1st Principle of Influence – Reciprocation
In our last post, we mentioned about the 6 ‘Principles of Influence’ that can be used in one’s professional and personal life. Today, we will be briefly discussing about the 1st principle:
1: Reciprocation
Randy Garner’s experiment showed that the principle of reciprocation is effective in marketing. His study demonstrated that people who received a hand-written sticky note requesting completion of a survey had a 69% response rate, while those who received a blank sticky note had a 43% response rate, and those who received no sticky note had a 34% response rate. Additionally, the quality of the answers given by those who received the hand-written note was significantly better. This shows that marketers can use the principle of reciprocation to their advantage by giving something – such as information, free samples, or a positive experience – to their customers, which will cause them to feel indebted and more likely to respond positively to the marketer’s request.
6 Principles of Influence – Introduction
Dr. Robert Cialdini’s book, “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion”, is an essential read and provides valuable strategies for marketing to others as well as how to resist the tactics of others. Recently, Cialdini and two other authors have condensed his original book into a new one, “Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be More Persuasive”. This book is based on Cialdini’s 30 years of research on the science of influence and persuasion, and it provides practical advice on how to get people to say “yes” to your ideas and requests. It is backed up by scientific studies and can be used in both professional and personal settings. Cialdini has identified six key principles of persuasion, which are outlined in the fifth edition of “Influence: Science and Practice”. He cautions that these tools should not be used unethically, as any short-term gains will be outweighed by long-term losses.
In our upcoming posts, we will be discussing 6 ‘Principles of Influence’ that can be beneficial to everyone, from business owners, office workers, salespeople, and managers, in their professional and personal lives. Stay tuned!
Why Businesses Should Have Consultant Onboard To Help Them Out?
Businesses should have consultants onboard to help them for a variety of reasons. Consulting professionals bring a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the table that can help businesses identify and solve problems, improve efficiency and operations, and develop new strategies and tactics to stay competitive in the marketplace. Here are 4 reasons to do so:
Outside Perspective:
First, consultants can provide businesses with an outside perspective. Consultants can provide an unbiased, objective opinion that can help businesses assess their current situation and identify areas for improvement. This can be especially beneficial for businesses that are struggling to make progress or that are stuck in a rut. By looking at the business from an outside perspective, consultants can provide valuable insights and advice on how to move forward.
Identify root cause & solution:
Second, consultants can help businesses identify and solve problems. Businesses often face difficult or complex problems that they may not have the resources or expertise to address. Consultants can help businesses identify the root cause of these problems and provide solutions that can help the business move forward. This can also help businesses avoid costly mistakes and save time and money.
Improve efficiency:
Third, consultants can help businesses become more efficient and effective. Consultants can help businesses find ways to streamline operations and improve efficiency. This can help businesses save time and money, as well as improve customer satisfaction and the overall quality of their products and services.
Research & Strategies:
Finally, consultants can help businesses develop new strategies and tactics to remain competitive in the marketplace. Consultants can provide valuable insights into emerging trends, customer needs, and industry developments that can help businesses stay ahead of the competition. This can help businesses stay relevant and competitive in their industry and create long-term success.
In conclusion, businesses should have consultants onboard to help them for a variety of reasons. Consultants can provide an outside perspective, help businesses identify and solve problems, help businesses become more efficient and effective, and help businesses develop new strategies and tactics to remain competitive in the marketplace.
Displaced feelings brought to work? Here are two quick coping mechanisms.
Are you shutting down from clients when you are actively avoiding family members? You tend to get angry or restless when you feel someone has done you wrong? Having a bad day, a tiff with a loved one, or feeling like you are not being heard can easily travel with us to work. Human beings are not perfect, so it is common to want to vent in some way, shape, or form, even if what or who you are venting on is not the problem. However, displacing negative feelings from one phenomenon to another causes business issues that are willing to snowball.
So how can you cope with these feelings? Rationalization and acceptance are positive coping mechanisms that can help. Rationalize your thoughts about the real problem and solve it, preferably before starting work. Next, move to accept reality and work on business priorities. Need help with how to do that? Let the experts at Ima Solution help you with prioritization and process management such that coping with negative emotions does not affect your work day! Get in touch here to set up a business consultation session.
Transact in cash for better relationship building
Relationships and networks are great when you are in a sticky spot. Nevertheless, often, burning bridges is more common than maintaining friendships. We’re not relationship experts, but we know business! So the business advice about relationship building is to transact in cash. The more you do this, the better your relationships and, subsequently, your business.
What is the problem with credit, you ask? When you give something on credit, you are trusting a third party to pay you as per the agreement. If I had a dime for every time someone mentioned how their trust was broken! The problem with credit is that when the ball is no longer in your court, the person liable decides your worth on their priority list. Anything from a car, vacation, or a family member’s health can be above the value you have provided. Some may be justified, some not, but nobody asks you. You are not allowed to moral police anyone; remember the century?
You lose control of credit transactions. You invite yourself to problems that would otherwise not faze you. You are creating a relationship mess that is very hard to clean. What could you do instead? Transact in cash. Easier said than done? Call Ima Solution to help you fix processes and your supply chain to make this work!
I’d like to not thank those who said no to me!
I cannot say for sure, but the internet states that Albert Einstein said, “I am thankful for all those who said NO to me. It is because of them that I am doing it myself.” As a business owner, I find nothing more irrelevant than wasting time on those who responded negatively to me. I have heard things like, “My supplier bailed, and now I will have to cancel the order,” and “There is no way I can perform without this venue being available.” And so many such stories that clearly state that people saying no hurts businesses terribly. It does not always lead to more efficient ways of doing things.
We would instead focus on those that said yes. Those who helped us carry the weight of things in our lives so we could concentrate on growing the business. Those who cleaned the house, helped us with a warm meal every time it was time, took care of the children while we attended to our clients, and who believed we could take this through. They say it takes a village to raise a child. However, the business that is every bit like a child has to be done alone on this long, tiresome road.
Everyone is not lucky enough to have all of the above, in any case. Some of us must bear down on life while hoping to succeed at work. Ima Solution is helping create a balanced lifestyle within your business. Get experts to create processes involving your team members and get feedback from your clients. Identify the best ways to induct your precious young ones into your business. With a total experience of 30+ years, team Ima Solution will be your tribe to be successful in your business.
You’re not alone!
It was Monday, 26th April 2021, at about 8:30 AM when my phone rang. “Ashher is no more”, said the voice on the other side. Ashher Aamir, a friend of mine for 11 years, one of my closest buddies, was no more. I informed my wife about his demise and with tears in her eyes she immediately pointed at my daughter and said, “That dress she’s wearing was gifted by Ashher”! We have since then revisited every conversation we had with him, emphasizing on the last ones, lamenting about how we should have found more time for loved ones. We worry about our kids, if God forbid, they have to face this very possible scenario of losing a parent.
While chatting with business owners or even with salaried professionals, people are often talking about how badly business has been impacted due to the pandemic or how they have lost their jobs or an appraisal. But what about the void that has been left due to the loss of a loved one?
As the second wave of coronavirus devastates India, with over 350,000 cases reported every day, families are looking for assistance on social media. Fund-me pages are more real than they have ever been. It is chaotic and overwhelming.
They trawl Instagram pages, send messages to WhatsApp groups. They require hospital beds, oxygen, the COVID drug Remdesivir, and plasma. However, demand is outstripping supply, and the sick do not have the benefit of time. Let’s turn a blind eye, for now, about the problem of the fakes in the medicine market and the losses they are causing to people’s lives.
Many of those who have lost loved ones have had their life turned upside down. Many families lost their only breadwinner, leaving behind children and elderly parents. Families do not have time to grieve over the death of a loved one when they are dealing with various other difficult circumstances.
How can you wake up and pretend that after experiencing or witnessing something like that, you should come to work or run your business as best as possible? We shouldn’t. Nonetheless, here we are, doing so even if it under a crushing weight of grief.
We are grieving for all those who died as a result of Covid-19, as well as the deathbeds and funerals that we were unable to attend due to quarantine. We are grieving the loss of tens of millions of jobs and the financial strains caused by the pandemic, as well as the impossible decision for many essential workers about whether maintaining their job is worth risking their lives or the lives of their loved ones. And we are doing it all at work, whether it’s by Zoom calls and Slack chats from the kitchen tables and bedroom desks of those who can work from home or in grocery shops, clinics, and classrooms where essential workers are supposed to be physically present every day.
The aftereffects of this year’s sorrow and mourning will be felt for a long time. But we do not need to go through this alone, you do not have to go through this all alone. We are all in this together and we all must be a pillar of support for one another and overcome this together.
For Ashher.
Why sports are good for you?!
Exercise is good for you, doctors say that. But no, I am not here to writing a fitness. I am talking about how sports helps you take business decisions better.
For long, I have believed that if you want to judge how someone does business, watch how they play a game of sports. The golf courses around the world are famous for some of the biggest business deals to take place. Many other deals take place in the VIP sections of major sports events. Any game of sports, just as life, has its ups and down. Some are just born talent while others work their ass off to become a good player. So, how does this relate to business?
Barack Obama, the 44th President of the Unites States, was once asked what game he would call politics and he referred to American football. Just like in football, there are many players to work along with and you constantly have to change strategies and you have to keep pressing and push the ball up the field, sometimes even one yard at a time. Politics was his business at that point of time and this representation is quite fascinating.
Some like to play individual sports while others like to play team sports. While team sports would have a captain or a leader, individual sports you are pretty much on your own. Similarly, in business, some like to build a team and lead them while others like to be in charge themselves. A captain’s attitude is always under the scanner and people are quick to notice if they are captain cool, or hot headed or too scared to take risks. I believe you can observe similarities in the way they run their businesses in the way they play the sport, and this is not just restricted to the captain or leader!
I play cricket every weekend with a group of friends. One of them, I have known for 15 years. As a kid, he has always been hot headed and gets rallied up quite quickly. However, in the past one year, I noticed that he has learned to control his emotions, stay calm and even ready to take a few risks. He still gets rallied once in a while, but it is a vast change. The interesting thing is when he was discussing about his business, I could notice the similarity. He is willing to take risks quite often in his business and is far patient in his dealing as well.
In your day to day business, people probably would not yell at you if you do commit a mistake, most often no one would be aware about it. But when you are playing sports, specially with your friends or close ones, they will let you know their displeasure. Few weeks back, someone told me that I tend to get too defensive and that I should play more freely. I realized that I conduct business in similar fashion and that I need to make some changes in business as well.
In conclusion, if you run a business or intend to someday, go out and play. If you don’t, then figure out a sport that you would like to play, either with your friends, or love ones or whoever you can find. I am sure a game of sport will teach you something that you can implement in your business. And lastly, keeping the current pandemic and playing sports in mind, make sure that you always abide by the rules of the government and maintain social distancing.
Data vs. Gut – How do businesses think!
In the 60’s, when Pizza Hut and Dominos entered the pizzeria business, their decisions to expand their business relied pretty much on how much they were making each day. When Tom Monaghan, the founder of Dominos, realised that they can earn even up to $3,000 in a single night through a promotion, he knew it was an instant hit. That promotion was Super Sunday way back in Jan 1971. Tom did not need a BI to help him take decisions, he figured this one out himself!
Today, Data Science, BI or Business Intelligence, Machine Learning or even the simplistic phrase, data driven decision making, has all become a norm. Mind you, I am all for it. I strongly believe that businesses should adapt themselves with time which can be a separate topic to be talked about. My own firm encourages businesses to install practices which helps make best use of their data.
The topic for discussion is how do businesses make use of the data and how bold are they to go ahead and take decisions to make them. It is one thing to know what needs to be done but doing what is right or what you think is right, is the real beast! Think of it this way, I can see my belly and I know that I need to lose weight. The obvious answer would be to exercise. Other alternatives would be to change diet or undergo a surgery and remove the extra flab. But how often one finds unable to take any action. That is what I am talking about. Often I notice that even while businesses have all the information they need to take a decision, no matter whatever solution you feel is best, they simply fail to take any action. It is even acceptable if the action plan fails. At least we tried right! But quite often management overlook until the time comes when taking any action is too little too late.
In 2009, Patrick Doyle was informed by the research team that in the taste scores, people rate Dominos much less when they know they are eating Dominos pizza than the blind taste. The information was evident, people think Dominos pizza taste bad. Patrick knew that making changes into their processes and make the pizzas taste better is not going to work. People didn’t have problem with the pizzas, it was Dominos that they begin to hate. His decision to run a campaign where Dominos openly accepted that their pizzas taste bad was one of the boldest moves ever taken by a CEO. It worked dividends as sales went up by 14%.
The results of a taste scores can be captured much accurately and presented in far fancy looking reports than it was back then, thanks to all the latest tools that are there at disposable. The question however that arises is, would any intelligence have come up with the idea to deal with the problem in the way Patrick and his team did. And more importantly, as a business, would you have the guts to take such a decision? Just to give you a sense of how detrimental this could have been, a food consumer is stating that their pizzas, their core product taste bad, they even had consumers state that their ‘crust taste like cardboard’! You never step into a restaurant where the person at the door says, “We know our food taste bad but thank you for dining with us”. That was simply guts based on which businesses have been working since time.
As I have said before, data is important and we at Ima Solution strongly encourage it. Dominos needed the data to know how consumers feel about them. The key takeaway is act upon the information that you have, no matter what the result may be. If you still living under the rock and don’t use data, start using it now! If you do, then sit with your team and act on the information that you have collected. Because without that, you might be just sitting on a pile of gold, unaware!