Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini PhD is a book that explains the psychology of why people say “Yes!” A book on influence and understanding how sales and marketing people persuade you to buy their services and products.In his book Robert introduces us to six different ethical principles of persuasion including authority, commitment, reciprocity, liking, scarcity and social proof.He also shows us how to say no to each of these different persuasion techniques specifically when they are being used against us in an immoral manner.In fact, this is one of my favorite things about this book! Not only does it teach you how influence works through persuasion techniques, but by touching on the morals associated with them, Robert guides us on how far we should use these techniques to our advantage without crossing the line.I think this is an issue not quite talked about in the sales and marketing realm as much as it should be! Too often sales associates are taught to sell no matter what! This can lead to salespeople who lie about products, services, prices, etc. just to get a sale!While, the book can be a bit difficult to read if you aren’t use to these types of books, Dr. Cialdini does a great job of providing examples through personal stories of the techniques being used on himself at different times. This makes understanding each technique easier, especially if you aren’t familiar with sales, marketing or psychology terminology!I must admit, about half way through the book I became a little bored with it and started reading another book, but after taking a break from it for about a week I was able to come and finish the second half within a couple days with no issues.It wasn’t because the book isn’t good or because the information isn’t fascinating. Instead, I believe it’s simply because the writing style, terminology and scientific approach to the book makes it mentally challenging to focus on without wanting to take a break after a while.I’d definitely recommend if you decide to read this book read a chapter a day and then taking time to meditate on the information contained in the chapter instead of trying to read the entire book in a couple days. This approach will make the information easier to digest, remember and it will make the book more enjoyable in my opinion!Whether you are interested in marketing or sales I’d still highly recommend taking a look at this book as everyone deals with buying and selling everyday of your life! It’s a great eye opener to techniques that could be used against you when purchasing things like a house, car, etc.!Click here to check out the book on Amazon!
