• A_Wild_Zeus_Chase@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    “Langer demonstrated this fact by asking a small favor of people waiting in line to use a library copying machine: “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I’m in a rush?”

    The effectiveness of this request-plus-reason was nearly total: Ninety-four percent of those asked let her skip ahead of them in line.

    Compare this success rate to the results when she made the request only: “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine?” Under those circumstances, only 60 percent of those asked complied.

    At first glance, it appears that the crucial difference between the two requests was the additional information provided by the words “because I’m in a rush.”

    But a third type of request tried by Langer showed that this was not the case. It seems that it was not the whole series of words, but the first one, “because,” that made the difference.

    Instead of including a real reason for compliance, Langer’s third type of request used the word “because” and then, adding nothing new, merely restated the obvious: “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I have to make some copies?”

    The result was that once again nearly all (93 percent) agreed, even though no real reason, no new information, was added to justify their compliance.”

    Excerpt From Influence Robert B. Cialdini, PhD

    • neidu3@sh.itjust.works
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      2 months ago

      I managed to skip the entire line at Ohare security screening by just walking past people waiting patiently while I repeated “sorry, plane is boarding, excuse me, boarding, pardon me…” etc. Nobody bothered objecting and got out of the way for me.

      My incoming flight was delayed, and immigration took forever, so once it was time to get to my connection the plane had started boarding. After security I had to run, and I got to the gate just in time.

    • davel@lemmy.ml
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      2 months ago

      Many of my friends are familiar with this study, and an inside joke of ours is to, when asking for something, end it with “because reasons.”

  • meejle@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    A good retail one: don’t say “sorry for your wait.” Say “thank you for waiting” or “thank you for being so patient”.

    Something to do with… it makes people feel good about themselves if they think they’ve done something for you, which in turn makes them more likely to keep being patient.

  • brygphilomena@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Be kind and use people’s names. Also, just asking for stuff.

    You’d be amazed how far it will take you just to ask for something, using a person’s name, and being kind about it. Demand something and people will be reluctant to give you a thing.

    • rigatti@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      brygphilomena, can I have your full name, address, social security number, and mother’s maiden name?

  • x00z@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Allowing yourself to be wrong. Especially as a male.

    Instead of trying to figure out a way to still kind of be correct, you just objectively reconsider the facts.

    It made me a better adult. I prefixed a lot of my statements with “I think” or “I believe” to emphasis the possibility for me to be wrong. And I’m more inclined to ask questions. (Which sadly gets a lot of people riled up because they have a hard time believing I’m not doing it sarcastically.)

  • weeeeum@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Something niche to my field (custom furniture and woodworking) is that RAISING prices can increase sales. Wealthy clientele want both a piece that is quality, but also something “worthy” of gracing their home.

    A mentor of mine had beautiful, handmade pieces for 600$. He was still in his “starving artist” phase and kept slashing prices to make some money back. He had lunch with a friend who was a painter. he discussed the amount of time (30 hours) and materials that went into these pieces and they weren’t selling for even 600$. She immediately told him he was insane and to jack up prices. He told all the stores he was showcasing in to raise the prices from 600$ to 3000$. He sold ALL 10 of them in 3 months.

    Pricing is a careful balance of charging what is fair, and what the client expects to pay. If you are building a dining table for a client that has $500k worth of art and paintings covering the walls, he is expecting to pay in excess of $50,000. If you quote him $10,000, hes gonna get cold feet and go to someone else charging more.

    Same phenomenon in this video. Banksy selling pieces for 60$ on the street and barely sells any. His pieces usually sell for $20k

    https://youtu.be/7mxJT2uXtrE

    People are HIGHLY class oriented and kind of stupid. The price is not the piece but what it says. They want a piece that says “I’m rich as fuck”.

  • Dessalines@lemmy.ml
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    2 months ago

    Not a specific one, but Cialdini’s book the principles of persuasion, is probably the best book on psychology, and it’s centered on a short list of these “tricks” that cause an automatic “click-whirr” response in humans.

  • SpatchyIsOnline@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    If you’re walking towards someone on the street and you want to avoid the whole “I’m going left you’re going right” dance - DO NOT make eye contact with them and glance toward the way you intend to go. They will automatically go the other way and you won’t bump into anyone ever again

    • xanu@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      this also works for navigating large crowds! you look slightly down and the direction you want to go and watch entire crowds part for you. some people will be oblivious and you may have to walk around them, but for the most part, people being able to subconsciously see where you want to go will make them move out of that way for you.