Why study ‘Influence?’

Why should you spend time studying influence? It takes lots of time and reading the research reports certainly isn’t the best use of your time. Right?

There are three big reasons you should be paying attention to influence, persuasion, and human behavior.

1. It helps you in your business. By understanding the nature and idiosyncrasies of buying behavior, you learn to improve your marketing, messaging, and product in order to make more sales.

2. It helps you recognize your own behavior. When you understand influence and persuasion, you can instantly see the techniques being used on you. This gives you a chance to put more thought into your decision. You may decide that you want to the buy the item, but at least you are making a conscious decision.

3. It provides a foundation for discussion and eliminates hand-waving. More times than not, a business owner will adamantly insist on a particular campaign or the wording of a phrase. Alternatively, they will summarily dismiss some ideas that are put on the table. In both situations, the owner believes that they have ‘insider’ knowledge of their industry and they know better than anyone else. By studying influence, you can discuss the specific techniques and research behind your campaign ideas.

And, for me, there is a fourth reason. I find this stuff insanely interesting. I’ve always been interested in learning how things work. Learning how the brain works is a natural extension to this curiosity.