Yes! 50 secrets from the science of persuasion by Noah Goldstein, Steve Martin, Robert Cialdini- BOOK REVIEW

Rating: 4 / 5
 
Who doesn’t want to be more persuasive? Whether you own a business or not you’re constantly in the business of trying to sell something – your great traits as an employee or wife(!), a project or even an idea.
 
Heck, if I got a penny for every time one of my mummy friends said, “I want to do x but I just need to convince my husband”, I’d be richer than Donald Trump!
 
I’ve had the paperback version of Yes! For ages but it’s only when I got the audio version that I got to the end.
 
The book is based on the subtle changes we can make to influence a decision. All 50 examples in the book are based on empirical studies so they are scientifically proven to work.
 
There are 50 ideas in this book so there is no way I can summarize them all but a few examples include the following:

• Intuitively, we think that an increase in variety leads to more business but studies suggest that too wide a range of products leads to paralysis of analysis and reduced sales. Your customers do want some choice, yes, but too much choice and they get frustrated and leave without buying. This is not always the case but it is frequently the case.
• An interesting small tweak in TV infomercials’ call to action led to a huge rise in demand: Instead of just saying “Please dial phone number x to make your order” a behavioural psychologist suggested a change to “Please dial phone number x to make your order. If operators are busy, please call again!” The impact? Everyone thinks, I need to get mine now, if lines are busy it suggests there is excess demand and scarcity is one of the biggest drivers of sales.
• Reciprocity. Do someone a good turn and by and large, they feel compelled to do a good turn back.

 
There were tonnes of good tips here and I, in fact, feel I should re-read this book because I was very distracted over the period I read the book. I’m preparing for a property renovation so I was driving along half listening to the book and half thinking about the different tiles I’ll put in each one of my bathrooms.
 
Everyone has to sell something, even if it’s just yourself or your views so give this book a read to become more of a gentle persuasion artist. It’s available on amazon.com and amazon.co.uk.

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