A Wealthy Expert Company™ August, 2018

THE​SALES​MENTOR™
© 2018 Traffic and Funnels™
From the Desk of Chris Evans & Taylor Welch

Pre-suasion​ is the follow-up book to Robert Cialdini’s wildly successful book from 1984,
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.

His first book was about what to say while persuading. In this follow-up, he describes the
psychology and tactics of making someone pre-disposed to agree with you BEFORE you
present your solution or request.

Sun Tzu said in his book, The Art of War, “Every battle is won before it is fought.”

The three main reasons to read the rest of this summary:

● The best persuaders spend more time on what they are doing &/or saying in
advance of trying to close the deal than on the close itself.

● Pre-suasion is the ability to channel your prospects attention to favorable aspects of

your particular solution to their perceived need.

● Understanding the art of pre-suasion to make people more receptive to your

message increases the “close rate” of those you are able to support (i.e. close the
sale) by anywhere from 30% to 400% or more.

*Caution from the author: “When pre-suasive techniques are executed poorly, the target of
a request may recognize an attempt at manipulation, which may backfire. But when
applied thoughtfully, these tactics can favorably tip the scales in one’s business, life and
career to their favor.”

Part I: Pre-Suasion: The Frontloading of Attention

Chapter 1 - Pre-Suasion: An Introduction

Cialdini used an example of a friend of his who was a high-end consultant to large
corporations. His consulting fees are consistently $75,000 and up. His friend said he often
had to justify his fee and consistently had to deal with requests to discount his fee after he
presented his proposal. By chance, when working with one particular organization, he said
“obviously I can’t charge you a million dollars for my services”…almost as a joke. But he
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noticed when he gave the 6-figure proposal, they didn’t debate it or even request a
discount.

His friend began to use that same phrase on every closing presentation and rarely ever had
to justify the rate, nor entertain requests for a discount. This isn’t to say he began closing
every deal he presented because he didn’t. BUT, where he used to have a discussion about
his rate and usually a request for discount on almost every single presentation, he rarely
entered into a discussion over price and/or discounts.

This is something I’ve always referred to as “framing”. Cialdini calls it “​price anchoring​”.
Maybe a better-known example is when Steve Jobs was introducing the first IPad. His
presentation first put up a price of $999 and explained that this was the cost most were
expecting for something of this nature. He then put up the real price of $499. Our minds
immediately saw this as far more affordable.

Chapter 2 - Privileged Moments

A privileged moment is something YOU create and is a “time-limited opportunity” when
your prospect is more open to being led. Cialdini references a phenomenon called
“Confirmation Bias”…also known as “Positive Test Strategy”.

With Confirmation Bias, our minds are naturally looking for things it can buy-in to or agree
with to either support a goal, hope or expectation.

Researchers share the results of how asking a question in a particular way greatly altered
the outcome. They leveraged our desire for confirmation bias in the way they asked a
pre-framed question to derive certain results. Check this out…

The Researchers were using the idea of marketing a new soft drink with the real goal of
gaining email addresses from total strangers to be able to send them a free sample. When
these strangers were just outright asked for their email address, only 33% did so.
However, when they framed it with a specific question BEFORE asking for their email
address, their results were dramatically higher.

Here is how they framed their request with what they call a “single-chute question”:

“Do you consider yourself to be somebody who is adventurous and likes to try new
things?”

Nearly 97% responded “yes” to the question…and then nearly 76% of them willingly gave
up their email address!
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There were several additional experiments cited in this chapter with nearly identical
improvements.

Chapter 3 - The Importance of Attention…is Importance

In this chapter, Cialdini introduces another bias: the Focusing Illusion. The focusing
illusion is the tendency for items in focus to command more attention than is rightly
deserved.
The National Media are masters at leveraging this phenomenon. Cognitively, we may know
something isn’t all that important but when it’s in our face over and over, we have a
tendency to ascribe more energy on “it” than is warranted.

Another area of bias cited in this chapter is what is called “Favorable Evaluation in
Isolation”. With this, “people tend to more favorably evaluate an item when it is in
isolation, without comparing it to alternatives”. In other words, people ascribe more value
to an isolated solution than having too many options.

Both of the biases listed in this chapter can also be used in reverse as well. Think about
how and why this could be of value to you in closing a client. Especially if they are
considering options that don’t include you!

Chapter 4 - What’s Focal is Causal

Focus creates impact, an impression and importance. Focus is a catalyst. That which
captures our focus tends to have greater influence on our decisions. When interacting with
others, it is far better to create an opportunity where it is a visual conversation and NOT
just a phone conversation.

Chapter 5 – Commanders of Attention 1: The Attractors

There are three, very well known tactics to gaining attention:

1. Sex
2. Threats
3. Things that are different

Our minds are literally hard-wired to recognize and acknowledge these three traits.

1. Sex
For as longs as there’s been advertising, companies have leaned on the adage that “Sex
Sells”. This is most effective however, when being linked to logical associations like
perfumes, swimwear, lingerie and form-fitting clothes or romantic events (an anniversary,
Valentines, etc.)

2. Threats
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Anything creating or supporting fear can also be strong in creating attention. The greater
the perceived fear of an individual, the greater the impact of your solution.

3. Things that are different

Our brains are wired to notice when something is different. Scientists have broken this
into two categories:

1. The Orienting Response:​ paying attention to changes in our environment

2. Distinctiveness:​ paying attention to unusual things in our surroundings.

One quick illustration of the Orienting Response comes from Pavlov’s dogs. Recall that the
dogs were eventually conditioned to salivate at the ringing of the bell. When Pavlov would
have other scientists join him to watch the experiment, the dogs ignored their conditioned
response of salivating at the ringing of the bell because their attention had been hijacked by
a change in their environment (the additional people in their view).

This is a similar explanation of when you walk into a room for something specific but the
moment in the room, you forgot what you were looking for. It’s not your memory going
bad. It’s that your attention was hijacked. This phenomenon is known as the ​doorway
effect.

Distinctiveness​ requires a comparison to be effective. This is a distinct difference

between two or more options. The chapter gives several examples of how to use
Distinctiveness and a primer to facilitate a specific outcome.

Chapter 6 – Commanders of Attention 2: The Magnetizers

There are three fundamental ways to make a message more interesting to the listener:
1. The Self
2. The unfinished
3. The mysterious

1. The Self
People are inherently more interested in themselves and things that are of unique interest to
them. Knowing this, it makes sense to tailor your message for Personalization and
Self-relevant cues.

Personalization​ includes things like an individual’s preferences, unique characteristics and

familiar demographics. Including things unique to them not increases attention but
improves retention because you also brought emotion into the mix.

Self-relevant cues​ are words the causes one to reflect on themselves. The simplest, most
effective illustration is using the simple, three-letter word…You. “You” grabs
significantly more attention that when you use “people”, “others” or “they”.
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2. The Unfinished (The Zeigarnik Effect)​ – ​one of my personal favorites…and it works!

This is the process of leaving things undone…intentionally! Unfinished tasks, events (and
proposals) tend to hold our attention and stick in our memory because our minds crave
closure. It’s been shown that incomplete stories, unresolved problems and unanswered
questions consume a disproportionate amount of our mental resources until closure is
obtained.

3. The Mysterious
Mysteries are an even more powerful to garner and hold the attention of some personality
types. Some people are simply more prone to adventure and solving problems. When
you weave mystery into your story, their attention levels are greatly enhanced which
increases comprehension and memory retention.

Cialdini shares his six steps of Mystery-telling as:

1. Present a mystery
2. Deepen the mystery
3. Debunk alternative explanations
4. Provide Clues
5. Resolve the mystery
6. Conclude with the lesson

Part II: Processes: The Role of Association

Chapter 7 – The Primacy of Associations: I Link, Therefore I Think

There are four main components used to link and prepare our thinking. They are:

1. Priming
2. Word Association
3. Cognitive Ease
4. Metaphors

Priming
Think back to childhood fairytales. Most used all four of these components to some degree
to help with recall. Stories like “The Three Blind Mice”, “The Three Little Pigs”, “Little Red
Riding Hood” used the primacy of associations.

Now as adults, we are taking it to a whole new level. “Pre-suasion takes advantage of
priming by creating positive associations before presenting a request. A target primed
with positive thoughts and feelings is more likely to comply than one who has not been
primed.”

Word Association
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Using achievement-oriented words such as “victory”, “win” and “mastery” increases

performance and perseverance. Seeing all of those positive posters in both personal and
corporate offices is more science than preference.

Cognitive Ease
Interestingly, the mind perceives things that it can understand quickly and easily as more
valid, true or worthwhile. This psychological bias towards simplicity is often referred to
processing fluency.

Cialdini gave several examples but the one on ​rhyming​ really stuck out. Studies show that
rhyming enhances comprehension, retention and perceived truthfulness. He gave the
following as an example: “Caution and measure win you treasure” was significantly more
well received (i.e. stronger results) than was “Caution and measure will win you riches.”
He also showed where pairing priming and cognitive ease work very well together.

Metaphors
Metaphors are actually the pairing of ​priming​ and ​cognitive ease​ together in the form of a
story…and had even better results.

Chapter 8 – Persuasive Geographies: All the Right Places, All the Right Traces
Priming with Environmental Cues
This is where you place your prospect (Cialdini calls them your “target”) in an environment
where they are surrounded by cues. Remember, you may either create the desired
environment OR you meet them in the desired environment OR you may even place them
in an imaginary environment by taking them on a verbal journey.

Chapter 9 – The Mechanics of Pre-Suasion: Causes, Constraints and Correctives

This chapter introduces three additional characteristics of priming:
1. Priming is an automatic mental process
2. Closely related ideas are more easily primed
3. Positive associations can be deliberately manufactured

1. Priming is an Automatic Mental Process

Whenever our mind receives a stimulus, it will automatically attempt to bring related
concepts to the forefront. These related concepts, of which you and I have no control, can
influence their decisions without their awareness.

2. Closely Related Ideas are More Easily Primed

Recall from Chapter 5 how the topic of sex in advertising was more effective when the
product could be tied to or related to sex, attraction or love. When your priming message is
closely tied to your request, your ability to influence the outcome increases.

3. Positive Associations Can Be Deliberately Manufactured

A Wealthy Expert Company™ August, 2018

As we learned in #1 above, priming is an automatic process…one in which you may not like
the outcome. However, this is why many advertisers will create their own association.
This is why you often see pleasant scenes, attractive models and other positive images
along with their product. This is their attempt to manufacture the type of association they
desire instead of leaving it to chance.

CAUTION: When advertisers were too obvious in their attempt to “manipulate” their
target, their attempt to create the most desired outcome backfired.

In this chapter, Cialdini also explained why certain infomercials run only late at night. We,
as a people, are more susceptible to pre-suasion and persuasion tactics when we are tired,
stressed, rushed, overloaded, distracted and preoccupied.

Part III: Best Practices: The Optimization of Pre-Suasion

Chapter 10 – Six Main Roads to Change: Broad Boulevards as Smart Shortcuts

Here we take a brief detour back to Cialdini’s last book to discuss what he calls “The 6
Weapons of Influence”:
1. Reciprocation
2. Liking
3. Social Proof
4. Authority
5. Scarcity
6. Consistency

Dr. Gregory Neidert, a professor at Arizona State University, has organized the 6 Weapons
of Influence into 3 stages:

● Stage 1: Cultivate a positive association​ – Reciprocity & Liking

● Stage 2: Reduce uncertainty​ – Social Proof & Authority
● Stage 3: Motivate action​ – Scarcity & Consistency

Chapter 11 – Unity 1: Being Together

Cialdini considers Unity the 7​th​ Weapon of Influence. Unity is the inclination to help and
support those we perceive as being “one of us.” Unity is an even deeper tie than “Liking”
because elicits a sense of trust, helpfulness and a willingness to sacrifice.

He has identified four categories of Unity:

1. Shared family (kinship)
2. Shared identity (in-group members)
3. Shared location (home and region)
4. Shared actions
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Chapter 12 – Unity 2: Acting Together

In this chapter, Cialdini decided to dig deeper into the four ways in which Shared actions
creates unity:
1. Synchronization
2. Continual and Reciprocal Exchange
3. Co-Creation
4. Advice

1. Synchronization
The most common medium used here is music. Studies show that people are more prone
to act in unity when there is music playing than when there is silence. Music with a more
discernable rhythm or beat improved the act even more. Further, music wasn’t even
required to create “the beat”.

One experiment had a room full of people with headphones on. One half had the same
music playing (synchronized beat) while the music the other half listened to was not
synchronized. At the end of class, the professor asked the class if they would consider
staying to help other students. Only 18% of the non-synchronized group stayed versus
49% of the synchronized group.

2. Continual and Reciprocal Exchange

In short, this is an elaborate exercise of back-and-forth exchanges, like a game of tennis.
The longer the back-and-forth exchange of answers, especially personal answers, created a
much stronger bond

3. Co-creation
People tend to over value things they create or co-create themselves. This is part of the
success behind IKEA Furniture. This is evidenced further when people are lead to help
create their own solutions instead of being told what to do or what they need.

4. Advice
The use of the word “advice” is far superior to the use of “opinions”. Asking for advice
allows the other person to take part, at least in their mind, in co-creating a solution.

Chapter 13 – Ethical Use: A Pre-Pre-Suasive Consideration

Cialdini is often asked about whether he is concerned about how others will use this
incredibly powerful information. This chapter addresses that concern. His number on
response is that companies and individuals that are out to manipulate others don’t need his
content to do so.

Manipulation is an unethical practice at best. Unethical cultures will ALWAYS exhibit the
following eventually:
1. Poor employee performance
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2. Higher employee turnover

3. Employee malfeasance (good employees leave, the poor stay – also known as adverse
selection)

REMINDER: Being associated with T&F is of mutual benefit. I/we will not ever attempt to
manipulate you nor tolerate being associated with manipulative processes.

Chapter 14 – Post-Suasion: After-effects

There is incredible importance with implementing tactics for increased follow-through.
Following are four tactics that will help:
1. Prompt an Action
2. Get Active Commitments
3. Implementation Intentions or IF/When-Then Plans
4. Persistent Environmental Cues

1. Prompt an Action
As soon as your prospect has stated an intention, commitment or promise, the next step is
promote an action as soon as possible. Actions tend to become part of one’s identity.

2. Get Active Commitments

When the goal is not for them to act now, the goal must be for an action in the future. A
great example involves the way future appointments were handled in a certain Dental
office. When the patient was given a card for their future date, it was left blank. The
patient was given the date of their future visit and asked to complete the card on their own.
This minor change of giving them a blank card to complete instead of pre-filled card
reduced the no-show rate by nearly 20%.

3. Implementation Intentions, OR If/When-Then Plans

This is the classic implementation of the If or when I do “x”, then I will do “y”. By walking
your prospect through this process and having them repeat it for agreement, the likelihood
of follow through is significantly higher.

4. Persistent Environment Cues

I have always called these triggers. Simply place reminders in a variety of places to trigger
compliance or follow through. This could be a post-it note, changing your screen saver or
using a dry-erase marker on your mirrors.

Conclusion: Learning what to do and say before getting to the point of presenting your
close can make a huge difference in whether you close the deal or not. You can have the
best offer on the planet but miss out bringing them on if you inadvertently miss out on the
proper Pre-Suasion.