Whether we are attempting to win a new client, get a colleague's support for a new idea we have or influence a whole organisation of people to move in a new direction, most of us in business will recognise that persuading someone to say 'Yes' is often just the starting point rather than the end. We can all recall times when someone initially says 'Yes' to us but then fails to follow through.
There are the colleagues who happily agree to mention our proposal at the next board meeting and then fail to do so. There are the customers who inform us of their intention to do business with us, and then leave us to develop a rather unhealthy and frustrating relationship with their voicemail when we try to follow up.
There is no doubt that actions speak louder than words. But how do you persuade someone actually to take an action that they have agreed to? A new study published in Psychological Science suggests a very simple but often underused way. Ask people to form a specific plan for where, when, and how they will go about accomplishing the action they have agreed to — a process that psychologists call implementation intention.
To test the idea, researchers divided more than a quarter
of a million registered voters into three groups a couple of weeks before an election. The first group was given a leaflet reminding people about how important it was to vote. The second group was given the same information and was then asked whether they intended to vote.
Many responded by saying 'Yes'. The people in the third group also received the leaflet and were asked whether they would vote. However, those who responded with a 'Yes' were then asked three follow-up questions designed to encourage them to create a plan of action. "What time will you vote?" "Where will you be coming from?" and "What will you be doing beforehand?"
The researchers believed that by answering these questions, people would generate a plan that took into consideration their other obligations that day and, as a result, they would find it easier to incorporate this new commitment into their schedule.
The results were extremely effective: those individuals asked to create a plan of action registered a close to
10 per cent increase in voter turnout on the day. Now, while most people would probably have been able to predict the increased success of this approach, in business it is an activity that is often missed. Asking an extra couple of questions at the end of a client meeting or casually asking your colleague what they think might be the best time in the board meeting to mention your proposal could mean the difference between you getting the results you want or not.
Steve Martin is co-author of Yes! 50 Secrets from the Science of Persuasion. Test your persuasive skills at scienceofyes.com
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