Influence at Work

I'm currently reading the book, Influence: Science and Practice by Dr. Robert Cialdini, in which he describes his 6 weapons of influence. The book is a very good read, giving scores of examples and research on influence. It wasn't until I recently attended a "free" stock seminar from Rich Dad Education that I saw all of these weapons pointed at me. I was as interested in learning about how to do technical analysis of stock charts as I was in watching them fire off these weapons into the crowd. The premise of the "free" seminar was to tease us with information and get us to pay for the $500 3-day seminar. So below is a list of the six weapons of influence, and how Rich Dad Education used them:

1. Reciprocity - People feel an obligation to repay favors.
• I was greeted with a free USB drive (a paltry 128mb) loaded with useful Rich Dad info (or propaganda). And of course the free seminar which covered just a couple topics. In theory, I'd feel an obligation to sign up for the seminar to reciprocate all that they've given me.
2. Commitment and Consistency - When people commit to an idea or goal, they are more likely to honor that commitment. 
• After pounding into our heads that education is an invaluable asset, we must've done at least 20 audience fill-in-the-blanks where the answer was education. They had us verbally commit to our education, and write down our financial and personal goals. Of course for $500, they would provide us the tools to meet those goals. So by not paying for the course, we're then being inconsistent with our commitment to education and to achieving our goals.
3. Social Proof - People often decide what to believe or how to act in a situation by looking at what other people are believing or doing.
• We did a show of hands toward the end of who was seriously interested in buying into the seminar (about 1/3). They were excused to the back of the ballroom to sign-up, leaving all us non-committal free-loaders to look at all the believers.
4. Liking - People tend to say yes to people they know and like.
• The speaker tried his best to be likable. He talked about how he helps his dad with his retirement account, how his goals are to spend time with his family, travel, and play golf - which is why he does these seminars 20 weeks of the year and spends the rest of the time doing what he loves. How can you not like that.
• We also got to see a few video testimonials of different types of people we could develop an affinity with to follow their success - the engineer, the salesman, the stay-at-home mom.
5. Authority - People tend to obey authority figures.
• Robert Kiyosaki, the face of Rich Dad Education and the author of several Rich Dad financial education books is branded as an authority figure and expert. 
6. Scarcity - People assign more value to opportunities when they are less available.
• Sign up today, at this "free" seminar, it will only be $495. If you wait, and register over the phone, it'll be $995! Think of the value this is mentally creating; you get a $1000 course for only $500. I can't wait or else I'll pay double.
• But wait there's more... you'll also get this stock analysis software for free! (except you have to pay $40/mo to get the stock data feed or else its useless). The speaker claims its worth at least $2000. So I'm getting $3000 of value for only $500. Score!
• But wait there's more!... Act now, and you can bring a guest for free! Now its $4000 of value for $500, and I can split it with a friend.
• Seats are limited on a first-come-first-serve basis.
• We're only doing 2 workshops scheduled in the area.

Fortunately, Dr. Cialdini's book, Influence: Science and Practice, makes you more aware of these weapons for you to use as a marketer, but also gives some advice on how to defend, resist, and see through them. For me, the free seminar was enlightening and cost-effective; I got to see the principles of influence in action while getting a little bit of general financial knowledge. Not a bad way to spend two hours.

References:

Cialdini, Robert B. Influence: Science and Practice. 5th ed. Boston: Pearson Education, 2009.

Perception

Quality, more often than not, is based on perception more-so than the actual quality. Toyota had a great overall quality perception a year ago, but with the recent revelations of some poorly handled recalls, Toyota's are now ticking time bombs.

My wife displayed a great example of this quality perception idea. Where we live, there are only a few major supermarkets - the closest is Berkeley Bowl West, a local market that is great for produce and organic stuff, but their meat selection, while impressive is really really expensive (I don't personally place much more value in grass-fed beef or free-range chickens). The next closest supermarket, is called Pak 'n Save, which is owned by Safeway, though you wouldn't know it from the outside. Inside, it is essentially a big Safeway, the only real difference, is that you bag your own groceries at the end of the process (get it? you Pack and save). They sell all the same stuff as Safeway including Safeway branded products, use the Safeway bags and packaging, and use the same Safeway Club Card. Granted, there is a less upscale feel that the newer and remodeled Safeways have, that this one lacks ... which conveys a Physical Evidence that doesn't reinforce quality.

My wife hates shopping there and would rather drive an extra few miles to the smaller, crowded Safeway or pay more at the organic market. She is suspicious of nearly all their products, making sure to double-check expiration dates of whatever we buy. She's convinced that this is where all the unsold products go to die. I personally don't mind, because its closer, usually a faster checkout, and I don't have awkward encounters in tight aisles where my cart is in somebody's way.

The thing to think about is this: While your business and product/service may be on the mark. How do your customers and prospects perceive it? What are you doing to manage that perception?

Email Fail

As you know, I recently moved from Phoenix to the SF Bay Area. I was looking up options to set up television service, my default was to just get cable, but I'm not sure if satellite dishes are allowed or will work from my location.

Perfect timing, I get an email advertisement from DirectTV. $29.99 for 12 months and 150 channels, not bad. So I click on it to learn more and read the fine print and it takes me to ...



Having managed several web sites in my day, I can appreciate and understand the challenges of getting a site up and working and functional, but for the entire site to be inaccessible while you update, is not good for business.

The lesson - beta test your sites somewhere else and migrate the new and improved site quickly. Oh, and always know where your email ads take the user.

Questionable Questionnaires?

I recently received an online survey from an organization that I'm affiliated with. It was a pretty standard survey about customer experience, intent, and expectations. So as I got into the survey, it was 9 questions - I hit submit - and I get 12 more questions - submit - 7 more questions... submit - 11 more questions ... and it went on, with no end in sight. Additionally, the questions were redundant, asking essentially the same question in four slightly different ways. Here's a snippet of questions 11-14:

• I possess the necessary skills to attain my goals
• I have what it takes to reach my goals
• I have the necessary knowledge to reach my goals
• I have the ability to reach my goals

This survey ultimately went on for 101 questions, and with every 'Submit' I clicked, I prayed it was the last. Normally I would've bailed at about 35 or 40 questions, but since I was affiliated with this group, I felt an obligation to fill the survey out in its entirety.

Which brings me to a guideline for conducting a questionnaire:

1. If you don't ask, you can't get an answer
2. If there is something wrong in the questionnaire, the survey is a waste - Test your survey with a smaller audience first to make sure they're written to elicit the type of response you're looking for.
3. Think about multiple answers
4. Avoid leading questions - You want unbiased true answers, not leading the respondent to the answer you desire.
5. Minimize open-ended questions - While they offer a wealth of insight, they are much harder to analyze.
6. Use simple, direct, and familiar vocabulary - The folks at Google did a survey in NYC and asked people on the street "What is a Browser?" - less than 8% got it right.
7. Avoid unique or ambiguous meanings.
8. Start with easy questions, then move onto specific questions later.
9. Create an expectation of time and progress - Most web-based survey sites have a progress bar, or you can be up front about how many questions there are before they start.
10. KEEP IT SHORT - Don't ask for anything you won't actually use.

New Website Completed

Wingman Marketing Communications has just re-launched our website at http://www.wingmancommunications.com. Our old site was dark and rough around the edges, but that was reflective of our nation's economic death spiral. The revamp has been long overdue, and reflects our fresh new outlook on the future of our business, our lives, and hopefully the rest of the economy. We really think there may be a correlation.

Anyways, check out our site, fish around. We've tested it, but if you come across something weird, please send Ray a tweet @rayhuang.