50 Secrets of persuasion

The introduction sets the scene for how much of the research was conducted based on what was known from 60 years of social psychology. These secrets are not mere theories- each one (based on known research) was tested in various ways- such as experimenting with different signs put into hotel rooms to see which one had the strongest effect on people re-using the towels, for example.

Some of the secrets are common sense, many are counter intuitive and some show just how subtle persuasion can be. The secrets of persuasion are useful whether you're a salesperson, a shopkeeper, a teacher, a parent or wish to have more influence at work.

Moving on rapidly from the introduction, Yes! Goes straight into the meat of the book- the 50 secrets. Each one starts with a curious question followed by a little reference to known social psychology then the experiment applied in a real life situation with the actual results. There are then some handy suggestions for how you could apply these secrets in different settings.

The writing style is light yet detailed and before you know it you've read the 50 secrets cover to cover- mainly because the book has applied some of the techniques, making you eager to read further!

You will get many "aha" moments where you suddenly recognise these techniques in advertising, speeches, sales, some of them very subtle, some more obvious and many of them surprising. Many of these offer great insghts into human psychology- we have considerably less freewill than we think we do!

After the 50 secrets comes this chapter about ways to adapt electronic communication to have more influence. Find out just why an American high tech communications company banned the use of emails on Fridays and what the surprising result were.

Find out why it is better to negociate face to face rather than via email and how you can improve your use of email in a negociation giving you a 18% higher chance of success.

Find out the danger of diffusion of responsibility and just how you can avoid it when sending out a mass email.

Find out why providing the prices of your competitor's goods or services as well as your own can boost your sales.

What background to your website is most likely to sell a budget item and a luxury item?

How can managers adjust their communication to appeal to different cultures?

What is the vital difference between individualistic and collective cultures that advertisers needs to understand?

Why is it that the Japanese are more likely to hang up than leave a message on an answering machine?

This chapter goes on to explain that the ethical use of these 50 persuasion secrets is more productive in the long run, as well as being, well, more ethical!

There is a great example of why ethical influence pays, during the petrol shortage caused by blocades in Britain in 2000 there was mass panic buying (showing the influence of scarcity) causing some petrol stations to run out of fuel. One petrol station owner decided to increase his prices tenfold to exploit the situation and make huge profits- which he did, initialy. Clearly he wasn't too concerned with ethics here, and he came unstuck when, two weeks later things returned to normal with plenty of fuel available. He put his prices down but hardly anyone used his petrol station any more- he was boycotted and went bankrupt!

This section of the book is where people have reported applied use of persuasion techniques as individuals and in companies. This illustrates a wider application of the techniques and is fascinating in itself.

There follows the UK and USA postal addresses and wesbite address to submit your influence experiences as well as the address to receive the inside influence newsletter.

At the back of the book are notes to each experiment and the background psychology applicable to each.