The Powerful Laws Of Influence – Compare And Contrast
The Power of Comparison To Create Enormous Influence
You can dramatically increase your powers of persuasion with the simple application of some incredibly effective but not widely well known laws of persuasion and influence. These are not esoteric theories thought up by ivory tower professors, these are hard and fast rules proven time and time again by social experiments on the street.
The law of persuasion you’ll be learning today is Comparison and Contrast. This is a simple rule that has been applied to
salespeople, real estate agents, and government ministers of propaganda for incredibly massive results of compliance and dramatic increases in income.
This law affects how you view one item, or idea when compared to another. When viewed against something similar, the idea or thing in question is viewed much differently than when viewed alone. There’s the old joke (that pre-dates email circulated jokes) about the kid who wrote a letter home from school. He’d gotten a girl pregnant, wrecked his car, accidentally set fire to his dormitory, and accidentally killed the school mascot. He ended the letter by saying, “just kidding, but I really did fail maths.” The idea being that failing maths was much less horrible when compared to all those other things.
This has been proven in studies with university students. They held their hands in a bucket of water, and then guessed the temperature. They took data from several students, got an average, and then repeated the experiment. Only this time they had them hold their other hand in a bucket of cold water. Again they took several data points from several students. Next they repeated the experiment, only the other hand was now placed in a bucket of warm, almost hot water (they didn’t want them to hurt themselves.)
The results were as you would expect, in light of the compare and contrast law of influence. With their other hands in hot water, they underestimated the temperature in the test bucket. With their other hand in cold water, they overestimated the temperature in the test bucket.
More proof.
A restaurant served several bottles of wine. The most expensive bottle was $80. They sold very few. Then a marketing expert suggested they add another bottle at significantly higher price. Over $200. That’s all they did. They didn’t increase advertising, the wait staff didn’t suggest buying wine any more than they did before. The mere presence of a much higher priced bottle of wine made the 80 dollar bottle seem like a bargain in comparison. Sales went through the roof.
Countless retailers have noticed this phenomenon. They have an old product, that sells at a certain rate. They introduce a new product, which is new and improved, and costs more. They naturally expect people to buy the new product, which a few do. But they old product suddenly jumps in sales.
Why?
Two reasons. One is that it looks a lot cheaper now, that there is a more expensive product sitting next to it. Secondly, the law of scarcity is now in play, as a new product presupposes that the old product is being phased out, and won’t be around much longer.
Combining any two of these laws together can give you an incredible persuasive edge.
Real estate agents have been known to use this law in a way that borders on the unethical. The real estate company maintains a house that is in not such good shape, and in not such a good part of town. The new clients come in, and ask to see houses within certain budget.
Guess which house they see first?
The broken down house in a not so good neighborhood. And it happens to be right at their price range. Of course, the next house they see is only a little higher than what they wanted to pay, but it’s so much nicer! It’s a bargain!
Just like any particular art of persuasion and method of influencing people, there are ethical ways, and unethical ways to apply them.
If you happen to be selling things, then it may be a good idea to keep around a much more expensive product, or display one on your web site in order to boost sales of the more inexpensive one.
If you are persuading someone of an idea, give them two choices. The one you’d really like them to choose, or one that sounds absolutely horrible, expensive, painful, and complicated.
If you are on the receiving end of a persuasion, this one can be hard to dodge, as it usually comes in unexpected. The best defense would be to take as much time to weigh the pros and cons of your decision, to give your conscious mind a fighting chance against these ancient human hot buttons. In the case of the wine, it may be a good idea to decide how much you want to drink wine, and how much you’re willing to pay before you take a gander at the wine list.
If you’ve been reading this articles, then you might be starting to see these laws in effect everywhere you look, which they are. Once you get a handle on all seven of them, you’ll open up a hold new world of persuasion, both on the persuading side, and on the defensive side.
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