The Matthew Effect

Not too long ago I reread The Art of WOO by G. Richard Shell and Mario Moussa. The book focuses on ways to use strategic persuasion to sell your ideas. I particularly like how the authors use real people and situations of success and failure when analyzing the use of persuasion to sell ideas. The Art of WOO is one of the few books other than Robert Cialdini’s Influence Science and Practice and Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to be Persuasive that I recommend when people ask about good books on influence and persuasion.

In the chapter on “Closing the Sale: Commitments and Politics” the authors describe something known as the Matthew Effect. Having read through the Bible many times this reference caught my eye. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus, while teaching on the kingdom of heaven, was asked by his disciples why He taught in parables. His reply, “For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.” (Mt 13:12 NASV)

Social scientists don’t exactly use the Matthew Effect as Jesus did but rather they use it to describe the phenomenon that sometimes people get more credit based on what they’ve done in the past. In other words, reputation matters because it builds momentum. All of this ties into the principle of influence known as authority.

The principle of authority describes the reality that people value the advice of experts more than they do an Average Joe. Average Joe and Johnny Expert might both say the exact same thing and be 100% correct but more people will believe Johnny Expert. Fair? Maybe not, but the reason we believe Johnny Expert over Average Joe is because typically experts are right more often than non-experts. If you had to lay your money down whose advice will you take – doctor or nurse; general or foot soldier; Harvard professor or high school teacher? I’d place my money on the advice of the doctor, the general and the Harvard professor and I bet most of you would too. Those people may not be right all the time but they attained their positions because of years of training and being right more often than not. That’s why they’ve come to be viewed as experts.

I described this in more detail last March when I wrote a post titled “Is Expert Advice Always Worth the Price?” Actually, in that article I encouraged people to pay close attention because sometimes the advice may not be worth the asking price.

What I want to explore just a bit is what you can do to take advantage of the Matthew Effect. Reputation matters because it can help or hinder you. That’s not news to anyone reading this but it’s gotten more attention in recent years. In the business world, you don’t hear as much about reputation as you do personal branding these days.

In the same way companies seek to create a brand, positive impressions and feelings towards their company, people are encouraged to brand themselves. I wrote a piece on Personal Branding in July 2009. Just like a great product isn’t enough to translate into great sales, sometime good, hard work doesn’t get the recognition it deserves either. Personal branding can help overcome that.

At work every email I send has “When it needs to be done well!” as part of my auto-signature. I also start my voicemail saying, “Do you need something done well? Then you’ve come to the right place!” Those are both ways to get people to associate me with getting things done well. Of course just putting out a slogan isn’t enough – you have to back it up or else your brand will be worse off.

Something else you can do is work to achieve expert status. I work in insurance and in my industry continuing education is important. As you pass certain exams you can earn designations. For example, a CPCU (Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter) conveys a lot about a person because it usually takes about five years of study to earn the designation.

Sometimes people don’t know what a designation means and that can be good! When someone asks me what CMCT (Cialdini Method Certified Trainer) stands for it allows me to explain and let them know there are only about two dozen people in the world who currently have that designation. Stating how few people have the designation incorporates scarcity and adds even more to the brand. Finally, being able to tell people that readers from about 140 countries have visited my blog adds even more credibility.

So my question for you this week is simply this; what can you do to start leveraging the Matthew Effect? What are things about you that, if people knew, could add to your credibility so your ideas are given more credence? Brainstorm this, talk to co-workers and those who know you and start making a list. Then begin to narrow the list and think of creative ways to utilize your personal selling points. Doing so might make the difference between being heard or not, between being promoted or being passed over.

Life may happen to us but how we choose to deal with it is totally within our control. All but one of Jesus’ disciples made the choice to stick it out with Him. They were exposed to truths others were not and now they live on for eternity. The Matthew Effect may not be so dramatic for you but if you leverage it properly it could help your career.

Brian
influencepeople
Helping You Learn to Hear “Yes”.

An Exercise in Awareness

Click on the picture below to watch a short YouTube video

then we'll continue on.

If you're like most people you were probably floored by all that went on in the video that you missed! I know I was first time I watched it. The video is a great exercise in awareness and focus.

I have to confess, I'm not always the most aware guy and this occasionally bites me in my marriage. Many years ago I went to a "gallery hop" art show with my wife. Not exactly my cup of tea but I was trying to be the dutiful husband and act interested. When I saw a painting style I recognized (Monet) I said to Jane, "We have a painting by that guy don't we?" She said, "We have that painting." Surprised I replied, "Really?" Jane proceeded to tell me the painting was at the top of the stairs in our house...and had been there about three years! Ooops! Better keep my mouth closed next time.

One of my favorite questions to ask when training is this, "Has anyone bought a new car in the past couple of years?" As you would expect there are usually several people who raise their hand. Then I pick someone for a simple follow up question, "What kind of car did you get?"

Let's suppose they say, "I bought a Ford Mustang." Next I'll ask, "After you bought the car, did you notice more Mustangs on the road in the days and weeks following your purchase?" You know the answer to that question, a resounding yes. I've never had someone tell me they didn't notice their new car on the road more after getting it.

What do you suppose changed? Could it be that there just happened to be a rush on Mustangs at that moment in time? Of course not! The only thing that changed was the buyers' awareness of that type of car. I use that simple truth to get them to realize they get what they look for.

How does this tie into influence? In two basic ways. First, your lack of awareness when it comes to the principles of influence means you're missing opportunities that could help you hear that one word we all long for when making requests of other people - "Yes!"

The more you come to understand the principles of reciprocity, liking, consensus, authority, consistency, and scarcity the more you'll become aware of all the opportunities to ethically use them when interacting with people. With enough practice you'll even find yourself using them almost without thinking.

The second way awareness ties into influence is protection. That's right, protection. Let's face it, there are lots of people out there who understand this stuff but may not be constrained by ethics. I bet every one of you reading this can think of a time where a salesman manipulated you to buy something. Or maybe unethical influence was used on you by someone who took advantage of you in a relationship. What do you think about politicians and manipulation?

My point is this; there are many people out there whose livelihood depends on getting you and others like you to say yes. It's a sad fact that many more than we'd like to admit will do whatever they can to move ahead. Your understanding of the principles of influence is a first line of defense from being taken advantage of.

I hope this was an enlightening little experiment for you; an "ah ha" moment perhaps. If you continue to read Influence PEOPLE I guarantee your eyes will be open to new possibilities and you'll be more aware when it comes to those who seek to take advantage of you.

Brian
influencepeople
Helping You Learn to Hear “Yes”

Explaining the Spread of Urban Legends

Did you know syringes have been found in the ball pits at McDonalds? I knew I should have taken the kids to Burger King…except that Burger King guy on those commercials is really creepy!

URGENT PRAYER REQUEST: for a friend of a friend of a friend...Kayala Scott's 22-month old son shot himself in the chest with a nail gun…I guess that means no more family outings to Home Depot or Lowes.

Mr. Rogers was a Marine sharpshooter with numerous kills in Vietnam! No wonder it was a beautiful day in his neighborhood…everyone was scared to death of him!

I hope you know none of the above is true. They’re all urban legends; stories that spread spontaneously in various forms. While they’re almost always false far too many people believe them to be true and that’s part of the reason why they live on.

You might be reading this with some embarrassment because you’ve passed on one or more of these stories in days gone by to others via email. I’ll make you feel a little better and ‘fess up that I forwarded some of these types of email in the early days of the Internet. I’d like to take a moment to explain some of the psychology about why these stories live on.

First, consider who typically sends these to you – someone you know. If your best friend, neighbor or a relative sends you and email with this kind of news the principle of liking is engaged. We tend to trust those we know and like so when a friend sends you a story, no matter how far out is sounds, most people immediately give them the benefit of the doubt and believe there’s some truth to it. And when a friend asks you to pray and pass along a well meaning email to others the liking principle compels many people to help the cause.

It doesn’t take too many forwarded emails to keep it going either. If you get an email and pass it along to a couple dozen friends and only four pass it to another couple dozen and four of those people forward it…by the time that goes through seven iterations it could be passed along to more than 16,000 people!

Seeing all those names on an email triggers another psychological principle of influence -- consensus. Sometimes known as social proof, consensus tells us people look to others for cues on how to act in certain situations. When you see all those email addresses because the email has been forwarded multiple times it’s natural to assume there’s some validity to what’s being shared. All those names prompt people to continue the behavior.

I’m sure many of you reading this are thinking to yourself, “I don’t pass that stuff along anymore.” Good for you but it’s undeniable that others still do and, as I shared earlier, if just four people out of two dozen keep it going it can spread faster than the flu virus through your office or your kid’s school.

How can you slow down these kinds of unwanted emails? It’s pretty simple actually. Visit a site to see if what you just got has any validity. Here are just a few sites that can help you. Once you get to a site just do a search on some key words from the email.

Snopes.com

UrbanLegends.com

Scambusters.org

If you find out it’s a hoax hit the Reply All button and politely let your friend know what they shared isn’t true and give the website where you found out. Let them know you got drawn into something similar before and don’t want to see them make the same mistake.

A word of caution: whatever you do, don’t lay the person to waste! Once when I passed along a well meaning email about a prayer need someone fired back at me in a pretty harsh way. There’s no place for that, particularly when the email was well intended. Approach the person as you’d like to be approached and as Dale Carnegie encouraged, allow the other person to save face. Do that and you’ll slow the spread of unwanted email and preserve a friendship.

Brian
influencepeople
Helping You Learn to Hear “Yes”.

Influencers from Around the World – Influence in Italian Gas Stations

In Italy our highways are called Autostrade and with a very capillary network they cover almost our entire “boot-shaped” peninsula, enabling us to travel from the North of the country down to Sicily in a fast and easy way. Along these roads are many gas stations owned by a company called Autogrill which builds restaurants and drugstores close to the gas stations in order to offer travelers the chance to have coffee, a meal or to buy something along the way. In these shops the principles of influence are used massively and they always attract my attention.

When people stop in one of these places, aside from their need for gas, they enter the building mainly for two reasons: either they need to go to the toilet or they want something to eat or drink. The shop entrance is situated very close to the bar desk and to the toilet entrance. Once these two needs are fulfilled (a cash register is located close to the bar so customers can easily pay) people only want to go back to their cars as fast as possible and to resume their journey. The most logical thing would therefore be to exit from the same door they used to enter the store. However, that would deprive the store owner of a great opportunity – to possibly sell something extra to somebody who is already a customer and who has probably no other explicit need at that point.

For this reason, in order to gain the exit, you are forced to take a very long walk within the store, where you are exposed to every sort of product imaginable. This “detour” is created within the store by adding cardboard walls in strategic positions, creating one of those lines which are often seen at airports for passport controls or baggage check-in, filing many people into narrow spaces. On the two sides of the narrow way, customers are exposed to regional foods from every part of Italy, toys, books, fine bottles of wines, and many other consumer products. Most of these products, regardless from the season, are offered with a “50% discount off full price” or with the formula such as “buy one get the second one free.” Both of these of course trigger the reflex to the principle of scarcity.

Now, the theory is this; if asked almost nobody among those who take this forced walk would admit to have the original intention to buy a piece of seasoned Parma Ham, a box of “tortellini” home made in Bologna or any other of the goods they are exposed to. However, the fact is, most people end up actually buying something and paying for it at a second cash register which happens to be strategically positioned before the real exit. We can learn two things:

1) The products are exposed in a very appealing way. People can smell the fresh food, touch the fabric of goods (because of the narrow space they are almost invited to do so) or open the books to have a look inside. In essence, a need is created by mere exposure. The lesson for you and I is this – by presenting our product in an appealing way, we can create a need where there wasn’t one in the first place.

2) The store owner knows if you present these products to a very large number of people, statistically some will end up buying. Their products are presented, with no alternative, to EVERY single customer because, unless they walk with their eyes closed, they are forced to endure the seemingly endless array of products. We can apply the same principle by doing whatever is necessary to expose our product or service to the highest number of qualified to buyers.

So now you are warned, when you come to Italy and need to refill your tank, be ready to make some unscheduled purchases in one of those stores or accept the challenge to resist the impulses driven by the persuasion principles!

Marco

I’m sure Marco would enjoy hearing from you so feel free to leave a comment below.

Brian
influencepeople
Helping You Learn to Hear “Yes”.