Robert B. Cialdini Quotes

we all fool ourselves from time to time in order to keep our thoughts and beliefs consistent with what we have already done or decided.

tactic can be particularly successful when the audience is already aware of the weakness; thus, when a communicator mentions it, little additional damage is done, as no new information is added — except, crucially, that the communicator is an honest individual. Another enhancement occurs when the speaker uses a transitional word — such as however, or but, or yet — that channels the listeners’ attention away from the weakness and onto a countervailing strength.

The house I got them spotted for looks really great after they’ve first looked at a couple of dumps.

It is much more profitable for salespeople to present the expensive item first, not only because to fail to do so will lose the influence of the contrast principle; to fail to do so will also cause the principle to work actively against them. Presenting an inexpensive product first and following it with an expensive one will cause the expensive item to seem even more costly as a result — hardly a desirable consequence for most sales organizations.

we all fool ourselves from time to time in order to keep our thoughts and beliefs consistent with what we have already done or decided

The messenger is the message.” Of

Observers trying to decide what a man is like look closely at his actions.

All things being equal, you root for your own sex, your own culture, your own locality…and what you want to prove is that you are better than the other person. Whomever you root for represents you; and when he wins, you win.”88

Consider the results of a study conducted at Northwestern University. Researchers gave online participants information about a pair of sofas we’ll call the Dream and the Titan. The two, manufactured by different furniture companies, were comparable in all respects except for their cushions. The Dream’s cushions were softer and more comfortable than the Titan’s but less durable.

When it comes to freedoms, it is more dangerous to have given for a while than never to have given at all.

our attitude toward something has been influenced by the number of times we have been exposed to it in the past.

Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I have to make some copies? The result was that once again nearly all (93 percent) agreed, even though no real reason, no new information, was added to justify their compliance. Just as the “cheep-cheep” sound of turkey chicks triggered an automatic mothering response from maternal turkeys — even when it emanated from a stuffed polecat — so, too, did the word “because” trigger an automatic compliance response

So by my lights, the number one rule for salespeople is to show customers that you genuinely like them. There’s a wise adage that fits this logic well: people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

The feeling of being in competition for scarce resources has powerfully motivating properties.

such cases it is vital to remember that scarce things do not taste or feel or sound or ride or work any better because of their limited availability.