​Explode Your Response Rate Using Key Persuasion Tactics (Cont 2)

Explode Your Response Rate Using Key Persuasion Tactics (Cont 2)

This is a continuation of my previous blog. In my previous blog post I gave you 2 powerful persuasion tactics that you can use immediately to increase your response rate. In this blog you will receive 2 more very powerful tactics. These are based on Cialdinis’ work. I’ve taken his 6 principles of influence and broke then down and showed you how you can incorporate them in your direct mail campaign. Again, only use these in an ethical way that helps your clients. The next persuasion tactic is….

Social Proof….. Social proof states that people are likely to perform an action if they can relate to the people who performed the same action before them. This is an especially powerful principle of influence. No one wants to be the only one doing something. People need to have proof that the decision they are going to make is a good one. If everyone else is doing it, it must be a good decision, right. An example of this is online reviews. If a product has a lot of good online reviews compared to a product that doesn’t have any reviews, which one are you likely to buy? With a product that doesn’t have any reviews, there is an element of the unknown. People don’t typically invest in something that is unknown. They want to be certain of their decision and they look to others for this certainty.

Social proof in action… Recently I had a piece of furniture delivered to my house. I usually never carry cash on me so I never really thought about tipping these guys when they delivered my piece of furniture. So when they showed up to my house I figured they would just drop off my furniture and be on their way. After they put my furniture in place, one of the movers brings me a clipboard with a piece of paper that I need to sign. On the clipboard I see a couple of rolled up $20 bills. Immediately, I said to myself “crap, other people were tipping these guys, I need to tip too!” I just so happened to have stopped by an ATM a couple days prior and I knew I had $10 in my pocket. Guess who ended up with that $10? After, they left, I realized what had happened, they were using an influence principle to receive tips. For all I know that was their own $20 bill!

How can you use this principle in your direct mail campaign? In your message you can mention you have bought several houses in the area. If you can mention addresses of the house you bought, even better. Think about a potential client receiving postcards in the mail from other investors. If one postcard has a generic message saying “I want to buy your house” and the other postcard says something about already having bought houses in the area. Which postcard will likely be more effective? Another idea is to add a testimonial from a previous customer on the postcard. What other ways can you use social proof?

Authority….. People will often be persuaded in your direction if they see that you are knowledgeable and have credibility on the topic. Cialdini writes in his book “We are trained from birth to believe that obedience from proper authority is right and disobedience is wrong” (p180). Cialdini uses an example of a doctor in his book. A doctor is seen as an authority and people often take the doctors’ orders automatically, without question.

People like to deal with confidant people who are sure of themselves. You can present yourself as an authority even though you’re not. If you present yourself to people as an authority, they will believe it. How do you do this? Being confidant really isn’t enough. Try absolute certainty. When speaking with clients if you are absolutely certain in what you are saying, you will be viewed as an authority.

With direct mail, authority and social proof go hand-in-hand. On your direct mail piece if you give examples of social proof, you will also be seen as an authority. The authority needs to come out when speaking with these people.

You now have 2 more principles of influence in your arsenal you can utilize to get more leads and close more deals. Stay tuned for my next blog that will give you 2 more……