Your Questions, AMACOM, 2005.

I loved the practical examples that are included in the book ... and how sometimes such small adjustments can make such huge improvements in persuasion. For example, how survey responses jumped from 30 percent to 56 percent just by adjusting the name of the sender!

The best thing I liked with Yes! is that I can relate the information easily to a business environment -- and see how I can make simple changes to tactics and copy to have a more effective and persuasive marketing piece. It's not really academically focused and that's a good thing.

I loved Cialdini's "Influence" and think this book is good in combination -- I'd buy both if I didn't already own them. I also enjoy Kevin Hogan on the persuasion topic ... both are great persuasion resources.

The way the information is presented in the 50 examples should really make Yes! essential business reading. I'll also be using this book to help improve the communication and presentations made by our Rotary Club -- the content is useful for more than just a business setting.

This book is extremely helpful if you want to learn the ways of influence quickly. It's organized into fifty very short chapters, all about three pages each, so the reading is fast and easily digestible. One of the authors, Robert Cialdini, is THE leading authority on influence and persuasion in the country. Sample chapters include: "What common mistake causes messages to self-destruct?" Notice that's it's only one mistake! And, "Which office item can make your influence stick?" Office item? Oh, this is good! You'll be influencing like mad in no time.

This little book is a captivating compilation of persuasive tid-bits, facts, and findings into the world of human behavior and how to get to that powerful word...YES!

This is a gold-mine addition to the original book that brought widespread fame to Dr. Cialdini, The Psychology of Influence.Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (Collins Business Essentials)
Influence: Science and Practice (5th Edition)

For any copywriter, marketer, or entrepreneur who is in the need of influencing readers or prospects to become buyers this is a must read! This book is a must have for your business library. One little tid-bit of persuasion will more than pay for your small investment sum of time and money!

As a follow-up to his wonderful book, Influence, Robert Cialdini co-authored YES!: 50 SCIENTIFICALLY PROVEN WAYS TO BE PERSUASIVE with Noah J. Goldstein and Steve J. Martin. I only have one issue with this book; they should have stopped at 40 scientifically proven ways to be persuasive. I say that because the last ten "scientifically proven ways" included what I thought were some pretty lame examples such as not being sad, drinking coffee to increase alertness and not letting calls go to voicemail.

Now that I have that one negative aside, let me say anyone that has anything to do with negotiations (and don't we all to one degree or another) should put this on their must read list. When you put aside the few chapters that might be duds, the rest of the book has some fantastic ideas that are sure to improve negotiations that I am certain - unless you've already read this book - you may have overlooked.

Since I led this review off with the one low point of the point, I should mention some of the high-points. There were a couple of chapter that really illustrated how to turn an agreement into a commitment. These were very valuable. There was a wonderful chapter that illustrated why restaurants are making a huge mistake by placing mints by the hosts' counter. Did I mention every person who works in the food service industry would greatly increase their tips by reading this book? There is a good chapter also about how companies make a mistake by giving away a free gift without emphasizing the value of the gift. In the storage business, many companies often give a free lock with rentals, but I've never seen one mention the actual value of the lock.

The book is barely over 200 pages and each of the 50 ideas have their own chapter so each chapter is bite-sized, making this a great read for on the go. One of the things I really enjoyed about the book was in the appendix where list a handful of feedback letters from where some of the specific techniques have been tried and how they impacted the results. The real life practical applications really do well to illustrate the examples.

I struggled about whether or not to write this review because admittedly, I'm biased when it comes to Dr. Cialdini's work. I became a Cialdini convert in 2004 when he spoke at my company, State Auto Insurance, and I believed so much in the effectiveness of his work that I became a certified trainer. And I must disclose, "Yes!" contains a submission of mine.

Now, having shared all that, I think it's fair to say becoming a trainer and my submission are proof positive of my sincere belief that the ethical application of the principles of influence can make a big difference when it comes your success both professionally and personally.

I think Yes! is the perfect compliment to Dr. Cialdini's other work, "Influence: Science and Practice". While "Influence" gives great detail on the six principles of influence, "Yes!" gives tremendous practical application.

It's an easy, engaging read because each chapter is only four or five pages long. But don't let the short chapters fool you because each hits on relevant ways the principles are being used. If the reader is critically thinking then the stories and studies should stimulate thoughts on how he or she can also use the material. For all my work and training on influence and persuasion over the years I can honestly say, as I read this book I found myself thinking of new ways to incorporate influence techniques.

You can't go wrong with "Yes!" because it's far better than almost every other book on influence and persuasion on the market today.

Most self-help books on social influence, persuasion, leadership and marketing cite almost no high-quality research. Not so with this book. It delivers on the promise embedded in the title.

If you can get past all the annoying puns and occasionally dumbed-down explanations, this book will teach you a lot about how to be more persuasive while maintaining your most important relationships.