Entries by Brian Ahearn, CMCT®

Influence is all about PEOPLE

This is my first attempt at blogging so please bear with me. In due time I’ll learn more about effective blogging and hopefully you’ll learn more about effective influence and persuasion. Experience and science give me confidence to make the following assertion; if you try some of the things I’ll be sharing with you, over […]

The Principle of Reciprocity

Reciprocity means, “A mutual exchange.” As a principle of influence it could be described in layman’s terms as the good old “give and take” principle or “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.” When someone does something for us we typically feel obligated to do something for them in return, to return the favor, so […]

The Principle of Liking

The Liking Principle is obvious to most of us – people like to do business with people they like. Or, as Jeffrey Gitomer says, “All things being equal, people want to do business with their friends. All things not being so equal, people still want to do business with their friends.” For that matter, almost anything we […]

The Principle of Consensus

The Principle of Consensus tells us, when people are unsure how to act in certain situations, they tend to look to others to see how they should respond. It makes me think about the old saying, “There’s safety in numbers.” For example, when making a major purchase on something we don’t know lots about, we just feel […]

The Principle of Authority

“If an expert says it, then it must be true,” is the basis of the Authority Principle. Why is it so often the case that we believe the perceived experts? We live in a time when more information than ever is available at our finger tips because of the Internet, and that’s good. Unfortunately, we’re so overloaded […]

The Principle of Consistency

If you had to sum up the Principle of Consistency I suppose you could say this, “People generally want to be consistent in word and deed.” Think about a time you gave your word but did not do what you’d promised. How did you feel? If you’re like most people, you didn’t feel too good and probably […]

The Principle of Scarcity

Scarcity boils down to this for most people — if I can’t have it, then I want it! If something is scarce that means it’s not plentiful and usually difficult to come by. It’s amazing how people respond differently when they suddenly know something they want is in short supply or may not be around for long. If you’ve raised kids […]

Compare and Contrast

Compare and contrast is not a principle of influence; rather we talk about it as a phenomenon. Did you know the order in which you present things impacts your perception about the things presented? For example, if someone told you the price of a piece of furniture was $999 then quickly said, “I’m sorry, that wasn’t […]