PRODUCTHEAD: The science of stakeholder persuasion

high & product #

every PRODUCTHEAD edition is online for you to refer back to

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tl;dr

Bare facts by themselves are not persuasive; they must be “storified” in a way that triggers people’s sense of self

A smaller initial ask can increase the likelihood of agreement to a larger, related ask

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hello

Welcome to this week’s edition of PRODUCTHEAD. This time I’m returning to the subtle science of persuasion and internal relationship building with stakeholders.

Charles Lambdin explores how influence is a game played through conversations and relationships rather than having “better arguments”. His comprehensive 3-part guide to influencing focuses on understanding the social landscape, doing the work of influencing before you get to the negotiating table (or the presentation), and allowing stakeholders to “co-own” your idea to give it better odds of survival.

Complementing this, authors Robert Cialdini and Steve Martin dive into the science of persuasion in a short explainer video as described by Cialdini in his book Influence. Cialdini identifies six universal principals – such as reciprocity and social proof – that act as mental triggers to help people say “yes” in an increasingly overloaded world.

Speak to you soon,

Jock

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what to think about this week

Influence Mapping

In this three-part series we will go over my take on influence mapping. In this post, Part 1 of the series, we will look at some of the principles involved and explain how to create the map. In Part 2 we will cover how to work the influence map to evolve the decision landscape at play. In Part 3 we will bring it all back together, looking at examples and summarizing the principles.

Put your ego in your pocket (Parts one, two and three)

[Charles Lambdin / The Lateral Lens]

Secrets from the Science of Persuasion

Researchers have been studying the factors that influence us to say yes to the request of others for over 60 years. And there can be no doubt that there’s a science to how we are persuaded. And a lot of the science is surprising. When making a decision it’d be nice to think that people consider all the available information in order to guide their thinking. But the reality is very often different.

[VIDEO] Reciprocity, scarcity, authority, consistency, liking and consensus

[Robert B. Cialdini & Steve Martin / YouTube]

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